Kicksaw

I missed Thursday, so today is the day where me and my story are celebrated and amplified as part of #WomenInTechWeek. The aim is to showcase different career paths and to inspire other women to join our incredible industry, you can read my story below. WeAreTechWomen 📚 I got into tech as an environmental engineer, I got my degrees in Civil/Environmental Engineering and used technology in my school and work to make the engineering magic happen. I was a Solutions Engineer when I found my groove, and I picked up a lot of core skills outside of the technology as I honed my presentation, communication, and interpersonal skills. 🤱 BUT... then I took 8 years off to raise kids, and I needed to start over again when I wanted to go back into the paid workforce. So I went on Trailhead and learned Salesforce. 💻 The object-oriented database technology I used in my engineering work made picking up Salesforce a little easier for me. I got certified as an Admin, and then through Salesforce Military I took the Platform App Builder class and picked up that cert, too. I networked and got a referral from a friend, and wound up working as a Solutions Engineer at Salesforce. 🏆 Things that have been awesome, and that I want to see more of: 🌟 Gender, LGBTQIA+, and racial diversity in leadership 🌟 Flexible and/or work-from-home arrangements 💁♀️ My top tip for other women trying to get into tech is to lean heavily on your transferrable skills! What industry knowledge do you have? What soft skills have you honed up to this point? If you've been a teacher, look at tech roles in the education industry, etc. It makes that first day on the job that much less daunting!

Shout out to all of our Salesforce Data Cloud MVPs here at Kicksaw, we appreciate how enthusiastic our crew has been to learn about this solution for our clients! And a big thank you to our team in general, for your dedication to always learn more. #DataCloud

I'm ready to implement Data Cloud. I participated in an excellent #Salesforce #DataCloud Implementation Readiness Camp this morning. Thanks Matthew Wash and Arvind Raman! Kicksaw has many Data Cloud Certified team members across our Delivery, Marketing and Engineering departments. There are a lot of resources out there for anyone interested in Data Cloud certification, including the Data Cloud Certification Prep Cohort Series https://lnkd.in/gg7NpR-2

Last week 2nd Ranger Battalion had our 50th anniversary and for a few days I got to step back into my 19 year old life. I didn’t realize until I saw my old friends just how much missed aspects of that life. Not necessarily jumping out of a C-17 in the middle of the night, but the camaraderie, the stories, jokes and the people. You hear about the bonds that are forged in war, and the tightness of the community, but after a 17 year break, I’d forgotten what this brotherhood truly means to me. It’s amazing to see so many folks doing so well, to laugh harder than I’ve laughed in ages, and to retell embellished stories to guys who can appreciate them. The photo below shows just a few of the men of the platoon I served with. Between the nine of us in the photo there are more than 50 combat deployments. The level of expertise, professionalism and raw talent among the men I stood with astounds me. I have often described Ranger Bn as “the most intense fraternity that exists on planet Earth” and I’m grateful to have been able to be a part of it. Mike Burke Zach LaPorte Sam Barrett Steve McKenna Chad Jenkins Matthew Thompson Robert Kessner Damon Helton Christopher Frost

It used to be that changes and updates came only 3 times a year with #Salesforce. Now with Data Cloud and Agentforce, which are big shifts in the industry, learning new skills and keeping up with changes has become more difficult. Shout out to all of the Evangelists and Partner Enablement staff at Salesforce who have really ramped up the enablement and hands on sessions, it is making a difference 🎉 . Here's the thing though, you need to decide where to focus your learning energies while still keeping high level updated on what is happening. I'm super excited for #DataCloud and #Agentforce, but I work for a Salesforce partner (shout out Kicksaw!) who implements these products for clients. Maybe you are still learning flows or you are going for Application Architect - don't lose sight of those foundational goals. AI certifications will be free through the end of 2025 so you have time. Its easy to get caught up in the excitement on social media and think you need to drop everything to grab the latest certification. It is important, though, to stay up to date on the headlines. For a high level understanding of Agentforce, I suggest these resources: ⭐ Salesforce: Agentforce Main Page: https://lnkd.in/gAMJvpKN ⭐ Dreamforce: Agentforce Keynote on Salesforce+: https://lnkd.in/gRrzVZHS ⭐ #Trailhead: Agentforce Agents - Quick Look https://lnkd.in/gzQA66-q ⭐ Trailhead: Quick Start: Build Your First Agent with Agentforce https://lnkd.in/gRxpg2iu In 2 hours or so you'll have an introductory understanding of Agentforce and can then begin to deep dive and layer on additional learning as necessary. Bottom line: Spend time staying up to date on the headlines but be proactive about what you focus on based on your own contexts. Now I'm off to build some 🤖

If your clinical team(s) need to check different systems, applications, and/or spreadsheets to manage patient and clinical data — Kicksaw is here with a clinical integration intervention. In blog form! 🙌 https://bit.ly/3ZHw5lE We’ve put our experience with hundreds of provider organizations to work, to give you: ● Stats and info about interoperability and healthcare data management ● Insight into common clinical integrations with Salesforce Health Cloud (including system examples, use cases, and integration benefits) ● A quick review of integration method options ● Help with next steps and additional resources Give it a read and let us know if you have any questions: https://lnkd.in/g5Jvsc4H #HLS

#Agentforce! We love an inside scoop — cue Janet Elliott, who was at the Salesforce Agentforce preview last week and did a product deep dive at #Dreamforce: ✅ It's a new AI tool that was big news at #DF24 ✅ It's customizable and uses LLMs to help employees and customers ✅ This video gives you a quick overview of it's potential benefits ✅ There are some interesting use cases we're already playing around with, so hit us up if you want to discuss them If you're stressing about AI options in general and need help figuring out the who/what/why/when/how of solution selection — we have your back there too: https://lnkd.in/g5Jvsc4H

Kicksaw's #DF24 crew is back and filling us in on all the fun — including #Agentforce, their favorite sessions (we might be biased, but Janet and Ali did an incredible job as speakers💙) and of course, the swag. Thank you to everyone who made time to meet with our #Dreamforce team! If you missed us and want to catch up or connect, be sure to reach out. #Salesforce #Slack #TrailblazerCommunity

Thanks to everyone who joined me at Dreamforce #DF24 for my session on Finding Your Voice! I wanted to follow up with some resources to find #Salesforce events to speak at. ⭐ The next major Salesforce event is TrailblazerDX #TDX25 in March 2025. Keep a look out for the call for speakers after the first of the year. Watch the website for updated announcements and instructions on submitting sessions https://lnkd.in/gqA3qq4S ⭐ Check out the list of Dreamin' events (aka Community Conferences) here https://lnkd.in/gMDMsA3z There are a couple missing from that list like Tahoe Dreamin' - Salesforce Community Conference May 15-16. Visit the web sites and sign up for newsletters to be notified of the Call for Speakers. ⭐ Trailblazer Community Groups are a great place to get started. Find local and virtual groups here https://lnkd.in/gpBAxrzH Check in with local and virtual leaders about opportunities to speak at their events. In the meantime, work on your list of topic ideas and abstracts! If you want feedback, send me a DM. Community speakers, experience and perspective are the foundation of the #TrailblazerCommunity 💙

I sat down with Peter Ozolin a couple of weeks back to record an episode of his podcast “Bend-ing Rules” I feel as though my path to entrepreneurship was exactly the right one for me, and I hope to encourage others to chart their own path We talk about that, my time in the service, and how defining core values at Kicksaw was the most valuable experience I’ve had in my career. I hope you get something out of it