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Want to Unlock Career Growth? Try Hands-on Learning

Trailhead, Salesforce’s online learning platform, offers hands-on challenges—the best way to practice, experience, and apply your new skills.

Turn your knowledge into skills with Trailhead’s hands-on challenges.

For many of us, the best way to understand and retain new information is to roll up our sleeves, get hands-on, and “learn by doing.” Since the beginning, Trailhead, Salesforce’s free online learning platform has provided free access to Salesforce business tools and technology so you can build your skills with hands-on learning.

Hands-on learning with Trailhead

On Trailhead, after each bite-sized section of learning about a certain topic (we call these units or steps), you’ll come across an interactive challenge where you can test your understanding. These challenges are either multiple-choice quizzes or hands-on challenges, where you complete a task based on a real-world Salesforce scenario.

Hands-on challenges give you access to a free test version of the Salesforce Platform called a Trailhead Playground. In this playground, you can explore and create with Salesforce technology, identical to what Salesforce professionals use every day. Worried about messing up? Don’t be! Anything you do in a Trailhead Playground will only show up in that environment, and nobody can see it but you. 

When you finish your challenge, you’ll receive fast feedback with the click of a button. If your answer is incorrect, you’ll receive a hint as to why. Between having the Trailblazer Community at your fingertips and the challenge verifications at the end of each lesson, you’re never really studying alone.

Screenshot of the Create an Opportunities Report

You’ll come across hands-on challenges in both modules and projects.

  • Modules are bite-sized units that guide you through specific topics. These units have interactive challenges, either multiple choice or hands-on.
  • Projects help you gain new skills with hands-on practice through the Trailhead Playground (your own developer environment), giving step-by-step instructions as you work.

Trailhead’s hands-on challenges gave me real Salesforce experience, which prepared me for my job and set me apart from my peers.”

Houssam Saoudy
Salesforce Practical Solutions Architect, Capgemini

New hands-on challenges

If you can’t get enough of hands-on learning, you’re in good company. Neither can we! In fact, because it’s such an effective form of learning, we’re investing in even more hands-on challenges on Trailhead. You’ll see them in many new badges, even added to existing badges, to help you deepen your learning. 

You can find some of the latest hands-on challenges within:

Complete the Get Hands-on with Learning Quest

Did you know that many hands-on challenges are often worth a whopping 500 points per step? Well, get ready to see that confetti fly because there’s a brand new Trailhead Quest calling your name: the Get Hands-on with Learning Quest. Complete all the steps and you’ll be the owner of a new, limited-edition community badge.

Community badges are limited-edition virtual prizes you can earn only by attending an event or completing a Trailhead Quest. These badges will appear on your Trailblazer Profile in the badge section; just click the drop-down menu and select Event/Community to view your community badge collection.

 *Official rules apply. See the Trailhead Quests page for full details and restrictions.

Andy Bergman
Andy Bergman VP, Trailhead Content Development

Andy is the VP of Trailhead Content, our free learning platform at Salesforce that breaks down barriers to learning and creates an equal and accessible pathway into the Salesforce ecosystem for anyone. He has spent the past eleven years at Salesforce, helping customers learn new technology skills, soft skills, and Salesforce skills via instructor-led courses to free self-study badges.

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