What does it take to go from pulling espresso shots at Starbucks to architecting complex Salesforce solutions for enterprise clients? In this episode, Greg sits down with Cirrius Solutions Solution Architect Will Saleh to unpack his unconventional path from barista to Microsoft cybersecurity, then Salesforce admin, consultant, and finally architect. They dig into how mindset, mentorship, Trailhead, and community support helped him push through imposter syndrome and information overload in those early “firehose” years. Will also shares how he thinks about scalable architecture, AI as a tool (not a crutch), and the people-first skills that make consulting work long term.
Takeaways
- From lattes to layouts: How five years as a Starbucks barista and other service jobs quietly built the empathy and composure he now uses with stressed-out clients and teams.
- Nonprofit to Microsoft to Salesforce: The nonprofit training program that opened the tech door, led to a cybersecurity internship at Microsoft, and eventually dropped him into the Salesforce ecosystem.
- Drinking from the firehose: Will’s honest take on the first two years in Salesforce—data models, limits, overlapping automations—and how “mental reps” with documentation and training sped up his growth.
- Imposter syndrome is normal, not fatal: How he reframed “new job jitters” as proof of growth and leveraged his “junior” title to ask every question while the bar was lower.
- Building a Field Service accelerator: Inside the project where Will helped turn repeated field service patterns into a reusable accelerator that saves clients serious time and money.
- What a Solution Architect really does: Beyond building flows—thinking about integrations, security, compliance, user experience, scalability, and how today’s choices impact mergers and growth five years out.
- AI as power tool, not autopilot: How Will and the team use AI for automation assessments, documentation, and drafts—while still insisting consultants get their hands dirty and understand the details.
- Community as a force multiplier: Why mentors pushed him into Trailblazer communities, Slack groups, and forums instead of just giving him answers—and how that built confidence and resilience.
- Resilience, work ethic & grit : The work ethic he learned from his father, the grind vs. mental-health balance he’s trying to strike, and his advice to career changers not to lose the big picture in tough early days.
Recommended Links
Will Saleh on LinkedIn
Salesforce Break / Andy Engin Utkan
Andy’s Youtube Channel
Year Up United
Cirrius Blog
Greg Banks on LinkedIn
Jason Fowler Music
Contact us at Cirriustalk@cirriussolutions.com
