Book review: Becoming a Salesforce Certified Technical Architect

Posted byjohanngilibconsulting

Summary

Salesforce Architecture is hard but Tameem Bahir just made it a little easier. Tameem released a book ‘Becoming a Salesforce Certified Technical Architect’. The book was an instant success and can already be considered a classic. He created an amazing resource for all Salesforce Architects and a must-have for all #journeyToCTA candidates.
I’d have liked to have such a book during my CTA preparation phase. The book covers all relevant areas of the CTA preparation with the right level of detail. The number of examples and directly applicable tips is just astonishing.  
But the book is not for everyone. The book requires a certain level of existing Architect knowledge and is not suited for beginners in the field of Salesforce Architecture.

Table of Contents

Introduction

One of the biggest challenges on our journey to CTA is the last stretch between your last certificate and the review board. The knowledge required for the CTA review board is not readily available, but needs to be looked for in many different places. Over the last years more and more great content became available, special thanks here to Ladies Be Architects. The book ‘Becoming a Salesforce Certified Technical Architect’ by Tameem Bahir is the next piece of great content for Salesforce Architects and a step toward the democratization of Salesforce Architect knowledge and in turn #journeyToCTA.

(Not just) for future CTA’s

The book is primarily aimed at people wo are preparing for their CTA review board and the book succeeds in that. I think, the book is also a great resource for Salesforce Architects on many levels. I got quite a few things out of the the book, for example initialization vector for cryptography or my lack of knowledge on eventual consistency in non-relational databases.

The book does not make it easy for architecture beginners. You need quite a firm understanding of Salesforce Architecture already to get the most out of the book. I’d suggest the book to anyone who got their System and Application Architect Domain certificates.
If you are not there yet, there are other, better-suited books and resources out there.

What’s good about the book

The book is exactly what every Salesforce Architect should have on his desk. For people on their #journeyToCTA the book is a must have! It strikes the right level of details, it covers a lot of areas (more than 500 pages) and focuses on the right, relevant content for Salesforce Architecture.

The book assumes you have quite some understandings of Salesforce Architecture and will not hold your hand but still is still quite nice to read.

On top of explaining all relevant topics in theory the book has quite a lot exercises to sharpen your skills. All major areas of the CTA review board are covered. The book comes with quite a few exclusive scenarios never seen before. Tameem also provides a solution with the scenarios. The book also covers the tactics, thought process and considerations for solving a scenario.

I’m sure, if you are willing to put in the work, the book can lay a great foundation for your #journeyToCTA since the level of detail is exactly right.

How to get the most out of the book

The book is no there to be just read once and never touched again. I’d assume it’s something I will be working with over and over again. Each chapter needs to be worked through. The chapters are done really well, but still need work to get the most out of each chapter.  The book can be a great starting point but will likely lead to a lot of additional research from your side.

The book is not a shortcut to CTA, but yet another puzzle piece. The book can help in addition of your study groups, coaching and other study material.

Disclaimer:

I got a free review copy of the book. Thank you very much Tameem for providing the book.