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The important thing to note about Chatter is that it is NOT instant messaging - it is way more than that. Instant Messaging is not related to any Salesforce records - the record of conversation is completely disconnected to the opportunity record, contact or account and is not visible to other Salesforce users. With chatter, the conversation is attached to the record for all users to see at any time and they can follow the conversation. That is why it is called "collaboration" and not messaging and is the major benefit of chatter.

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There are new features now in Salesforce to prevent the creation of duplicate records. It does not help with those you already have in your org but does help prevent more being created.  See more here on our blog: Detect Duplicates Across Contacts And Leads Using Standard Salesforce Rules

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Also note that with standard objects you are very limited in what you can change. You can add your own custom fields to them but you can't change the existing standard fields.  This is important to allow upgrades to the Salesforce platform (3 times per year) to be able to improve and add functionality to standard objects without breaking your system because you changed a standard object field.  Take care when creating custom objects - the temptation is always there to create a new custom object when you have a new requirement.  If you can adapt a standard object to suit your needs then always do this as long term it will be better for you. Read this article for more ... https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2016/10/you-should-use-standard-objects.html

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I suggest you go along to a Salesforce user group and ask around there.

Here is the list of user groups in California:

https://success.salesforce.com/featuredGroups?filter=a0L3000000Rq7KUEAZ

 

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Certification is not mandatory but is certainly helpful and may be the difference between you and other candidates for a job. I find recruiters are not only looking for certifications but they are starting to ask and look to see what Trailhead modules you have completed too so they can see that you have made a commitment to ongoing professional development.  If you got your certification 3 years ago and have done nothing since then your skills are getting out of date and you are not showing initiative or a desire to learn and improve yourself. With 3 new Salesforce releases every year you can't let those skills go rusty.

Volunteering is another way that you can demonstrate your work experience/readiness. If you can present at an interview and talk about how you helped an organisation implement Salesforce and what business problems you helped solve (even if only a minor part of the implementation) then will also help you stand out from the crowd.

Need help getting started on your Admin Certification? CertifyCRM.com offers a FREE online course to prepare you for your Certified Salesforce Administrator exam. (and we include lots of Trailhead badges in the course too!). Got your Admin cert? We have a paid course ($30) for Certified App Builder too.