How I passed Salesforce - Platform Developer 1 Cert Exam (SP20)

On the start of the year 2020, I decided to make some changes to my career development. I have been working in Microsoft technologies over two decades (you read it right - 20 years). I decided to delve into Salesforce. I was lured into, in fact. :). I also wanted to enhance my knowledge and be uncomfortable in a good way.

First and foremost, needless to say, I made Trailhead my best friend. I started reading trailhead and going through the Platform Developer1 trailmix. For the first few weeks, I got so confused that I almost decided to give up. Coming from a custom development background, it was very difficult to get the WHY of Salesforce ecosystem. My friend and mentor, Rajeev Venkitaraman, advised me to forget the WHY for now and continue. I did. I am glad I did. :)

After a while, things started making sense. I started studying in mid January. By February mid, I was feeling pretty comfortable. Since I had a rich programming experience, Apex was a no brainer. Triggers, Controllers, LWC, all made sense. Entering March, I scheduled the exam for April 2nd week. Once I completed the trailhead, I signed up for a Udemy course on the exam. It did help me solidify the concepts and boosted my confidence. I started gathering various resources and old questions to get a hang of the certification exam. Focusonforce.com really helped in this case. If you are hard-pressed on budget, you can also go through questions in propofs.com. But, the answers might be all wrong. Use you wits to gauge.

My exam was rescheduled to the first week of  June due to the COVID-19 situation. I could not wait and I rescheduled it back to April 2nd, changing it to OLP (Online Proctored) exam.

The night before I set all things ready - cleaned the desk, took off all the post-its from my wall, arranged my webcam (so that the proctor could see my face, my hands and my keyboard). Believe me, it was not fun - it took me around 30 minutes to adjust the webcam :)

On the day of exam, I took it easy - even though I was tensed a bit. After the test started, the proctor hindered (after 2 or 3 questions) and said he could not see me. I adjusted my camera again, and continued. But he hindered again and said the same. The real issue was not my webcam, but an instance of Skype which was running in the background. Switched it off, and things started sailing smooth.

There was only one question from Governor Limits (which is an important topic though), lot of SOQL and Apex questions. I was glad that I did Focusonforce, which helped me immensely. I reviewed all the answers one more time and finally hit the "SUBMIT" button. 

So, to summarize:

1. Go through trailhead.
   
2. Understand the Salesforce ecosystem (give some time - you will get it)
   
3. Do the trailmix
   
4. Schedule your exam (this will motivate you to keep going)
   
5. Do mock tests - Focusonforce.com (very reliable) or propofs.com (at your own risk)
   One thing to keep in mind - do not feel disheartened if you do not pass or get high scores in mock tests. GETTING HIGH SCORES IN MOCK TESTS SHOULD NOT BE OUR GOAL, CONTRARY TO WHAT MANY PEOPLE ADVISE. Our goal is to learn. Period. If you do not do good in a mock test, take that as an opportunity to learn and go read into those areas you did not do good. I enjoyed the aha moments during my mock test times.
   
6. Take the exam - FINISH STRONG!

Must read if this is your first attempt at a SF certification:
How to pass each Salesforce certification: The SFDC99 Method
https://www.sfdc99.com/2017/04/18/pass-salesforce-certification-sfdc99-method/
All the best!

PS: Did I say I passed the exam? I did. :)