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Certifications / Career

Salesforce Certification Pathways Infographic 2025

By Lucy Mazalon

March 03, 2025

More Salesforce certifications are released every year, and if you’re like some Trailblazers, you might have the urge to catch them all!

Here’s a Salesforce certification map to help you guide your career journey. You’ll find the recommended experience and prerequisite certifications needed to progress to the next stage. Which path will you choose?

Dividing the certifications into pathways was not an easy task – what this proves is that a career with Salesforce can take many different turns. Trailblazers can choose their next step from a range of options.

We chose the following paths, and gave them each a color:

  • Associate
  • Admin/Specialist
  • Developer
  • Consultant
  • Architect
  • Marketer
  • Designer
  • Artificial Intelligence

Although you can blaze your own career path, there are rules that must be followed. Some certifications have prerequisites (certifications that you need to pass before attempting your target certification), which form the backbone of the pathways. For example, before you can take the Advanced Administrator exam, you must have passed the Certified Administrator exam.

The dotted lines show which certifications are related to each other, but are not strictly prerequisites. We didn’t want to leave these path options off the certification landscape!

READ MORE: Huge Changes to Salesforce Certifications: Here’s What You Need to Know

You will find the recommended experience in months or years on each certification, in line with Salesforce’s suggestion. An important approach to certifications is for candidates to have real-life experience working with these products.

Certifications may be one thing, but the hands-on, tangible experience will be more valuable in the long run – something that is hard to test in a multiple-choice exam. However, Salesforce has written their questions to filter out inexperienced professionals.

A couple of outliers to note:

  • CPQ Specialist: Neither a core administrator nor a consultant.
  • Platform App Builder: Part of the architect pathway, but most popular among admins.
READ MORE: Complete List of Salesforce Certifications

Also, as part of Salesforce’s AI for All initiative, everyone can take the Agentforce Specialist certification exam once for free until December 31, 2025. Also, it is worth noting that the AI Associate certification will be retired in February 2026, with the new ‘Agentblazer Status’ program set to replace it.

Summary

The Salesforce certification pathways offer a variety of options for Trailblazers to enhance their careers, with each path providing unique opportunities. While prerequisites and real-world experience are key factors in advancing, the flexibility of the pathways allows for personalization.

No matter which direction you choose, Salesforce certifications can serve as a valuable tool to unlock new career possibilities and growth.

The Author

Lucy Mazalon

Lucy is the Operations Director at Salesforce Ben. She is a 10x certified Marketing Champion and founder of The DRIP.

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Comments:

    Christian Belko
    April 14, 2020 1:29 pm
    Thank you for putting this resource together! One issue I did see, Platform Developer 1 is part of the Application Architect track, but not listed in the Infographic. I'm currently going for Application Architect, and I know this is listed in the Trailhead site as a requirement.
    Reply
    Lucy Mazalon
    April 14, 2020 1:35 pm
    Hi Christian, thanks for your comment :) yes, you are right, and there is a line that goes from PD 1 to the architect track representing that it's a prerequisite. This was the challenge we had to make a trade-off on - there are some certifications that overlap two categories. Hope this makes sense! Good luck on your Architect journey, let us know how you get on.
    Reply
    Dave Ge
    April 14, 2020 3:33 pm
    Finally someone has put all this into a coherent context. Very nice article. Thank you
    Reply
    Lucy Mazalon
    April 14, 2020 3:55 pm
    Thank you Dave!
    Reply
    cmhtechconsulting
    April 14, 2020 3:57 pm
    Agreed. I'd also put a dotted line from Advanced Admin to Data Architecture + Sharing & Visibility. For the truly master-level Admin leading a large global enterprise implementation of Salesforce, that level of knowledge is necessary; "Advanced Admin" is not enough. I'd almost group it a little bit by cloud, then branch by declarative-only vs. +programmatic. That puts Admin first, followed by a 2nd level which includes App Builder + Advanced Admin + Sales/Service Cloud, then the 3rd level which branches one way into specific clouds (incl. MC non-dev), and another way into the Application Architect/designer certs. At level 2 you also have PD1 when then branches at level 3 into PD2 or System Architect certs or product-specific (MC dev, Heroku, etc.). Then of course, the Application/System Architect pieces converge into CTA.
    Reply
    Jobin
    April 14, 2020 6:59 pm
    Thank you very much for the detailed information . It's very helpful for a person like me who wants to start a new career in salesforce.
    Reply
    Ohoboho
    April 14, 2020 9:08 pm
    B2C Commerce Architect is not mentioned at all
    Reply
    Shubhro das
    April 14, 2020 9:13 pm
    Simply great..... Article pertaining to no.1 CRM certification..... Well done Lucy...
    Reply
    Mira Shah
    April 14, 2020 11:40 pm
    Finally, I got it. Very Nice Article. Thanks for putting this together
    Reply
    Kee
    April 14, 2020 11:42 pm
    Hi. I would love to get a Salesforce certification however I want to specialize in finance. What are the options
    Reply
    Nina
    April 15, 2020 12:20 am
    Hi! I'm a beginner Trailblazer, thank you for clarifying the career paths for me! I was just wondering, I really want to get the Certified Administrator certificate, but how can I get the recommended real life experience under my belt if I only just started figuring out how to use Salesforce? Are there jobs out there that would actually let me try out and develop my skills as a beginner? Thank you for your answer!
    Reply
    Fred Mshefer
    April 15, 2020 7:32 am
    Nice, how do I start
    Reply
    Vivek
    April 15, 2020 3:55 pm
    This is great article. Thanks Lucy. I am preparing for app builder and its helpful to see what I should cover.
    Reply
    Rahul
    April 16, 2020 3:28 am
    Hello lucy, Which Certification I should try as a begineer first.
    Reply
    Michiel van Gaalen
    April 16, 2020 4:42 am
    Wow, Lucy, way to go!
    Reply
    Lucy Mazalon
    April 17, 2020 1:32 pm
    It depends whether you want to pursue a career as an Administrator (point and click/clicks not code), or Developer career (code).
    Reply
    Lucy Mazalon
    April 17, 2020 1:32 pm
    It depends whether you want to purse a career as an Administrator (point and click/clicks not code), or Developer career (code).
    Reply
    Lucy Mazalon
    April 17, 2020 1:33 pm
    It depends whether you want to pursue a career as an Administrator (point and click/clicks not code), or Developer career (code)!
    Reply
    Lucy Mazalon
    April 17, 2020 1:46 pm
    Thank you :)
    Reply
    Lucy Mazalon
    April 17, 2020 4:14 pm
    Hi Vivek, that's great - one of my favourite certifications! You should check this out too: https://www.salesforceben.com/platform-app-builder-certification-guide-tips/ Good luck!
    Reply
    Lucy Mazalon
    April 17, 2020 4:18 pm
    Hi Nina, how to answer this question isn't straightforward. You can maybe volunteer your time for a nonprofit, but these organisations are normally using the Nonprofit Success Pack (that's different from core standard Salesforce). Also, you have to be responsible to be Administering their Salesforce always with best practice in mind. There's some advice in this post which you may find useful - if we hear of any organisations wanting support, we will let you know! https://www.salesforceben.com/get-salesforce-experience/
    Reply
    Lucy Mazalon
    April 17, 2020 4:19 pm
    Hi Kee, as there's no certification for the Financial Services Cloud (FSC), currently you will need to pair up the standard certifications with real industry experience. Good luck with your journey, let us know how you get on
    Reply
    Jobin
    April 18, 2020 2:52 am
    Does CPQ specialist have to have any salesforce background like be an Admin?
    Reply
    Lucy Mazalon
    April 20, 2020 12:33 pm
    Hi! Thanks for pointing this out - it's been added. It's one of those lesser well-known ones, but now it's on the map!
    Reply
    Lucy Mazalon
    April 20, 2020 12:37 pm
    Hi, thanks for taking the time to think this through and share your suggestion! After sitting down to digest and imagine it in my head, I have noted this down as a potential approach for our next version of the Cert paths. I will be in touch with you for any questions, if that's ok with you? Many thanks, Lucy
    Reply
    Amey Mattiss
    May 20, 2020 8:46 pm
    Hi Lucy, Thank you for the article. I'm about to take the B2B commerce Administrator certification and was wondering where it fits in the Infographic? Thank you
    Reply
    Bart
    October 16, 2020 2:59 pm
    Is there a way to download the infographic? This one is hard to read.
    Reply
    Stu
    October 18, 2020 8:43 pm
    Great article thanks Lucy - any chance you can make the diagram bigger? It is very hard to read, but it sums the learning paths up very well. Thanks.
    Reply
    Ben McCarthy
    November 07, 2020 3:43 pm
    Hey Bart, Apologies there was an issue with it. It should be working now if you click on it. Thanks for making us aware!
    Reply
    Ron Koppelmann
    December 13, 2020 7:37 pm
    Development lifestyle is a humorous typo but it should be lifecycle ;-)
    Reply
    Raja Vesapogu
    February 02, 2021 5:32 am
    Hi, I'm new to Salesforce. I want to build my career in SF. Suggestions will be appreciated regarding which certifications are best for the beginners and the graphic shows the recommended experiences, how can I get the experience as a beginner.
    Reply
    D. Jack
    February 20, 2021 9:39 am
    Hi, can we have an update with this infographic? The MC Admin is the pre-requisite to MC Consultant and the MC Email Specialist for MC Dev Also, can we include the new B2C Solution Architect. Thanks and more power to the team!
    Reply
    Infographic
    March 05, 2021 8:22 am
    Content here based on the salesforce certification pathways. Anyone searching for same topic may find their shelter here. I am sure many people will come to read this in future. Great blog indeed, will visit again future to read more!! You have done a great research for I feel, thanks for sharing.I have also found this resource Infographicgallery.com useful and its related to what you are mentioning.
    Reply
    Christine Marshall
    March 12, 2021 12:17 pm
    Thanks for letting us know!
    Reply
    D. Jack
    April 01, 2021 1:01 pm
    Hi, can we have an updated version of this certification pathways? Specifically on B2C Solutions Architect and other new 2021 certs. Also, can we check the pathways on the Marketing certs, there seems to be an error on prerequisites of some. Thanks!
    Reply
    Ben McCarthy
    April 01, 2021 2:38 pm
    Hi Jack, We are working on an updated infographic as we speak, hopefully it will be out soon. Thanks for your comment.
    Reply
    Michael
    April 23, 2021 4:02 pm
    Very grateful that you have the recommended experience. It's very helpful (I hope) for setting expectations for new SFDC user. As much as I love Salesforce (the company) some of the messaging sounds like "get a cert, get a job" and in a lot of cases, it's not true.
    Reply
    Eddy
    June 03, 2021 8:32 am
    Hello - why is Platform App Builder a prerequisite for Marketing Cloud Email Specialist? Doesn't make sense to me. Thank you
    Reply
    Ben McCarthy
    June 03, 2021 4:01 pm
    Hi Eddy, This is actually a mistake, thanks for pointing it out, we will get it corrected ASAP.
    Reply
    Mark Jones
    July 07, 2021 12:25 pm
    Thanks Lucy for putting this together. This is really helpful to me as someone really just starting down the certification path after 5 years of being a Solo Admin. I am curious though, how do you think this fits with Nonprofits? Much of what we do as Nonprofit Admins is quite limited due to things like capacity, budgets and whatnot. However, many Nonprofit Admins end up being Solo Admins and Also Admins at the same time. Meaning their knowledge can need to be very expansive in spite of the obvious challenges that can come about due to capacity and other responsiblities. I was wondering how these paths might differ for those who were specialising within the Nonprofit realm specifically.
    Reply
    Manas
    December 14, 2021 12:03 pm
    Hi Lucy, Really appreciate you putting this detailed path out for everyone to utilise extensively in the Salesforce ecosystem and even outside it. I wanted to understand if there is a path suited for business analyst roles.
    Reply
    Christine Marshall
    December 14, 2021 2:40 pm
    Hi Manas! Salesforce are planning to release a Business Analyst certification but it is not yet known when! In the meantime, check out the pathway on Trailhead: https://trailhead.salesforce.com/career-path/business-analyst It's very beneficial for BA's to have a solid understanding of the platform, so taking the Administrator certification would be a good place to start.
    Reply
    Walter Elly
    June 01, 2022 4:35 pm
    Thanks for the great graphic! FYI several of the certifications in the chart were renamed last December per https://trailhead.salesforce.com/trailblazer-community/feed/0D54S00000DybSjSAJ : Data Architecture and Management Designer → Data Architect Development Lifecycle and Deployment Designer → Development Lifecycle and Deployment Architect Identity and Access Management Designer → Identity and Access Management Architect Integration Architecture Designer → Integration Architect Sharing and Visibility Designer → Sharing and Visibility Architect Heroku Architecture Designer → Heroku Architect
    Reply
    Lynn Grande
    June 02, 2022 3:07 pm
    I would like to see if even in dotted line fashion, the addition of business analyst and maybe project manager. This is a great help!!
    Reply
    Christine Marshall
    June 06, 2022 9:22 am
    Thanks Walter! These have now been updated.
    Reply
    Seth Sheridan
    June 09, 2022 3:53 pm
    I love this. So helpful. Thanks!
    Reply
    Brian Schwartz
    July 11, 2022 8:08 pm
    I wish I'd see your graphic before I made my own. That said, I'll keep using mine for tracking progress ... https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSNG6yyb3sFQapOkyKDqa3w4DBAYc2xv7CesMiJ_0nw86iHmDx-yd7WYF2KkoxhuCOdbwSBjyFHcchN/pubhtml
    Reply
    Fahem
    July 17, 2022 6:23 pm
    I have completed SF Admin, SF Service Cloud, FSL Consultant.. which certification i should take next, ( my carrier graph is on Service Side) plz advise.
    Reply
    Asma
    August 02, 2022 11:39 am
    Hi Ben, Its a great article. I am a certified Administrator and Platform App builder. i had the intention of achieving Salesforce Sales cloud and service cloud but i attempted sales cloud twice but no success. For that u need at-least 2 years of working experience. Professionally i am a software engineer and have 15 + years of experience on Quality Assurance. Currently i am serving as a Service Delivery Manager. i want to achieve more certifications but i am confused as what path should be suitable for me as in my job i have never dealt with Salesforce. i have practiced being a trail Blazer an. in addition to above mentioned certification i have also completed trails for Platform Developer 1, Business Analyst, Service Cloud, Sales Cloud and UX Designer. i want to upscale myself further so i can pursue a job relevant to Salesforce.
    Reply
    Syed
    September 13, 2022 4:58 am
    I have completed PD-I certificate in 2021. Which is the best certificate that i can go for after PD-l.
    Reply
    Jen
    September 20, 2022 4:22 pm
    In future updates, could we have it as a PDF? I am having trouble reading it and zooming in on the image- it's blurry.
    Reply
    Lawrence
    September 27, 2022 5:48 pm
    Would be great as a high-quality downloadable PDF or massive PNG. Would love to print this out and hang on the wall. As Jen above said, it's a little blurry on larger monitors or for printing at a readable size. For PDF, it would be pretty cool if we could hover over each Cert and hyperlink to the appropriate Cert info on Salesforce's site, similar to the spreadsheet Brian Schwartz made, or if better, the related article about each Cert on Salesforce Ben's own website.
    Reply
    Sunil S
    October 20, 2022 3:41 pm
    Hi Guys. Need guidance. Currently am working as Citrix Cloud Consultant. Am looking to change my career into Salesforce Service Cloud Engineer/Consultant. Please suggest a Learning and Certification path. Thanks.
    Reply
    Kaspars
    December 06, 2022 12:24 pm
    PD2 if you have completed required Superbadge. JS cert is also good.
    Reply
    Ignacio
    January 11, 2023 10:42 am
    Hi, I was wondering if it's possible to start with APP builder, or I have to complete administrator first? if yes, Does the app builder cover all the basics in the salesforce platform? Also, does Marketing cloud-Admin has any prerequisite or basic to know before go for the certification? Thank you
    Reply
    Fozia
    January 12, 2023 5:30 pm
    I would like to take the Tableau CRM and Einstein Discovery Consultant path. What would be a great foundation courses suited for this path. Kindly share its Future prospects also?
    Reply
    Lucy Mazalon
    February 11, 2023 4:26 am
    Hi Ignacio, You can absolutely start with Platform App Builder (there are no pre-requisites). It's a great foundational cert that still helps me to this day (years after taking it). Most people see this as a good cert to take after Certified Admin, but you don't have to do Admin first. Marketing Cloud Admin does not have pre-requisites, but it's advisable to pass the SFMC Email Specialist first, as the SFMC Admin covers the platform in breadth, whereas Email Specialist is only focused on Email Studio (see guide linked below) https://www.salesforceben.com/the-drip/which-marketing-cloud-certification-should-i-pass-first/ Hope this helps! Good luck, Lucy
    Reply
    Marlien Rendon
    February 24, 2023 8:52 pm
    Hello Ben- BTW, THANK YOU for all of the helpful info you share!! I don't see Health Cloud on your infographic. It's distinctive enough IMO! Cheers, Marlien
    Reply
    New Guy
    February 28, 2023 4:43 am
    Hi SalesforceBen and Team, Great website so much awesome information and colloboration. Kindly, what level of experience do you need in order to get your Salesforce Admin Certification? What Salesforce certifications are in demand with employers currently? I understand AWS is PaaS, IaaS and Salesforce is SaaS. Which technology do you believe would offer more job opportunities? I am torn between getting my AWS Cloud Practioner Certification or simply getting the Salesforce Admin Certification. Any feedback you can offer would be awesome. Thank you!!
    Reply
    ALI KHAN
    March 01, 2023 8:11 am
    B2C Solution architect prereqs have been updated?? kindly confirm
    Reply
    support
    March 03, 2023 1:05 pm
    Well done, Lucy! Your Salesforce certification pathways infographic is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in pursuing a career in Salesforce or enhancing their skills in the field. It's highly beneficial to have all the different Salesforce certification pathways and their corresponding levels visually presented. Thanks for sharing!
    Reply
    James Aaron
    April 03, 2023 2:15 am
    This is very informative infographic to understand how Salesforce eco system has build. It gives clear picture of what certification leads to where.
    Reply
    Ryan
    June 07, 2023 5:26 pm
    It would be great to see this templatized into a set of lucidchart or draw.io widgets that could then be used as a cert tracker by folks. use a copy of this right now as a fun visual representation of what certs I have, and which ones I am working on next. Ultimate Salesforce Candyland
    Reply
    Yolanda
    July 20, 2023 7:11 pm
    This is a wonderful reference to follow, it clarifies a pathway, and clears up any uncertainty. Thank you
    Reply
    Josh Rojas
    January 18, 2024 1:47 am
    Hey guys, any chance for the same for Accredited Professionals?
    Reply
    Guillaume Weill
    March 10, 2025 2:19 am
    Thanks for the update! I think there are now 2 nonprofit consultant: the legacy NPSP and the newer nonprofit cloud. Both are to co-exist going forward. There is also a Sales Rep certification that is not shown in there
    Reply

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