FlowRepublic

I cannot recommend the FlowRepublic CTA Coaching program highly enough for anyone who is serious about preparing for and passing the CTA exam. I came in to the review board knowing exactly what to expect, what the judges were looking for, and how to effectively prioritize my time. I did not have a single surprise on the day of the exam and was able to purely focus on the scenario. There are a number of aspects to the coaching program that were very helpful: a catalogue of potential questions, take-home exercises and study plans to help deep-dive into specific areas, a group of other motivated people who you are preparing with, etc.) The most valuable part though was the opportunity to complete multiple realistic mock scenarios with a CTA who can provide detailed feedback and is very closely aligned with the Salesforce program architect team and knows what they are expecting. This process will not only make you much more likely to succeed at the review board but will sharpen your on-the-job skills as well. The 6 months of preparation and working with Sebastian have likely done more to hone my skillset than my last few projects combined.

I highly recommend anyone looking to sit the board to engage with FlowRepublic to get the support and coaching they need. Engaging with FlowRepublic and Sebastian to prepare for my CTA board exam really helped me to feel prepared, confident and relaxed when sitting the board exam. Sebastian has a vast amount of experience in not just the technical and knowledge aspects of the preparation, but also the soft skills as well. Sebastian helped support me in everything from breathing and being relaxed and building up confidence - through to body language, voice and presentation skills. That was coupled with one on one sessions to focus on how to approach scenarios and build a presentation quickly and effectively, as well as absorb all the knowledge required for the Q&A. FlowRepublic also works very closely with the Salesforce University/Trailhead team, so the training content and material is very relevant and aligned to the upcoming boards, as well as what’s important to obtain optimal scores by the judges. Alongside that, FlowRepublic has a large catalogue of training and learning material - from a long list of Q&A questions, through to a range of scenarios, cheat sheets and mini-assignments to prepare for the different aspects of the exam. Not only was I able to sit the board feeling confident and prepared, but all the learnings are applicable to my role as an architect for a Salesforce partner as well.

Preparing for the CTA is a challenging time, the amount of information to absorb is literally unlimited. A rational organisation of your agenda is a must have and Sebastian gave me from the beginning the guidance and tools to progress on my studies at the right pace. Another way to optimize my effort was to focus on the right topics, identify and improve my area of weaknesses. Again, the FlowRepublic program shaped my effort so I could get the best of my study time. Exercise and mock exams are an integral part of the training. Beyond the pure academic training guidance, they are the main reason I joined the Flow Republic program. You need a trustable peer to judge you, challenge you and explain to you some aspect of the platform you may not fully mastered. Sebastian excel at playing that role. Finally, I really enjoyed the emphasis on the soft skills which clearly play an important role in our Architect Role.

Attending the FlowRepublic CTA Academy really helped me to prepare for my exam. Prior to starting the academy, I had very good Salesforce knowledge and had already created my own Cheatsheets The thing I lacked was experience in Mock Exams and soft skills needed to face the review board. The coaching helped me with this by providing me with several opportunities to solve and present a sample scenario and defend my solution in a Q&A simulation environment. The other great benefit of coaching was that I got tips on how to approach the exam and make sure that I answer the questions in the Q&A section in the best possible way. I would highly recommend this coaching to anyone with a goal to sit in front of the review board.

Being one of the first members and graduates of Tquila's Technical Architect Academy, Sebastian heavily contributed to the success of the program by designing essential parts of the framework including learning journeys, practical exercises and assignments as well as mentoring other academy members. His focus is not only to help people develop in-depth technical knowledge, but also for them to acquire the necessary soft skills people need to communicate that knowledge. (Tquila, founded 2010, was Europe's largest Salesforce Partner before it got acquired by Accenture in 2014. By the time 7 out of the 20 CTAs in Europe had worked at Tquila and graduated from the Tquila Technical Architect Academy)