After serving in the U.S. Navy for eight years, Sheldon Simmons was ready to make a change. For many veterans, transitioning back into civilian life is incredibly difficult, and Sheldon struggled to reintegrate and to make ends meet. He began selling blood and plasma. He saw that the tech industry was on the rise and knew he needed to find a pathway to enter this industry in order to change his life and be successful. Sheldon enrolled in a year long course to learn Java, hopeful that this would help kick off his career. Unfortunately, he struggled to find employment after the course ended and was discouraged thinking that he had wasted time and money in an effort to improve his life.
Fortunately, with the help of a counselor, Sheldon was introduced to Merivis, which helps veterans and military spouses with training, mentorship, and job readiness for Salesforce careers after their enlistment ends. At Merivis, Sheldon participated in their first cohort to get skilled up on Salesforce. Through this cohort, Sheldon was able to learn technical Salesforce skills with the help of a personal coach and with Trailhead, Salesforce's free online learning platform. After completing the cohort, learning on Trailhead, and becoming involved in the Trailblazer Community, Sheldon was able to earn multiple Salesforce certifications, which have helped drive his career growth. After graduating from the Merivis program, Sheldon landed his first Salesforce consultant role through an introduction from one of his former classmates.
I use Trailhead to help further my career. As a consultant you have to learn fast, and Trailhead helps us do exactly that.
Sheldon SimmonsSalesforce Consultant, Slalom
Today, Sheldon is a Salesforce Consultant at Slalom, where he leverages his extensive knowledge of the Salesforce Platform to transform businesses. With his guidance, clients can address challenges and streamline tasks using Salesforce, simplifying work processes and driving efficiency. Recently, Sheldon and his team partnered with a client who had just undergone an acquisition and needed to integrate several Salesforce systems. With Sheldon and his team's partnership, the client successfully unified multiple Salesforce environments into a single, streamlined system, integrated data from older systems, and updated their accounting processes using precise permission sets, sharing rules, and account teams.
Sheldon now serves on the board of Merivis and helps to mentor other veterans who are in the job seeking process. It is through Merivis that Sheldon was introduced to the Salesforce ecosystem, but his involvement in the Trailblazer Community helped propel him to new heights. Sheldon is a force for good in the community, giving back whenever and wherever he can. He also serves as a mentor for other nonprofits devoted to helping underrepresented communities break into the tech industry.