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I have been doing trails and modules on Trailhead for almost an year now and it has proved to be one of the most engaging sources of learning and garnering Salesforce related information. I don’t need to talk much about what it is and how it works since Chris Duarte and team have done a spectacular job at spreading the Trailhead awareness among the masses. Being a sucker for Trailhead modules, I try my best to complete the modules as soon as they are launched and earn those shiny Trailhead badges. Out of my love for Trailhead, I have been able to grab all 77 badges and can’t wait for more trails/modules to be launched by the Trailhead team. I can think of a ton of reasons for why you should be “Trailheading” and here are my top five:

1. Trailhead is engaging. And free!
   I have always found classroom courses to be monotonous hence never went for the expensive instructor led courses offered by Salesforce.  With the launch of Trailhead, the self study became much easier since I now had a reliable exam preparation resource which was informative and fun at the same time. And it’s free, which is an icing on the cake. The ‘Check Challenge‘ part of Trailhead is what makes it so appealing and popular among the crowd. You get to validate what you have learned by doing a challenge and then verifying it, all of which is automated and absolutely accurate.
2. Trailhead is for everyone and covers almost everything platform related
   Want to know how the Salesforce platform has been built? Trailhead covers it. Want to learn about data modeling and UI customization? Trailhead covers it. New to creating reports and dashboards? Trailhead covers it. New to creating formulas, validation rules, workflow rules or Processes? Trailhead teaches you how to build them. Don’t know what the Lightning buzz is all about? Trailhead explains it. Interested in writing an Apex trigger or a Visualforce page? Trailhead helps you with it. Want to know more about the Sales and Service cloud and Analytics cloud? Trailhead has that covered. Want to have hands-on practice with mini projects? Trailhead has a lot of them with step by step instructions.
   Consider yourself at a beginner, intermediate or advanced level? Trailhead has trails and modules for all level types. Are you an Admin, End user or a Developer? You already know the answer by now.
   
3. Trailhead promotes collaboration
   Trailhead has been quite popular in the Salesforce user groups and within companies. It promotes collaborative learning by allowing people to work together and do the modules in a group. If you haven’t had a chance to experience it yet, register for a user group event taking place near you and discuss it with the attendees.  I, along with a Salesforce admin, created a Trailhead chatter group at a firm that I worked with and it was a huge success. We encouraged the admins, developers and power users to take challenges, earn badges and showcase them in the Chatter group. We even did mini contests and celebrated the achievements by handing out fun gifts to the folks who participated.

   

4. Trailhead is a great study aid for Salesforce Certification/(s) exam preparation
   I passed eleven Salesforce certification exams and all through self study. The self study was a challenge at times due to the unreliable online sources like flash card sites and other websites offering practice tests with wrong answers. Salesforce help and training proved to be conducive but it occasionally led to an overwhelming information overload. How did Trailhead help? It is crisp and to the point. The challenges and theoretical quizzes are something that I could depend on and are a great confidence booster as well.
   Another great feature of Trailhead that definitely helped was the team’s promptness in releasing modules to be in pace with the Salesforce releases. When information related to LEX seemed to be all scattered across the Salesforce help docs, Trailhead had it all organized and well laid out in its modules.
5. Trailhead helps you sell yourself during job interviews
   Interviewer : By the way, have you heard of Trailhead?
   Me : I have all 77 badges.
   Interviewer : Well, that seals the deal. Congrats on the new job.

   OK that never happened but my gut feeling tells me that such a day isn’t far away. Trailhead is getting popular by the day and I am seeing a lot of resumes showing off the number of Trailhead badges. I don’t know about others but it sure impresses me if I know a candidate is putting in the effort to stay up to date with the Trailhead modules. You obviously don’t need to have them all and it obviously won’t be a dealbreaker but it can certainly sway things slightly in your favor. Being on the interviewee side of things, I can tell that the interviewers like their Salesforce candidates being aware of Trailhead. As an FYI:

If you haven’t yet had a taste of Trailhead,  get yourself registered for a Trailhead account. Go through a couple of modules and you will know exactly what I have been blabbering about. And hey, don’t forget to thank me later. If you love Salesforce, there will be no coming back from the Trailhead addiction. Ever.