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THE SALESFORCE TRAINING ACADEMY FOR LEADING
UX COMMUNITIES oe:gen’s Salesforce Developers sharing knowledge
Hey Pete, tell us how oe:gen began When we started off, we were just four people doing web development. Specifically, internal systems. There was me doing all the development work, 2 UX design guys, and Paul on sales and marketing. That was primarily where we began our journey.
PETE FELLS Pete is the Managing Director for UK Salesforce Partner, oe:gen. Day-today, he makes sure his team have the environment, direction, and motivation to fulfill their potential. He’s also a marathon runner in aid of Mind the mental health charity, and a passionate advocate for accessible learning and equality.
OE:GEN IS THE LEADING UK SALESFORCE PARTNER IN UX COMMUNITIES. WE CAUGHT UP WITH MANAGING DIRECTOR PETER FELLS TO TALK ABOUT THEIR SALESFORCE-TRAINING ACADEMY THAT DEFIES CONVENTIONAL EDUCATION PATHWAYS.
When did Salesforce come into the picture? We were all about classic Microsoft web-server architecture, SQL server, and .NET— but then one customer bought a Community for their business and asked us if we had any experience with it. We said we didn’t, but we have developers and designers that’ll try anything. We ended up being able to really tailor their Community for them. But it wasn’t until we were then contacted about designing a system for the BBC that it all started to become a bit more real.
Could you tell me about the impact that’s had? Well, we’ve grown organically over several years. We’ve had some ups and downs, and it plateaued a couple of years ago. Then we decided to fully-embrace Salesforce. What helped us, especially around Communities, was our background in UX web design. We had a re-boot of the company, started working closely with partner managers and AEs, and that’s when the growth started — and the oe:gen academy came about.
What’s the oe:gen academy? It’s for people who have never had experience in Salesforce before who want to learn
— across all kinds of backgrounds, ages, and abilities — not just those fresh out of university.
“We love that level of self-determination where people can take control of their own careers and development and push themselves forward.”
So, they don’t have to have a degree? No ! T h e i n i t i a l f o c u s w a s to c re a te apprenticeships to bring in young people who wanted a different pathway after school. Instead of going to university and spending so many years getting in lots of debt and then coming to train in Salesforce, we thought: ‘let’s get them in, introduce them to Salesforce and get them excited from day one’.
