Salesforce MVPs (Most Valuable Players) are community experts who help others succeed in the Salesforce ecosystem. They’re dedicated to helping other Trailblazers navigate their career journeys, solve complex problems, get certified, make game-changing connections, and even land new jobs.
Our CTO Keir Bowden (aka Bob Buzzard) has achieved Salesforce MVP status for the 11th year! We talked to him about the importance of the MVP status, his journey towards it and how anyone can contribute to the Salesforce ecosystem.
How long have you been in the Salesforce ecosystem?
Coming up for 14 years.
I joined BrightGen in 2008 as a Service Management Consultant, started working with Salesforce and never looked back. Things were very different back then and there wasn’t a huge amount of information available for new developers. I relied on the contributions of a few key people when I was pushing the boundaries of the platform, and decided that I wanted to pay it forward.
What have you had to do to achieve the Salesforce MVP status & keep it for so many years?
I always advise people that the way to become an MVP is not to try to become an MVP, but to help people. As long as you are helping, people will be grateful and are likely to nominate you. My contribution has changed over the years. I started out answering a lot of questions on the developer forums, but as more people got involved there wasn’t the same need, so I focused elsewhere. I’ve co-run Speaker Academy for a number of years now – to help people get started presenting at meetups and conferences. And I’ve created a few open source tools – the most popular being the Org Documentor. I’ve also blogged and spoken at events, mostly but not entirely, about Salesforce, at a pretty consistent rate for around 12 years now.
Key characteristics of a Salesforce MVP
Expertise: Salesforce MVPs challenge themselves to maintain a strong understanding of the Salesforce Platform and take great pride in sharing their expertise through answering questions on the Trailblazer Community, writing blogs, hosting conference sessions, and more.
Leadership: Salesforce MVPs seek opportunities to innovate, create and contribute to programs that help other Trailblazers, lead Trailblazer Community Groups, help underprivileged communities skill up on Salesforce, and take part in conferences and meetups.
Generosity: Salesforce MVPs are the ultimate connectors and mentors. They’re always ready to share insights, ideas, and connections to help every and each Trailblazer to succeed in the Salesforce ecosystem. They are eager to share their expertise and help others in any way.
What does being awarded MVP status mean to you?
I’m delighted to have my contribution recognised by the community and by Salesforce themselves. Although when I see the stellar company I’m in, that reminds me that I need to always try to up my game.
What’s the best thing about being an MVP?
The opportunity to help shape some of the new (or existing) features by providing feedback to the Product team. Seats near the front at Dreamforce are also a nice perk 🙂
How can people connect with you?
I’m reachable through multiple channels:
- Trailblazer community : https://trailblazer.me/id/bob-buzzard
- Twitter : https://twitter.com/bob_buzzard
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheRealBobBuzzard
- LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/keirbowden
- Substack : https://bobbuzz.substack.com/
- Blog : http://bobbuzzard.blogspot.com/
- Medium: https://bob-buzzard.medium.com/
Interested in building your career within the Salesforce ecosystem? Apply for one of our open opportunities, or get in touch with us on LinkedIn.