How hard has it been to be a Salesforce Admin in 2026? If you were to ask the majority of admins, they’d say it’s pretty difficult at the moment – a platform initially built on “clicks not code” has grown in complexity, and the expectations surrounding the role have changed massively, with many feeling like they have to wear multiple hats and act beyond the scope of their role.
We’ve spoken at length about how the modern Salesforce Admin needs to evolve, and according to Igor Kudryk, the next step in that evolution may be learning code in order to become a more well-rounded Salesforce pro. But with admins already juggling an ever-expanding list of responsibilities, is this a step too far? And if coding becomes another expected skill, do admins risk becoming underpaid developers in the process?
To explore these questions, I sat down with Igor alongside SF Ben Technical Content Writer Christine Marshall to examine both sides of the debate and discuss what coding, AI, and the future of the admin role might look like going forward.
Why Coding Is Becoming So Valuable for Salesforce Admins
One of the biggest arguments against bothering to learn code is also one of the simplest. Why bother when AI can do it for you?
In many ways, it’s a fair question. Salesforce professionals now have access to tools that are somewhat capable of generating Apex, explaining complex formulas, and even building entire applications from a simple prompt. For many admins, the rise of AI feels like it should lower the need to learn technical skills, not increase it. For Igor, however, that’s not what he’s seeing day-to-day.
“People say, ‘Why would I need to learn coding if AI can do coding?’” he explained. “And I totally understand this whole notion. Especially when you see people who have never coded before using AI to do things that previously only developers could do.”
However, Igor also reminded us of the big difference between generating code and truly understanding it, which we’ve spoken about at length at SF Ben. As a developer himself, he admits he was initially skeptical of AI before gradually becoming one of its biggest advocates. What ultimately changed his mind was that AI was actually rewarding his technical knowledge rather than replacing it.
“What I noticed myself and with other developers that I work with is that the more technical you are, the more you benefit from AI,” he said. “As much as AI elevates every single person in the Salesforce ecosystem, the more technical you are, the more you benefit. It gets disproportionately more beneficial the more technical you become.”
His reasoning for this is fairly straightforward – an experienced developer or architect understands how software works, can identify the difference between good and bad code, and knows how to guide AI towards the outcome they want. Someone without that background knowledge may still get results, but they’re often working without the same ability to validate what they’re being given.
He said: “If you imagine a Certified Technical Architect (CTA) or a really senior developer having access to the best coding models. They can work with those coding models way more efficiently than someone who doesn’t know how to code. Someone who has no idea about what servers are, how clouds work, how to differentiate between good and bad code, or how to steer AI in the right direction.”
In several ways, this mirrors what we’re seeing in 2026 across the wider Salesforce ecosystem, especially for admins. According to SF Ben’s 2026 Salesforce Admin Survey, AI adoption is now almost universal among admins, with 44% using AI daily or regularly, and a further 41% using it occasionally. Meanwhile, 71% of respondents said AI has made them more productive in recent months.
There’s no question about the productivity gains, but there are still lingering concerns about whether productivity alone is really enough. For Christine, the outstanding risk is admins relying on AI outputs they don’t fully understand.
“I feel very passionately that although you can use AI and vibe coding to do certain things, and you can get it to write code, I don’t think you should be deploying anything you don’t understand,” she said. “Because you can’t check it. You can’t make sure it’s best practice. You don’t know if it’s optimal.”
This may also explain why the majority of admins are currently avoiding vibe coding altogether. Per our survey, 71.3% of admins say they have not used any vibe coding tools yet, with 5.3% even saying that reliance on vibe coding tools has led to a decline in their skills. Ultimately, vibe coding for admins may introduce more risks than it does any potential productivity gain.
That’s where this debate becomes less about turning admins into developers and more about developing enough technical understanding to work effectively alongside AI.
After all, if AI is increasingly capable of building things for us, someone still needs to understand whether what it’s building is actually a good idea.
Thinking Like an Engineer
An interesting caveat from this conversation is that neither Igor nor Christine believed the biggest benefit of learning code is the actual ability to then write Apex. Instead, both pointed out that understanding how software actually works is the biggest learning opportunity from coding.
For Christine, this is particularly vital, as many Salesforce Admins don’t come into the ecosystem through traditional technology pathways. Unlike developers who may have studied software engineering or computer science, many admins arrived from business, operations, customer service, or project management backgrounds.
“It’s not just the code for me; it’s software engineering principles,” Christine explained. “That’s what I see admins lacking. A lot of Salesforce Admins have not come from a traditional tech background. They’re not aware of a lot of these principles and best practices.”
This is becoming a lot more visible as admins continue to take on more “sophisticated” responsibilities. Let’s take Flow Builder, for example. While it remains a declarative tool, the logic behind designing and scaling complex automation often mirrors the same thinking required in software development.
“Flow Builder is a different beast,” Christine said. “Even when admins get to the point where they are building flows, they still really struggle with how to scale them, how to manage them as best practices change, and how to avoid creating technical debt.”
Our survey data also reflects this. While 56.8% of respondents say they are confident using Flow Builder, the most common frustrations are debugging errors, understanding complex logic, and ensuring long-term maintainability – all challenges that extend beyond simply knowing where to click.
From Igor’s perspective, this is why admins should stop thinking of themselves as purely declarative professionals.
“I would rather think in terms of Salesforce engineering or software engineering,” he said. “At the end of the day, if you’re a Salesforce Admin or developer, your goal is still to make Salesforce work for a certain business.”
Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean every admin should become a developer. In fact, Igor stressed the opposite: “Not everyone should become a Salesforce Developer. And more importantly, you don’t need to become a developer to be successful in your career.”
However, both agreed that understanding code and how it works can make admins better at what they already do. Whether that’s communicating more effectively with developer colleagues or deciding when Flow might not be the best option, learning code will leave you with a technical foundation to improve your decision-making.
As Christine put it: “You don’t know what you don’t know!”
Are Admins at Risk of Becoming Underpaid Developers?
Both Igor and Christine voice the value of admins developing more technical skills, but also acknowledge the growing concern that expectations continue to rise, while resources don’t. It’s an issue that Christine feels particularly strongly about.
“My fear is that if admins learn to code, people will continue to employ admins on the same wage, but with a higher expectation of them doing coding and taking on a lot more development responsibility,” she said.
This isn’t an entirely hypothetical concern either. Per our admin survey data, nearly 43% of respondents work in admin-only teams, while almost 20% operate completely alone as solo admins.
Smaller organizations are particularly exploited, with 70% of companies employing 50-199 people reporting admin-only teams.
Alongside that, the demand for technical expertise still definitely exists. When respondents were asked which role they would hire first if budget wasn’t a constraint, the most common answer was developer.
For Christine, this highlights a fundamental resourcing issue: “The need for developers, the need for code, is absolutely there. But the teams that we’re seeing predominantly don’t have the resources that they need.”
Igor agreed with this, detailing how expectations for admins have increased over the past decade dramatically.
“If you take a Salesforce Admin from 2016 and put them into the current Salesforce ecosystem, they’re not even going to be a junior Salesforce Admin. We didn’t have proper Flows back then. We didn’t have Agentforce. We didn’t have these capabilities.”
Christined also questioned what happens if coding becomes an expected skill for admins across the board.
“If admins learn to code, will we saturate the development market and stagnate developer salaries as well?” she asked.
While she believes technical knowledge is valuable, she worries that organizations may view coding as a way to extract more value from existing admin teams rather than investing in dedicated development resources.
What Does a Great Salesforce Admin Look Like in 2026?
After this deep discussion around coding, AI, and growing expectations, it became clear that the future Salesforce Admin isn’t necessarily a developer in waiting. Instead, the role appears to be evolving into something a bit broader, requiring a mix of technical understanding, business knowledge, and the ability to adapt as the platform continues to change.
“I don’t think you can be successful in Salesforce just knowing a little about a lot of things,” Christine said. “But it’s impossible to know everything.”
This means that, in Christine’s opinion, admins will need a stronger overall understanding of Salesforce, particularly in areas like architecture, security, or AI governance.
“Whoever you are, whether you’re an admin, a developer, or an architect, you will need to have a really well-rounded understanding of Salesforce. Architecture and security are increasingly important.”
This becomes especially important as AI takes on more setup and config work. “AI might start doing some of our setup things for us,” Christine said. “But someone still has to tell the AI what to do, what we want it to do, and make sure whatever it produces is secure.”
Igor agreed, despite being cautious about making firm predictions given the unpredictability of the future.
“I think right now we are living in such a time where it’s almost impossible to say how the future is going to look in 12, 24, or 36 months,” he said.
What he is confident about, however, is that standing still is a huge risk. “The only thing that is going to happen for sure is that we all need to really focus, really learn, and try to keep up with all of that, so we don’t end up completely obsolete in a couple of years.”
That doesn’t mean, as aforementioned, that every admin should become a developer. It does mean that admins may need to become more intentional about where they sit on the technical spectrum, whether that is as a stronger admin, a future architect, a business analyst, a consultant, or a developer.
As Igor put it: “You can be a really good architect, you can be a really good admin, a BA, a consultant, and you can have the same career satisfaction as developers. You just need to plan accordingly and decide where coding fits into your career.”
Final Thoughts
Salesforce Admins are already being asked to do a lot. Between AI, Agentforce, growing platform complexity, and increasing business expectations, this article isn’t intended to suggest that every admin now needs to become a full-blown developer.
Instead, we wanted to highlight the fact that understanding code and software engineering principles may help admins make better decisions. Communicate more effectively with your entire team, and work a lot more confidently alongside AI.
It may be one of the best ways to future-proof your Salesforce career.
