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Stephen Bates

@holdfastsfdc.bsky.social
350 followers 184 following 174 posts

Certified Salesforce Developer/Admin. Trailhead Ranger, Cali Transplant. Nautical Enthusiast. Tweets/Opinions = My own.

PostsRepliesMedia
Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Being thrust into the job-seeking market is never easy, especially when it drags on for months. Despite all your experience and skill, you start to question if it's worth it. But it is. Today I accepted a long term contract role working for Salesforce. A literal dream come true.
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
Wow, it’s been a minute. Still on the job hunt. Got narrowly beat for an amazing role last week because of a tiny arbitrary thing. Still angry about it, even though the hiring manager 100% wants to bring me on the team and all but committed to do so as soon as he is able to.
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
It’s a great feeling going into the weekend knowing I have an interview Monday morning. Nice bit of wind in my sails.
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
Very well known Salesforce recruiter posts about a contract role on LinkedIn, asking for a DM if interested. So I message him within 45 minutes of his post. He sends me a connection request, but otherwise doesn’t reply. Huh?
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
Enjoying exploring the batch of certifications I want to take on the road to being an architect that focuses on UI/UX.
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Cooking up a little something to be released soon 👀
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
Also, after a lot of thought I think it’s really going to serve me best to stick with my niche of UI Development in Salesforce and forge my own path towards something like a Salesforce UI Architect
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
It's a huge relief and confidence booster now that i'm forcing myself to sit down and go through the Trailhead Apex Coding trail, so I can learn it the right away rather than be thrown in the deep end and learn to pick apart existing classes.
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
medium.com
Developers Shouldn’t Learn Design. Designers Shouldn’t Code.
From Handovers to Understanding: Rethinking Roles in Tech and Design
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 02/11/2025
For Los Angeles, the Dodgers just saved 2025
media.tenor.com
a blue background with the word win in white
ALT: a blue background with the word win in white
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
When you get submitted for a job that’s going to have multiple technical interviews
media.tenor.com
a man in a suit talking on a cell phone next to a handicapped parking sign
ALT: a man in a suit talking on a cell phone next to a handicapped parking sign
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
It’s a hell of a feeling to know that something I wrote is making its way around Salesforce in a way that will probably end up improving a product! Great way to start my day!
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
Pretty pleased with how the networking efforts over the past 2 months are fueling the job search. Have potential interviews with Block and a few others to schedule, including a consulting company who reached out to me when one of their people saw my post on the Salesforce Ohana Slack 😎
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 26/10/2025
Considering moving all of my project data for my two active projects from ChatGPT to Claude Code. Been reading that the latter excels at longer term complex projects and better output & documentation.
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
So what’s the over/under now on him declaring Democrats a National threat so they can have their official Fifth Reich? www.aclu.org/news/nationa...
aclu.org
How NSPM-7 Seeks to Use "Domestic Terrorism" to Target Nonprofits and Activists | ACLU
What President Donald Trump’s latest memorandum targeting civil society does, does not, and cannot do
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
Just signed up for 'Integration Developer 101' on Cloud Code Academy. Looking forward to closing up that skill gap.
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
Feel like I’m walking in the Shire
El Dorado Park, Long Beach CA
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 19/10/2025
It’s kind of a weird thing existing in a niche corner of Salesforce Development as a primarily Front End guy
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 18/10/2025
Funny how I’ve seen the same role for multiple locations get posted and reposted by Atlassian over the past 2 months when they’ve rejected me twice almost right away. Guys, I’m a solid candidate and I’m going to keep applying until you give me a shot 🤣
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Just published something I’ve been nervous (but excited) to share — how Salesforce’s new Agentforce Vibes and SLDS don’t quite speak the same language yet, and how my framework ForceKit could bridge that gap. medium.com/@stephen_675... #Salesforce #DesignSystems #AI #ForceKit
medium.com
From SLDS to Vibes: Bridging the Gap in Salesforce’s Design Evolution with ForceKit
Salesforce’s new Agentforce Vibes marks the beginning of AI-driven UI composition — but without a bridge between generative intent and…
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
Let’s let Agentforce build a flow! WHAT COULD GO WRONG?
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
Crazy. What started as a fun project and a cool thing to build is turning into a whole Design System layer that extends the Lightning Design System + LWC...a fully native developer-first, SLDS compliant framework. // #salesforce #design
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
Wait, Benioff actually tried to pretend he gave a crap about the community?
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 12/10/2025
Feels good to be in one of these again.
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Not even lunchtime and already I have one phone interview request, one solid lead that will probably result in a phone interview, and a former co-worker forwarding my info for some possible consulting work. Starting the week off right!
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Finally getting myself a new Trailblazer hoodie - just wish I could get a Ranger patch to go with it.
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 05/10/2025
Applied to great sounding job last week - over 100 applicants. Messaged their Salesforce hiring manager on LinkedIn and guaranteed my application will be viewed next week. Sweet.
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
Well, shut down my work laptop for the final time and got it ready to ship. Guess I’m a free agent now.
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
Cooking up a new Project. ForceKit, a LWC/SLDS framework for developing Lightning Web Components. Think "Salesforce Bootstrap". #salesforce
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
Well this REALLY made my day!
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
I’ve noticed I’ve developed a healthy resilience habit of accomplishing things to cancel out the sting of rejection. Didn’t get an interview, so I ran through some Apex training and applied for a bunch more jobs.
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
Confusing. This would be the perfect role for me. I applied, received a supposed 'rejection' the very next day, despite being perfectly qualified. But the posting is still on LinkedIn, still on their website, and my application is listed as still under consideration www.atlassian.com/company/care...
atlassian.com
Job Details | Atlassian
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
Another potential role lost due to lack of experience with integrations with Salesforce.
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
Increasingly wondering if Freelancing/Consulting w/ Salesforce is the way to go.
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Really looking forward into diving into some creative SLDS2 and LWC related projects soon, really getting back into my Front End Dev roots. #salesforce #dev
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Some thoughts about Flows and Scoping that I learned the hard way
linkedin.com
As I've delved more into designing and building Flows in Salesforce - especially more complex ones - I've learned that each element (Get/Create Records, Loops, etc.) has its own scope, much li...
As I've delved more into designing and building Flows in Salesforce - especially more complex ones - I've learned that each element (Get/Create Records, Loops, etc.) has its own scope, much like code....
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
Another post-interview rejection. Oh well, keep moving forward.
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
First phone interview went pretty well, from what I can gather. I wasn't over-nervous or talking too fast, and I think I gave a good representation of my capabilities. Will hopefully know by next week if they're going to set up a second interview
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
Three things contributing to my imposter syndrome today; ✅ Feeling like not having my Platform Developer I certification is a barrier to me finding another Salesforce Developer position 🧵⬇️ #salesforce #jobhunting
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
As good as Trailhead is - i'm starting to feel like chatgpt has been so much help to me in learning the little nuances of Flows and Apex.
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
Salesforce lays off 4K employees. Stock performance: flat Oracle lays off 2K employees. Stock up 500%.
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
Soothing the sting of job application rejection by indulging in one of the best movies ever.
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Ah, feels good to be running on Git again.
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
Monday morning is for bizarre behaviors, I guess. With the Winter '26 update, for some reason in our Sandbox Lightning Output Fields now display a checkbox field as an icon instead of the slds-checkbox input, throwing styling off.
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
Setting up my long neglected SFDX environment on my MacBook is going to be a fun process of updating underlying JS tools and task runners just to get everything up to date in VS Code
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
Applied for a position at Salesforce over the long weekend. Realistically not expecting much, but it's a cool position and i'm hopeful, so fingers crossed! #salesforce
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
Been a nice relaxing day - gym, cleaning the apartment, movies, applying to 5-10 more Salesforce positions - even a position *at* Salesforce! Hope everyone is having a great weekend.
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
6 jobs applied to and one call with a salesforce specific recruiter is a good way to feel better going into a holiday weekend
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
Welp, looks like due to business circumstances my position is being eliminated effective September 30th. So if anyone out there needs a solid salesforce developer/admin with a background in front end dev, i'm your guy! #salesforce
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Stephen Bates @holdfastsfdc.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
It's a great feeling for work to finally be switching to GitHub, so I can *finally* start working with Dev Ops Center #salesforce
media.tenor.com
a woman in a brown jacket says " oh! thank the force "
ALT: a woman in a brown jacket says " oh! thank the force "
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