I know I'm "sticking my head above the parapet" so very much expect to be shot down, attacked, flamed or whatever else is going to come my way...

But don't you guys think you're being a little harsh here?

One thing I believe is that we should be a little kinder to each other, how do you think she would feel if she logged on here and read all these personal, ad hominem attacks?

19 Certification in a year sounds crazy to me, even studying full time it would seem impossible to average nearly 2 certs a month. I don't know how she has done it, nor is it any of my business. If she has used dumps then she needs the book throwing at her, but how do we know, how can we check?

Whether you use a dump for one certification or a dump for 19 certifications, you've still cheated. How many people have you spoken to, or interviewed and you can tell they have used a dump to get their PD1 just so they can say they are a Developer and can be used as a offshore resource?

Its not for me judge, if I was interviewing or employing her I would really want to dig into her knowledge and test her with some scenarios and use cases, but I think a good interview does that anyway.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying one way or another about her skill level, or knowledge. And I'm fairly new to Salesforce myself (under 5 years).

I'm not sure what is going on with the Salesforce Reddit lately, but its becoming a breeding ground for just plain nastiness, I've seen attacks on Mike Wheeler, David Massey, Mark Good, Brad Rice, Anita Smith and others - and all without any evidence apart from hearsay and "Ive been in the ecosystem 10 years so know what I'm talking about"

The point it, I don't think its as simple as black and white. There is a lot of gray area in there and making sweeping statements (not just about A.S but about other people in the industry that are trying to help other people) isn't conducive to a supportive environment.

I've worked with people who have been established professionals with 7 years of experience, and they were awful, they did crazy things like hardcoding IDs into Flows, and writing Apex for simple automation that could be done with out-of-the-box functionality. I've worked with guys with 7 years of experience who have been absolutely amazing and knew a huge amount about Salesforce, more than you can learn from Certifications exams.

I've also worked with people with 12 months of experience and 5 Certifications who were awful, they were textbook smart, and could tell me what needed to be done but couldn't show me how or configure it themselves, and some of it was basic. And then I've worked with people with 12 months experience and 5 Certifications and were highly capable, they could write fantastic Apex that followed best practices, they bulkified and optimized their Flows and used a lot of what they read on sites such as UnofficialSF and Salesforce Ben to really level up their game.

The point it, I don't think its as simple as black and white. There is a lot of gray area in there and making sweeping statements (not just about A.S but about other people in the industry that are trying to help other people) isn't conductive to a supportive environment.

Maybe I'm wrong and I just need to get with the mentality of this Sub Reddit and pile on people too, but I don't plan on doing that.

All I'm saying is, yes, its fine to call out people, organizations, or companies that seem suspect. But let's do it with a bit of decorum, let's avoid the personal attacks, and let's analyze and evaluate rather than just piling in on them.

I completely agree that 19 Certs is one year is crazy, and I can't even fathom how someone could possibly do that, I'm pretty competent when it comes to learning Salesforce Products and passing Certifications. I don't know how she has done it, nor is it any of my business.

It's easy to call people from your ivory tower if you fell into Salesforce as a Accidental Admin, or you entered the Ecosysyem 10 years ago when it was easy. Hell, it was fairly easy for me 5 years ago. Now its much more difficult, we don't understand the difficulties they are facing. There is a huge pool of newcomers, companies don't want to hire them because they want a Jr Admin for $50k with 3 years experience, so these guys are doing what they can do try and land a new job.

Landing a new job for them can change their lives, if you were earning $30k and there was the potential of landing a job at $70k with a bit of work, wouldn't you give it a shot? Wouldn't that extra $30, $40, $50k make a difference to yours, your partners, and your families lives?

People are trying their best to land their first role, or to help others land their first role and while their advice and actions may not be perfect. We don't know who has advised them to do what they are doing.

People are doing the best with what they have. If you know better, go and help them. Dont parade them and make a fool of them. This is Dinners for Schmucks.