I’m a Mid-Level Salesforce Professional: What Do I Do Now?

With a market as tempestuous as the Salesforce job market, only two things are really for certain: yes, people are still landing jobs, but the struggle to obtain these – whether it’s a professional’s first Salesforce job or not – is being felt across the board.

For entry-level professionals, limitations come in the form of saturation and availability, whilst for senior professionals, standing out and finding the right salary are also struggles. But what does the picture look like for mid-level professionals with three to five years under their belt, working out what to do next?

What Does a Mid-Level Salesforce Role Entail?

After starting out as something like a Salesforce Admin, Developer, or Consultant, you’re likely going to be familiar with the platform, its processes, and how to handle a small to medium-sized org. From there, the opportunity to go into a more specialized role is likely to come up, allowing an entry-level professional to grow into a mid-level position while also focusing on their interests and increasing their salary.

In larger companies, you’ll often also find Solution Architects. These professionals specialize in complex multi-org implementations, ensuring that the products and features deployed meet business requirements and adhere to best practices, and they’re a viable career choice for many mid-level professionals.

How Has the Market Changed?

Progressing from an entry-level professional to a mid-level certainly might not seem difficult on paper, as on the surface, it just seems to entail sticking in the profession, learning and growing, as well as taking advantage of progression opportunities if/when they crop up. However, newcomers who want to progress their careers not only need to work at that – they also need to navigate a fluctuating market.

Changing Expectations and AI

Goran Crnčić, a mid-level Salesforce Consultant at LeverUp, began his career journey with Salesforce when he was still a student. He started working on the core Salesforce platform before switching to marketing automation tools like Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot), MCP (Interaction Studio), and Marketing Cloud. “You have to diversify when working for a small company,” he explained.

When asked whether Goran thought that the market had changed much since he started, he admitted that he thought it had changed “a lot.”

“Only a few years ago, Salesforce had almost complete dominion over the Customer Engagement sphere,” he said. “Now, many strong players are parsing the market and even taking the lead in some areas from Salesforce.”

Goran explained that, alongside noticing more competition in the market, he feels that there’s now more understanding of the fact that you can’t be a good marketer/consultant without substantial knowledge of AI and “how to implement it into your everyday work” – an extremely notable aspect in this AI era.

Henry Imafidon, a mid-level Salesforce Admin at RovingHeights, who made the switch to Salesforce after a substantial history in customer success work, said that he’s observed how much more important automation and user-friendly processes have become, linking to what Goran has noticed.

“Admins are expected to do a lot more strategic thinking now,” he said. “The Agentforce wave is really at the top of my agenda.”

Saturation, Saturation, Saturation

Islam Ayoub, a mid-level independent Nonprofit Salesforce Consultant, said that he’s really been noticing the market change since he entered, and unfortunately, not for the better.

Islam, who went down the admin to consultant pipeline, actually advises against entering the Salesforce job market right now, especially if a professional is interested in the industry. 

He said that today’s market now suffers from a unique mixture of “more talent, more expectations, more subcontracting, fewer job offers and money, and less profit overall.”

As we’ve explored different sectors of the market, it’s become undeniable that challenges are being faced wall-to-wall. However, this does not mean that any hopes of progression should be squandered – mid-level professionals just need to approach this market realistically, much like their industry counterparts.

I’m a Mid-Level Professional: How Do I Develop?

So, after reading this far, you might be thinking, “Well, I’m a mid-level Salesforce professional, and I want to develop in my career. How do I do that?”

According to Goran, “putting the customer before the technology” is a great place to start.

“It’s great and important to ‘master’ your technology/platform, but trends change, and in my opinion, the greatest [professionals] focus on the customer first and choose the tools to help them later,” he said. 

“Same goes for areas of interest. Try working with marketing tools, CRM, and even learn about sales processes. It will help you greatly, even if you don’t end up working in those exact areas.”

For Islam, the advice is not too different from the advice you might give an entry-level professional.

“Learn the skills that others don’t want to,” he said. “Niche down to the areas where others don’t typically go or where there is high demand, like Marketing Cloud. Avoid skills that too many talents have.”

Progression for a mid-level professional is ultimately boiled down to operating in niches, utilizing your network, and/or becoming an expert in a niche.

Final Thoughts

The Salesforce job market is tricky to navigate for professionals at all levels at the moment, but the advantage mid-level professionals have is the space to specialize, niche down, and build their skill sets to determine the navigation of their future careers.

Ahead of the struggles of junior work but not yet met with the challenges of progression faced by senior professionals, mid-level Salesforce professionals should constantly be aware of the market trends to influence their career decisions going forward.