Ten years into Salesforce consulting, I've accumulated a few things beyond client projects: tools I built because they didn't exist, resources I recommend to every Salesforce professional I meet, and side projects that scratch completely different itches. This post is an honest roundup of all of it — what I'm building, what I use, and what I think you should know about.
Salesforce Tools I Built
These started as internal tools for client projects. Both solve the same class of problem: Salesforce's native file management is genuinely painful at scale, and there was no good off-the-shelf answer.
SFDC File Exporter
A desktop application for bulk downloading Salesforce Files, Attachments, ContentDocuments, Notes, and Static Resources directly to your machine — no AppExchange installation required. It runs locally, authenticates via OAuth directly with your Salesforce org, and never routes your data through external servers. I built this after spending too many hours writing one-off Apex export scripts for clients. Filters by object type, date range, file category, and ownership. Supports both production and sandbox orgs. Used by 500+ organisations including enterprise clients across healthcare and logistics.
Visit SFDC File Exporter →SFDC File Manager
A 100% native Salesforce application (AppExchange) that adds proper file reporting and bulk download capabilities directly inside your org. Generate reports on all files, attachments, notes, and static resources across any Salesforce object. Filter by file type — PDFs, images, Word documents — and export file inventories as CSV. One-click bulk download per record. Because it's native, your data never leaves Salesforce. If you'd rather not install a desktop application and prefer everything inside the org, this is the right tool for you.
Visit SFDC File Manager →The two tools complement each other — File Exporter is for taking data out of Salesforce, File Manager is for managing it within Salesforce. I use both on almost every data migration engagement I run. If you are working on a Salesforce file migration project, read my guide on how to bulk export Salesforce files and attachments before you start.
Salesforce Resources I Recommend
Beyond what I build myself, there are a handful of sites in the Salesforce ecosystem I consistently point people towards.
A2Z Salesforce
The best free Salesforce certification practice test platform I've come across. Over 1,050 exam-style questions covering 21 certifications — Administrator, Platform Developer I & II, App Builder, Advanced Administrator, CPQ Specialist, and more. No registration, no subscription. If you are preparing for any Salesforce certification exam, spend time here before you book the real thing. The question quality is genuinely close to the actual exam style.
Visit A2Z Salesforce →RASPSYS
A Salesforce consulting firm I have worked alongside on several projects. They cover the full Salesforce stack — Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Experience Cloud — as well as MuleSoft integrations, data migrations, and CRM work across Zoho and HubSpot. If you need a consulting team rather than a solo consultant, or a project that requires a larger bench, RASPSYS is a name I trust. They operate across India, UK, US, Australia, and New Zealand.
Visit RASPSYS →Side Projects Outside of Salesforce
Not everything I build is Salesforce-related. Consulting fills the days; side projects fill the gaps. Here is what I have been working on.
IshmitChat
An anonymous random chat platform — connect with strangers from 180+ countries in real time, no sign-up required. I built IshmitChat as an experiment in real-time WebSocket infrastructure and anonymous session management. The engineering challenge of matching users at scale with privacy as a hard constraint turned out to be a genuinely interesting problem. It currently has 12,500+ active users and 2.3 million total chats. Upcoming: video chat.
Visit IshmitChat →Inder App
A dating and connection platform built around intentional matching — interest-based tags, two browsing modes (grid and swipe), and real-time messaging once mutual interest is confirmed. The goal was to build something that prioritises genuine connections over engagement metrics. Available on Android, iOS, and web. I handled the backend architecture and Salesforce-style thinking on data modelling for this one. 10,000+ active users and growing.
Visit Inder App →Bestie10
A content site built around curated top-10 lists — cricket legends, travel destinations, technology picks, cultural deep-dives. Not technical at all, which is intentional. Writing about something completely outside your area of expertise forces a kind of clarity that technical writing does not. I co-author several of the pieces here and it keeps the writing muscle sharp. Worth browsing if you want an antidote to Salesforce documentation.
Visit Bestie10 →VehicleCharger.co.in
India's verified EV charger marketplace — 200+ charger models, 50+ KYC-verified sellers, spanning 28 Indian states. Every seller undergoes GST verification and document checks before listing. The marketplace covers home chargers, portable units, DC fast chargers, and smart chargers for cars, bikes, scooters, and buses. This project came from a clear market gap: EV adoption in India is growing fast, but finding reliable, verified charger suppliers is still surprisingly hard. Listing for sellers is free.
Visit VehicleCharger.co.in →Why I Build Things Outside of Consulting
The honest answer: because consulting solves other people's problems, and building products forces you to sit with your own. Every time I ship something new — a Salesforce tool, a web app, a content site — I come back to client work with a sharper eye for architecture, performance, and user experience.
The SFDC tools came directly from gaps I kept hitting on client projects. IshmitChat and Inder App came from infrastructure curiosity. VehicleCharger came from watching the EV market in India and seeing a gap no one was filling cleanly. Bestie10 came from wanting to write about something that had nothing to do with any of the above.
If you're a Salesforce consultant reading this and wondering whether side projects are worth the effort — they are. Not necessarily for the revenue, but for what they teach you about shipping real things to real users.