Not only do Salesforce certifications require dedicated time and energy, but they also come at a monetary cost.
While writing about Salesforce certification costs in a recent article, it occurred to me that without support from your employer, getting certified can become a sizeable investment (especially if you are following the architect pathway).
Of course, not everyone has the privilege of having their certifications paid for. You may be disappointed after hearing your employer won’t cover the cost, but should you take the first ’no’ as the final answer? More to the point – how many people do actually pay for their own certifications? Let’s find out…
Reasons Why You Could Pay for Your Certification
My own certification journey illustrates some of the factors that influence whether your certifications are paid for, or not. Without meaning to ‘blow my own trumpet’, I hope that this gives some insight.
Out of seven certifications (and one failed!), I paid for two myself, and the other six were covered by my employer at the time.
- The cases where I paid for myself, were when I took my first certification (I was not in a technical role but wished to transition to one), and when I was a self-employed consultant.
- I worked for a handful of Salesforce consulting partners. It’s in the consultancy’s best interest for you to be certified (impacting their partner tier).
- It wasn’t always yes/no. One employer set a limit of two certifications per year.
Scenarios, where you could be footing the bill, could include when the certification is not relevant to your role, its value is not understood, or is seen as an unnecessary cost for the business to incur.
This sentiment is usually heard at (but is not exclusive to) end users, in other words, customers of Salesforce. To put it bluntly, these organizations do not draw a direct benefit from an employee being certified. That’s at face value, evidently, a skilled employee will bring benefits; however, people can upskill in other ways that do not involve certifications. Many in the Salesforce community agree that experience trumps certifications (but that’s another conversation, that I covered previously!)
Are Salesforce Certifications Paid For?
Are employers contributing towards the cost of certifications? According to the Careers and Hiring Guide, which collates data from thousands of Salesforce professionals across the globe each year, employers are stepping in to cover the cost:
Source: Careers and Hiring Guide
- 59% had their employers pay in full.
- 27% paid for their own certifications.
I should also point out that this question is only capturing one response at one point in time. There could be many others, like me, who have a mixed story (right now, I would answer “they paid in full”, but that’s not always been the case throughout my career).
Regardless, this chart shows a positive picture.
How to Approach your Employer
How can you change that mindset? Applying some advice from Ben’s “Tips to Negotiate Your Salesforce Salary”, here’s how you can be persuasive when approaching your manager about sponsoring your certifications.
First thing’s first, the aim is to negotiate to terms that both sides are comfortable with. I bet that certifications won’t be the only item up for discussion – your manager will expect you to articulate how your certification/s will directly enhance your work output, and therefore, help the team to meet its goals.
Understand your manager
It’s quite possible that your manager is somewhat removed from your day-to-day work and the role you play. Some Salesforce professionals find that they have the knowledge, documentation, and prowess to do their work independently – those with more knowledge than their line manager, can work without too much intervention. Unfortunately, this can make it somewhat easy for managers to take your efforts for granted.
Your manager who controls the training budget, who are they? Do they get what benefits certifications will bring? More importantly, are you expressing the benefits of you getting certified in a way they can understand? Find out what their objectives are, as well as the KPIs they are being held to by their own manager/s. Lose the Salesforce jargon, and frame your request to align with their goals. This requires you to zoom out further…
Where is the organization heading?
Can you anticipate if there will be the need for your company to invest in another Salesforce technology, and have someone on hand with specific skills sets? Examples of this could be acquisitions and mergers, new business lines, and outgrowing current tools that business units are currently using.
Final Thoughts
We’re lucky that Salesforce is becoming the backbone for most organizations’ commercial activity – it’s a good industry to be in, and this means that Salesforce certifications could be an extremely valuable string to your bow. It’s worth having a conversation with your employer to discuss how ‘getting certified’ could benefit both you and your organization.
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