Career Success Story: Amy Ramnath

How one Pathstream student used the Salesforce Administrator Career Certificate to turn her passion for managing customer relationships into helping organizations strategically use Salesforce.

Amy’s first introduction to managing customer relationships was in 2014 when she worked in admissions for an educational institution, where she spent the majority of her time analyzing and deriving insights from student data. In 2014, she worked on her first CRM implementation. While challenging, working with the CRM Implementation Team made Amy realize how much she enjoyed teaching others how to use a CRM, encouraging CRM best practices, and discussing CRM tips and tricks with her co-workers.

After transitioning to work at Metis, a Data Science & Analytics Training company, in 2015, Amy was tasked with her second CRM implementation in 2018. Working with a team to implement Salesforce reaffirmed her passion for managing customer relationships and onboarding users. Amy enjoyed working with CRMs so much that she started taking Salesforce Trailhead lessons in her spare time. After a while, Amy found herself wanting more structured tasks, formal mentorship, and real-world projects to tackle. The main question that remained was where she could go for this type of learning experience?

Taking the Leap

After building a strong foundation of Salesforce knowledge with Salesforce’s Trailhead learning platform, Amy knew that she needed something more structured, and modeled after real-world projects to help her take the next step in her CRM career. After searching online and looking at various offerings from colleges and other online learning platforms, Amy came across Pathstream. For Amy, realizing that her Alma Mater (Syracuse) had a partnership with Pathstream gave her the confidence that the Salesforce Administrator Career Certificate was the best choice for maximizing her digital learning experience.

While taking the Salesforce Administrator Career Certificate, Amy found that the curriculum was well organized and of high quality. Specifically, she cites that the “user interface is easy to use and each module is very in-depth.” Furthermore, Amy liked the opportunity to solve challenging problems at her own pace. Throughout the course, Amy would first attempt to solve challenging problems through her research. Then, if she could not solve them and needed further support or mentorship, she would reach out to her instructors and mentors at Pathstream. Overall, Amy’s favorite parts of the Pathstream experience were the intuitive user experience, the flexible and customizable schedule, and the high-quality material built by the Pathstream Learning Experience Design team.

The Formula For Success

Throughout the Salesforce Certificate, Amy found success by following the core principles outlined below:

1. Create a Schedule: Before the start of each week, use your work or personal calendar (written or digital) to allocate time for your coursework. This will help you remain accountable, set attainable weekly goals, and build a routine.
2. Find time to decompress: Whether during the week or over the weekend, find time to relax and do things that you enjoy. This will help you clear your mind, avoid burnout, and maximize productivity.
3. Take classes because you want to be there: Take online courses because you want to learn the new skill(s) that they teach. This will help keep you motivated and interested in the things you are learning.
4. Remember your end goal: When things get tough or when you are learning difficult topics, it is important to always remember your end goal and purpose for taking the course. This will help you stay focused even when facing challenges.
5. Set ambitious, yet realistic, goals: It is difficult to balance ambition with reality, but finding the ‘sweet spot’ can help you build confidence in yourself and achieve things you never thought were possible. To find this ‘sweet spot,’ Amy suggests that you set time limits for your work by asking yourself what you can reasonably accomplish in an allotted period of time. Furthermore, she recommends you talk through what you are learning with friends, family, and other people in your support network, including your Pathstream instructors.

The Salesforce Certificate Edge

Ultimately, Amy hopes to use her newfound skills to become a consultant who helps educational institutions grow and implement Salesforce. The Salesforce Administrator Career Certificate was an important step in this journey because it equipped her with the skills necessary to understand various use cases for CRMs, gain the knowledge necessary to take the Salesforce admin certificate exam, apply this newfound knowledge to real-world projects, and, most importantly, gain the confidence and skills necessary to help her current organization implement efficient and effective CRM processes.

In the near term, Amy will continue to expand her knowledge of Salesforce through practical workforce experience, teaching those around her and being a mentor to those in need, and integrating the learning outcomes of this course into her own life as she works toward her long-term goals.

To take the next step in your career, learn more about Pathstream certificates here.