TrailblazerDX 2022 (formerly known as TrailheadDX) has just wrapped up and the event didn’t disappoint.   In Salesforce style the event was first class and had over 200 technical sessions.  The event was kicked off with the keynote by Co-Founder and CTO, Parker Harris (sans any costumes).

My top 4 takeaways from this event:

• Flow Everywhere – The no-code automation tool is being used to connect all the Salesforce platforms – Salesforce, Tableau, Slack and Mulesoft. Salesforce is extending their actions in Flow to include more Slack actions allowing you to create channels on the fly and send communications to partners.  In addition to these automations Salesforce Screen Flows will be able to be exposed inside Slack, allowing for a custom, interactive way to work with Salesforce data.  Screen flows are also being added to the Tableau UI allowing users to act on data at the point of insight.
• Native Slack Integration – The hands-on area allowed us to see the Apex SDK for Slack unlocking the ability for developers to write their own integration logic between Salesforce and Slack. This allows developers to expose Salesforce data within the Slack UI and to pass data from Slack into the Salesforce platform without any middleware.  This will be available in public beta later this summer for developers to begin to experiment with and a GA release slated for first part of 2023.  If you have immediate needs to interact with Slack now and would like a low/no-code solution, check out centro.rocks.  Centro presented at the event and can help accelerate integrations right now.
• Salesforce Code Builder, the Developer Console Extreme Makeover – During the keynote we were given a demo of the new Salesforce Code Builder. This is taking all the powerful VS Coding tools that Salesforce developers including the CLI and other extensions into the browser.  The amazing part is this isn’t just a web-based editor, each instance of Code Builder gets its own virtual machine allowing you develop LWCs, advanced Apex debugging and Node.js support.  This tool has been in the works for several years and we’re excited to get our hands on it!
• DevOps Center – I loved sitting in the breakout session where we got to see a preview of the DevOps Center which Salesforce is planning on releasing by the end of the year. The ability to identify changed metadata in your sandbox and deploy quickly while maintaining source control in Git is a game changer.  Gone are the days of maintaining your changesets as you build your solution.

I loved the interactions with all the other Salesforce developers and admins.  This was my first in-person event since Dreamforce 2019.   NuAge Experts was honored with the opportunity to present at the Talent Alliance event, and we got to meet some new faces that are just getting involved in the Salesforce ecosystem.  I’m excited to meet up with them again in the future and see where this exciting crossroads in their lives has taken them.