Welcome to the awesome Salesforce Answers Community Leaders blog series!!
Inspired by Blog Series – Kevin Bacon by Eric ,Girly Geek By Lauren ,Admin Hero By Brent & the Answers Community forum of which I have been part from a long time,I decided to put this series and I hope that Stories of our Answers Community Leaders will motivate and inspire other Salesforce Community Members to contribute to community and know the guys who answer their questions 🙂
Special thanks to Eric and Phoebe for helping me for getting started.
So here I am with my fifth post in this Series, Know Your Answers Community Leaders- Mayank Srivastava.
You can connect with him on Twitter ,Linked In, Success community and his blogs as well
Tell Us About Yourself ?
I was first introduced to the Salesforce world as an end user back in 2012. Since then I have worn multiple hats like being an Administrator, Solution Architect, Business Analyst and a Developer which helped me understand Salesforce implementations from all angles. Going to Dreamforce 2014 was a life changing event for me since that’s what led me to achieving the most in the last one year. I passed 11 Salesforce certification exams, got to know a ton of amazing people and had multiple dream job offers from prestigious firms when searching for a job. The best thing that I got out of my passion for Salesforce was giving back to the community.
When Did You Start Answering?
I think I started back in April 2015. And there has been no looking back since then. I religiously spend a couple of hours every day (including weekends) answering questions on the community and I can call it my Shangri-la, just not a fictional one.
What Inspired You To Do So ?
Before April 2015, I had only posted questions in the Answers Community. Getting certified and having hands-on experience with the platform gave me the confidence to go in and begin answering questions. I knew exactly what it felt like to post a question and receive a helpful answer and the inspiration was to aid other folks in experiencing the same.
How Do You Feel Contributing To Answers Community?
It’s a fantastic feeling. A simple Thank You from a person I helped is enough to keep me going on. I obviously do it sans any expectations but when you get an Email like this from a community member:
“Thanks Mayank – that’s sounds terrific! Also send me your home address and I’d love to send you a gift! “
Or a response like this:
“SWEET!!!! It worked. You are my hero! This is going to save us so much time and ensure consistent data entry. Thanks so much for your help, Mayank! Have an awesome day.”
Or this:
“A miracle!!! Thanks for burning the midnight oil with me — once again — a savior. This may be the longest formula I’ve ever had to deal with. Will you be a dreamforce? I’d love to buy you a beer, or a coffee to keep you going at 3pm!”
It just makes it all so very worthwhile. Collaborating with folks like Deepak Anand, Jeff May, Sharif Shaalan, SteveMo, ChrisD, Geoffrey Flynn, Sunil Sarilla is an icing on the cake since I always get to learn something new from them. I treasure my 5500+ answers and 1400+ Best Answers on the answers community and the goal is to hit 5 digits for the answers by the end of this year 🙂
What Would You Say To People To Inspire Them To Contribute To Answers Community?
If you are looking for a way to give back to the Salesforce community, the Answers community is one of the best places to start with. Begin with answering a few questions and you will experience what I have been talking about. If I had to sum up my feelings about answering on the community in two words, it would be: Gratification + Enlightenment. I believe that’s something every one of us desires.