Career Change from Project Management to Salesforce – Martina’s Success Story

Martina made a career change from project management, moving from global railway infrastructure projects to an Onboarding Specialist – Success Guide role after Supermums Salesforce training.
Career Change from Project Management to Salesforce – Martina’s Success Story

Martina

  • Course:Salesforce Admin Course
  • Region:EMEA
  • Sector:Technology
  • Job Title:Onboarding Specialist - Success Guide
  • Works:Salesforce
  • Lives:London

Martina made a career change from project management after years running large-scale railway infrastructure projects all over the world. She had already used Salesforce as an end user and “accidental admin”, so she trained with Supermums to formalise her skills, get certified and prove her value on a real charity project. Today she works as an Onboarding Specialist – Success Guide, helping clients around the world get the most out of Salesforce.

Her story shows how the skills you build in one career, from leading people to managing risk, can become the foundation of a fulfilling career in tech.

Previous Role: Project Manager, Railway Infrastructure Projects
New Role: Onboarding Specialist – Success Guide

“There’s nothing better than a client that says at the end of the day, ‘Wow, we could have never gotten to this fast without you.'”

Martina decided to make a career change from project management because…

“I decided to upskill in Salesforce and AI because I had exposure to the tool in my previous role as a project manager running large-scale infrastructure projects in railways all over the world, mostly in developing countries. When I left that role, I decided I wanted Salesforce to become the focus of what I was going to do going forward.

As an end user and also accidental admin, I had quite a lot of skills, but I wanted to formalise those, and that’s what brought me to Supermums.”

Martina decided to upskill with Supermums because…

“Upskilling with Supermums in particular was very helpful for me because, point one, we had a brilliant trainer, and I’m sure the current team is just as strong. We covered all the technical skills in the certification, but we also worked with case studies, so we had the practical application straight away.

Learning what the business problem is and applying that to a dev org is almost like working with a real client. I thought that was brilliantly thought out, and it makes you ready for real-life application.”

Through the Supermums Salesforce Admin Course, Martina turned years of hands-on experience into a recognised Salesforce certification, backed by practical, client-style case studies.

Martina’s work experience project helped a national charity because…

“Doing the training with Supermums helped me to formalise and certify in Salesforce tools, and doing the project through them also helped me to see for myself how much value I was able to add to a national charity, helping them to improve their funding processes.”

Martina found support beyond the training because…

“Having now a little bit of distance from the actual training, I would say, looking back, the community that Heather and the Supermums team have built is absolutely amazing.

If networking is not your natural thing, any community event that you go to, at least in London, will have at least one Supermum or a mentor or someone from that ecosphere there, and they are ready to have a conversation with you. They’re ready to support you with your LinkedIn posts. If you have a question about a technical problem, there’s always someone there to help you out and, if you need, just to be your buddy for the day.”

Martina was able to launch her new career successfully because…

“Having a background in project management meant that I had to lead people that I didn’t have direct authority over. Often that meant I needed to be able to read people really well, understand the cultural context they come from and, most of all, understand what motivates the individual, so that I could align them to the common goal and complete the project successfully.

I used to refer to it as playing chess with real people. In my role now, that comes up every day, again and again, when a client comes to me and wants their Salesforce setup to be done yesterday, and it’s all urgent. I point out what risks that entails if we go down that route, and I just love it when the penny drops and they decide to go the safer route that gives them the better result in the end.”

Martina’s story is a great example of how transferable skills from project management, such as stakeholder management, cultural awareness and risk management, are highly valued in Salesforce roles. Supermums’ Recruitment support helps trainees show employers exactly that.

Martina has now successfully achieved a career change from project management that offers her…

“What I enjoy most about my day-to-day role is that I get to work with people all over the world, in different business contexts, and I get to learn every single day about their business and about how versatile our products are and how they can be adapted to give them the best use.”

“I get to learn at the forefront of new technology being developed. I get to play with AI and develop tools to learn the products faster. When I shared those with my team, they were using them straight away. My manager said, ‘Share it on our onboarding canvas,’ and within two days I had requests from colleagues on the other side of the world who wanted to use the tool I had built.”

“So overall, do I think I am where I want to be? Absolutely. I get to learn every day.”

Her career change from project management now offers her global collaboration, constant learning, the chance to build AI tools that others use, and a role where her people skills make a real difference to clients every day.

Final Thoughts on a career change from project management

“For a lot of women who train with Supermums, the aim is to have a role that fulfils them, but also the flexibility to look after their children. For me, that wasn’t perhaps the biggest aim. I needed flexibility as well, but for me it was to find something where I could grow quickly and find challenges, and I do find challenges every day. Salesforce products change all the time, so I don’t think I will ever reach a day where I’ve learned everything there is to learn, and I love that.”

For project managers considering a career change into tech, Martina’s story shows that your experience leading people and managing risk is a real advantage. With the right training, certification and community behind you, a fast-growing career in the Salesforce ecosystem is within reach. Find out more about the Supermums Salesforce Admin Course.

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