Salesforce developer ultimate reference guide
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Key topics
What does a developer do?
The developers play a crucial role in making decisions about which platform capabilities to utilize in solving business problems. They may opt for a no-code solution, which requires no maintenance, or a code-based solution.
For no-code solutions, developers use:
- Flow for business process automation
- Reports/Dashboards to view/export data from Salesforce
- Custom objects/fields for creating custom tables and fields
- Formula fields for creating calculated fields based on certain criteria
- Master details /look up fields to create relationships between tables in salesforce
For code-based solutions, developers use:
- Apex code to automate business processes
- Lightning components for building custom forms and screens for salesforce UI
- API Integrations to connect salesforce data or business process with other systems
Roles and responsibilities of a developer
The developers play a pivotal role in translating complex business needs into Salesforce platfrom that align with the organization's strategy. Developers play a diverse range of roles in helping businesses leverage Salesforce platform capabilities. Here is a quick overview of the salesforce platform developer role.
Translating Business Requirements
The developers are responsible for translating business requirements into well-designed solutions that leverage the Salesforce platform capabilities. They play a critical role in aligning technical solutions with the best platform features.
Collaboration with Stakeholders
The developers collaborate and engage with business stakeholders to establish business processes and technical solutions that help achieve their goals.
Implementation and Support
Developers implement various salesforce solutions and associated packages/products. They providing technical support for new projects, enhancements, and bug fixes.
Applying Best Practices
The developers apply best practices and their technical/business expertise to salesforce implementations. They consider the design trade-offs and decisions to ensure adherence to platform best practices.
Code Review and Mentorship
The developers ensure that all code undergoes peer review against development standards before deployment. Additionally, they provide technical guidance and mentorship to junior developers.
Key developer skills that employers are seeking
- A degree in computer science
- Experience in working on a customer relationship management system or salesforce applications
- Ability to write scalable apex controllers, triggers, and batch classes
- Ability to write SOQL and SOSL queries
- Ability to Write test classes for Apex code
- Expertise in Salesforce APIs, REST, SOAP, and BULK APIs
- Ability to write JavaScript, CSS, and HTML for Lightning Web Components (LWC) and Aura Components
- Experience in building visualfoce pages and lightning components
- Knowledge of Salesforce integration tools such as MuleSoft, Informatica, etc
- Understanding of salesforce metadata for code and configurations
- Understanding of version control systems like Git and CI/CD tools
- A deep understanding of object-oriented programming languages
What are the developer certifications?
Platform Developer I
Certified Platform Developer I professionals who can create and deploy custom business logics and interfaces with salesforce platform's programmatic features. They excel in choosing between declarative and programmatic approaches and extending the Lightning Platform using Apex and Visualforce.
Platform Developer II
The Salesforce Platform Developer II (PDII) certification is intended for individuals with expertise and experience in advanced programmatic features of the Salesforce Platform and data modeling, enabling them to create intricate business logic and interfaces.
Is the developer still in demand?
Median base salary
$120,000
Jobs posted in 2021
52,300
Jobs growth in the last 5 years
165%
source Trailhead
How to land on developer jobs?
Start with trailhead
Depending on your level of education and experience there are different paths. Learn the salesforce platform basics before delving into any specific modules. To get started with platform basics, head to the developer beginner trailhead module.
Try yourself with developer organization
Salesforce offers a free developer edition org where you can experiment your learnings. It is free, to sign up to a developer edition org visit the link below.
Developer edition sign upStay in touch with community
Salesforce community meetings are a great place to start collaborating with other salesforce professionals. Attending the knowledge sessions and build your professional network.
Get the latest developer updates
Subscribe to developer news letter and keep you updated with latest salesforce developmemnt technologies
Click here to subscribe to developer news letterApply for developer roles
You may start applying for roles when you are confident. Some companies offer internships for junior developer positions.
What is Decodeforce?
Decodeforce is a dedicated platform aimed at helping Salesforce developers improve their Apex coding skills by solving real-world programming challenges
Solve a number of practice scenarios in DML, SOQL, trigger and many more on Decodeforce.
To know more click the Get started button below