At Claris Engage 2024, Beth Murillo won the Rising Star Award as part of the 2023 Claris Excellence Awards. This award acknowledges an individual with less than three years of Claris platform experience who is poised to be a force within the Claris Community. Beth’s accomplishments prove she is that force.
Explore how Beth transitioned her career – without any previous experience as a professional developer – in only three years. See how support from other women in tech helped her become an accomplished Claris developer.
Recognizing Claris FileMaker as a tool for problem solvers.
Beth was first introduced to FileMaker while working for a maintenance company that implemented a FileMaker solution for their business operations. The solution didn’t do what she needed it to do as an end-user, so she took the initiative to teach herself the technology. The intuitive features of FileMaker made it approachable for her to adopt as problem-solving tool.
"I didn't feel like I had to go learn something that was abstract. The way the scripting is done, you have hints and clues built in. You don't need to have everything memorized. FileMaker is perfect for somebody who isn't already a professional coder."
— Beth Murillo, The Scarpetta Group, operations manager and developer
She soon discovered she could work more efficiently with FileMaker. Beth used multiple applications in her role with the maintenance company and identified opportunities to leverage FileMaker to sync programs, allowing her to streamline processes.
“As I started using FileMaker and understanding its capabilities, I realized I don’t have to leave FileMaker to use the other programs. I can still use the power of those other tools, but I can bring and manage that power inside of FileMaker, which was awesome,” Beth shares.
In 2020, she decided to center her career around FileMaker and made the jump to become a FileMaker developer.
“I threw myself into anything I could get my hands on to learn, to interact with people in the Claris Community, and to get my name out there,” Beth explains.
Support from other women in tech.
Beth credits multiple Claris developer groups for women that encouraged her along her learning journey. Women Innovating Together, or WITfm, is one group that supported Beth with educational resources for female Claris developers.
Through WITfm, Beth connected with her first official mentor, senior software engineer Barbara Cooney of Proof+Geist, a Claris Platinum Partner organization. Barbara guided Beth through the process of building her first API and walked Beth through various aspects of troubleshooting and debugging.
Barbara shares it’s part of the culture within the greater Claris Community to support fellow developers.
"As a FileMaker developer, I'm proud to support my peers through mentorship as are many others in the Claris Community. That willingness to help is what makes our community so special. When one developer succeeds, we all do."
— Barbara Cooney, Proof+Geist, senior software engineer
Encouragement from other groups that promote equity and inclusion in the community of Claris developers motivated Beth. “There are so many women through WITfm, through join::table, through the Chicago Area FileMaker Developers Association, through all these different organizations,” Beth says. “You throw out questions and people are happy to answer.”
Making the most of free resources for Claris developers.
In addition to organizations promoting inclusivity of women and minority Claris developers, Beth gained traction in growing her skill set through Claris learning resources, many of which are available at no cost. The Claris Academy is one she finds particularly beneficial for continuing her FileMaker education.
“The Claris Academy is phenomenal. There are a ton of free resources through there,” Beth shares.
With certifications and training courses available for beginners all the way to expert-level content, the Claris Academy provides free learning resources for Claris developers of all skill levels.
Finding ways to work smarter.
In 2021, Beth took her first role as a junior developer with The Scarpetta Group, a Claris Platinum Partner organization. Since that time, she grew into a dual role as an operations manager and developer. Today, she produces quality solutions by leveraging the power of the whole Claris platform.
One of her most notable innovations to date is an automation she engineered within ShedVerse, a software for shed building and sales operations. Founded on a proprietary CRM that The Scarpetta Group published several years ago, ShedVerse has since been heavily tailored for the shed industry and is now its own product.
The Scarpetta Group partnered with some of their clients to bring ShedVerse to market. The separate organizations use different technology for their respective operations. So, how do two organizations work together as a team when maintaining separate tools?
Beth started by centralizing the support system. Using FileMaker and Claris Connect, she solved the problem, integrating multiple apps to automate processes so support tickets go to the right team based on the end user’s request.
“Somebody is watching tickets at all times, and we don’t have to worry about the customer knowing who they should be reaching out to,” Beth shares.
Next, she developed similar solutions with FileMaker and Claris Connect so that requests for new features filter to the appropriate teams. Prospective clients can now schedule demos from the ShedVerse website – thanks to app integrations. Individuals across organizations who need to be involved in the demo automatically receive invites when a client schedules a demo.
Beth found multiple ways to streamline aspects of the business, essentially creating a comprehensive workplace operating system. Her innovations with the Claris platform made a tremendous impact for the business in terms of driving efficiency according to Joe Scarpetta, CEO and founder of The Scarpetta Group.
“Her willingness to learn FileMaker and her efforts with Claris Connect have saved us countless hours in the automations she has created for supporting ShedVerse,” says Joe.
The Claris platform for the future.
With career goals centered around the Claris platform, Beth recognizes that ongoing education is essential for developers. Recently, she completed all certifications available now in the Claris Academy, and plans to continue earning certifications when more become available.
Beth already has ideas built in her head for future innovations and plans to leverage the entire Claris platform, including Claris Studio and Claris Connect, to continue to solve problems for years to come. “I see myself doing this until I retire,” Beth exclaims.
Claris resources help you take control of your career.
You don’t need to have a background as a developer to become a Claris developer – Beth proves that. With help from Claris Community supporting women in tech, Beth went from almost no professional experience with Claris technology to developing solutions for a Claris Platinum Partner organization in just a short time. She has this advice for others who are considering launching their career with FileMaker:
“I think the biggest skill is a willingness to dive in and just get started,” Beth says.
If you’re ready to take charge of your future, head to Claris Academy and check out free training courses and certifications.