What does a Salesforce developer do?

Salesforce is the world’s leading customer relationship management (CRM) system, used by thousands of businesses worldwide to manage their customer data, interactions and operations.

There are many different roles in the Salesforce ecosystem, and most Salesforce teams will have at least one Salesforce developer – in fact, there are an estimated 1.5 million Salesforce developers worldwide!

Whether you’re a Salesforce admin looking to upskill, a developer on another platform or just exploring the possibilities of a career in Salesforce, this post will explore why businesses need Salesforce developers, providing insights into the role, skills and pathways to success.

Why do businesses need to develop on Salesforce?

Salesforce offers robust out-of-the-box functionality, but as organizations scale and their reliance on Salesforce increases, they find they need to tailor the platform to suit their specific requirements. Salesforce’s popularity stems from its flexibility to be tailored to meet diverse business needs, making it a go-to platform for organizations across many different industries.

Most businesses who choose to customize Salesforce typically have a team responsible for making these changes. This could be just one individual, or could expand to multiple teams including admins, developers, release managers and architects, all working to support their Salesforce end users. The free DevOps Launchpad course, An introduction to Salesforce development, is a great resource to help you understand in more detail why many teams choose to adapt the Salesforce platform to suit their needs.

The potential customizations that can be made are endless, and many require the skills of a Salesforce developer to scope and deliver on changes — just one reason why their skills are so in-demand.

Key responsibilities of a Salesforce developer

Any Salesforce developer will be responsible for writing code and tests for the platform, but their other responsibilities will vary depending on the other roles and skillsets that exist within the team, and the requirements of the business. Typical responsibilities might include:

• Writing code and building custom applications within Salesforce
• Integrating Salesforce with other software using APIs and connecting tools
• Troubleshooting issues and identifying bugs to ensure optimal performance
• Managing the deployment process to ensure that changes are successfully migrated from development to production
• Optimizing code, regularly scrutinizing and enhancing it for superior system functionality and speed
• Testing the stability and functionality of applications
• Managing releases, particularly in the absence of a dedicated release manager role
• Writing documents and providing technical training to other team members or end users

As well as these technical responsibilities, a Salesforce developer would also be expected to collaborate with other members of the team. This could include other developers, admins, architects and other stakeholders to ensure the technical solutions that they develop align with what end users need, and to plan the development roadmap.

The role of Salesforce DevOps

Salesforce DevOps focuses on improving collaboration, automating workflows, and delivering value faster, making it an essential practice for modern Salesforce teams. Unsurprisingly, developers coming from other backgrounds expect to be able to practice DevOps, which hasn’t always been straightforward, as Salesforce wasn’t designed with DevOps principles in mind. Whilst developers coming from other platforms have had to previously revert to outdated ways of working, Salesforce themselves and third-party vendors have worked hard to make DevOps possible for Salesforce.

Salesforce DevOps has many benefits for Salesforce developers, resulting in faster delivery of features and bug fixes, improved code quality through automated testing and reviews, enhanced collaboration – particularly with non-technical teams, and increased scalability.

What skills does a Salesforce developer need?

A good Salesforce developer should have a combination of technical, communication and problem-solving skills which will enable them to effectively build, customize and optimize Salesforce. They should be confident in managing stakeholder expectations and work well as part of a team – even if they’re the only person who is directly developing on Salesforce – as understanding the needs of the end users is crucial!

Some job advertisements may specify a need for experience with particular tools used in the Salesforce development process. These might include development tools like Visual Studio Code, GitHub, and the Salesforce CLI, collaboration and project management tools like Jira and Slack, or specialist Salesforce DevOps platforms such as Gearset.

While the skillset might seem extensive, there are plenty of resources to help you learn, regardless of your starting point.

How to become a Salesforce developer

If you’re interested in becoming a Salesforce developer, there are different paths that you can follow, with a combination of certifications, training and experience. Some developers transition to Salesforce from other ecosystems, whereas others might have started off in other roles and decided to pursue the developer path. Look at job advertisements in your area of interest to understand what different organizations are looking for, and build your development plan from there.

No matter how technical your background is, if you’re new to Salesforce, it’s a good idea to build up your platform knowledge, as there are significant differences from other platforms, particularly when it comes to development processes. Luckily, there are plenty of resources available to help you do just this. Trailhead, the official learning platform from Salesforce, is a great starting point, offering modules tailored to various experience levels and areas of interest. For those transitioning from other ecosystems, it provides the opportunity to learn crucial Salesforce-specific concepts.

As DevOps becomes more and more crucial to the world of Salesforce development, you’ll also want to ensure you have a solid grounding in all of these concepts — particularly if you’re coming from another ecosystem or a low-code background. The free Salesforce DevOps Fundamentals Certificate from DevOps Launchpad provides a full overview through a guided learning pathway. You’ll also find plenty of other courses on some of the more specific elements of DevOps which might help you along your learning journey, in the course library.

If you decide to embark on the formal certification route, you might consider completing formal Salesforce qualifications. We’d recommend Salesforce Platform Developer I and II, and, particularly if you are new to the ecosystem, Salesforce Administrator. There are also a range of specific certifications for various Salesforce clouds for developers wishing to specialize. For tips and tricks on passing official Salesforce certification exams, check out our blog post on the topic!

Summary

Salesforce developers are crucial for businesses who need to customize their Salesforce implementation and ensure they are getting the most out of their investment. While Salesforce developer roles can be challenging, and competitive to secure, they provide the opportunity for a varied career which adds real value to end users and customers. With the right approach, skills and experience, there’s no reason why you can’t secure a role as a Salesforce developer too.

Take the first step today and sign up to DevOps Launchpad to be sure your Salesforce DevOps knowledge is up to scratch!