A little of everything.

I'm Ryan Hernalsteen, based in northern Michigan, and I've been writing code and building systems since before anyone called it the cloud.

My path into Salesforce started as a software developer and data engineer. Years of ETL pipelines, record migrations, and release management for systems that couldn't fail. Then my company began implementing Salesforce, and nobody could support Marketing Cloud. I saw the gap, took it upon myself to learn the platform, and claimed ownership of it.

That turned out to be the move that changed everything.

Salesforce became where I went deep: consulting, then solution architecture, then two years as a Senior Technical Architect at Salesforce itself, leading global Data Cloud enablement programs for 80+ architects worldwide.

At Salesforce I watched Data Cloud evolve from an emerging idea into the connective tissue of the whole ecosystem. When Agentforce arrived, I was already building with it. I founded an AI and Data Cloud practice from scratch, then joined Rosetree Solutions to do it for larger clients. The work is documented on the My Career page. The short version: production AI agents that convert cold leads, place at-risk youth in jobs, and eliminate data prep work that used to take teams weeks.

Outside of that, I build iOS apps (a recovery-score app is live on the App Store), shoot photography, and spend a lot of time at my two daughters' volleyball and softball games. Michigan gives me room to think. The cameras remind me there's craft in paying attention.

This site is where it all lives. If you want to see how I think, the blog is the best place to start.