You Shall Not Pass: Dealing with Salesforce Certification Failure

It started with a random question in a DM via Twitter. A fellow member of the Ohana, Brian Naylor, confessed that he has just failed a Salesforce certification exam and was beating himself up over it. Brian asked me if this was common and if I could offer some perspective and advice.

I knew EXACTLY how Brian was feeling. Yes, I told him, I have failed – multiple times! I told him that many people in the community had failed certification exams. No one posts their failures to social media, only nice pics of those new certifications. It’s very easy to assume that YOU are the only person who has ever failed a certification test if you base it on the social media highlight reel. So, wanting to open up the conversation so that other’s who may be feeling the same could see they weren’t alone, I tweeted about the matter:

This one tweet opened up a really great conversation. The Salesforce Ohana definitely opened up and shared that yes, they failed. And yes, sometimes MANY TIMES!

Check out some of the motivational responses that came in:

 

 

There were so many awesome responses, I hope you get a chance to go read through them all. The thread really embodies the spirit of the Salesforce Ohana. We are all so supportive of each other, through our ups and downs. The conversation did not go unnoticed by Erica Kuhl, the VP of Salesforce Community herself, who tweeted:

Brian re-took the test a few days ago, and I am very happy to report he PASSED!

 

If you are reading this and feeling down about failing, please know that you have an entire community behind you, ready to cheer you on, and help you achieve your goals. Maybe you don’t feel comfortable tweeting about it, but I hope that after reading this post, you may feel comfortable enough to reach out to any of us for support.

 

Dealing with your feelings after a certification failure? Check out these posts for more motivation and tips!

• Checklist: What to do before attempting 15 certifications  by David Liu
• Salesforce Certification Fail? 7 Tips for the retake
• The Only Thing Standing in the Way of Success Way Me! How I Overcame My Certification Complacency by Misty Jones
• The Inspiring Story of Michael Drzewiecki