Welcome to the latest in our series of Meet the Galacticos blogs to learn more about our growing Cloud Galacticos team. Say ‘hello’ to Adam, a Salesforce consultant and one of our recent recruits. I caught up with Adam via Slack to ask him a few questions.
Adam Barnes, Salesforce Consultant
Hi Adam, thanks for finding a few minutes to help people learn a bit more about you. Can you give us a bit of background about yourself and your work history?
I’m quite a bubbly outgoing person. I’ve also been involved in the IT world from secondary school – blowing up my first PC at the age of 13, overloading it with a new graphics card! Moving into computing for college, learning the foundations of programming. It was then onto university for a Computer Games and Software Development degree. It covered all areas of computing. It was quite challenging.
I got my first job as an IT engineer for a large UK based software company. They had 26 offices and I learned a great deal with all the different offices and setup.
It was then onto the start of my Salesforce career, and it was like “ooooooh, this is awesome and you can do so much with it!”. This was 10 years ago. I still enjoy its development, and the community is one of the best things about Salesforce. Everyone is so helpful and it’s a pleasure to meet others here in the UK and around the world. It’s a true pleasure.
What’s your story behind joining the Cloud Galacticos team?
I was looking for my next step – I always avoided consultancies up to now to be honest. But when I saw Phil was needing some help, I thought I’d reach out. After we spoke, I decided to explore working permanently for Cloud Galacticos. I wanted to get a feel of the company and how they work with its clients. I liked what I heard with the way they do things. So it felt like an awesome fit to join the team and also to learn from an established consultancy rather than being a cog and a big organisation.
What is your role as a Salesforce Consultant at Cloud Galacticos, and what do you enjoy about it?
I think the best part is being thrown in the deep end and learning how they do things – good and bad. You could have two identical businesses but each implement Salesforce in a different way which you can learn from.
I enjoy learning new things, which is why I try to attend various User Groups. I could be attending the most basic presentation but I normally always come away from it. You can still learn something as the person presenting will have a different perspective which you might not have thought of. So it’s always worthwhile going and joining the events to feel part of the community.
Aside from Salesforce and working as a Salesforce Consultant at Cloud Galacticos, what else do you enjoy doing?
None of us have been doing much over the current pandemic and my thoughts are with all that have been badly affected by it. But when things go back to ‘normal’ I’d like to get back to my holidays; going Snowboarding in the winter, beaches in the summer, and generally travelling is my aim from now on!
Over the pandemic I got myself a puppy which has been an absolute joy. He’s a husky and is called Storm. He’s growing pretty fast already!
Storm
What tips would you have on working remotely during the current Covid-19 situation?
I’d say, make sure you have that separate space of an ‘office’ from the rest of your living space. Also, make sure you have breaks away from the screen. For me over the pandemic, I found myself just not leaving the flat at all, which can get quite depressing and not help your mood at all. So the one major change I did was getting a puppy (Storm). Had always wanted one but now it gave me the time to actually be here for them. It also gives me a routine and gets me out of the flat.
Mentally, having a puppy has been fantastic. It’s awesome company and gives you a reason to go for a walk – instead of just having to. Storm gets me up in the morning. It has really helped me keep a steady routine, as well as keeps things interesting and different each day.
When walking with a dog, everyone wants to talk to you (or realistically, the dog). But you end up meeting some awesome people you probably would never speak to normally. I’m very grateful the lockdown hasn’t affected me in an awful way as it has many around the world. Maybe if I didn’t have my friends, family and doggo support, it probably wouldn’t have been good for me either.
Best wishes to everyone over this horrible period. We are almost out of it so we can get back to some sort of normality and let’s help others where they need it…
ABOUT CLOUD GALACTICOS
Cloud Galacticos is a Salesforce Consulting Partner with an all-star team. We are user and developer group leaders, bloggers, MVPs and all round Salesforce nerds. We have people all over the UK including Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Sheffield, and London. If you are looking for a Salesforce partner with experience who can help you make the most of your org, why not give us a call?
