Salesforce Developers extend Salesforce orgs beyond declarative (point-and-click) configuration, build apps, and in turn, optimize business operations. Salesforce Developers will typically use two programming languages: Apex and JavaScript.
However, there’s more to Salesforce development than code. To excel along the Salesforce Developer career path, understanding the declarative features of Salesforce (and what your admin counterparts are working with) will keep your org’s design and performance optimal. This guide will outline the Salesforce Developer training options out there, the key concepts to learn, how to extend learning with the Trailblazer Community, and how to embark on your route to achieving the PD1 certification.
Salesforce Developer Training Options
There are plenty of options out there for learning Salesforce development. Here’s a selection of Salesforce Developer training resources, a mixture of free and paid offerings.
Trailhead Academy: Build Applications Programmatically on the Salesforce Platform (DEX450)
- Create custom solutions that combine pro-code and no-code techniques effectively.
- Write basic Lightning Web Components and Visualforce code to personalize the user interface.
- Develop custom business logic using Apex triggers and classes, incorporating SOQL, SOSL, and DML.
- Test Apex code using the built-in testing framework.
- Comprehend how trigger code fits into Salesforce’s Order of Execution.
- Grasp the core principles of programming on a multi-tenant platform.
- Utilize tools like Visual Studio Code, Salesforce Extension Pack, and Salesforce Command Line Interface (CLI) for modern Salesforce Platform development.
Introduction to Salesforce Apex Course
- Everything you need to know to read and write fundamental Apex code, including Variables, Operators, Control Structures, Loops, Collections, Functions, and Classes.
- 10+ hours of instructor led videos to support your learning style.
- 264 code examples, and 85 coding exercises to cement your learning and test your knowledge.
Trailhead Build Apex Coding Skills Trail
- Apex Basics for Admins
- Object-Oriented Programming for Admins
- SOQL for Admins
- Use Apex to Automate Business Processes
Salesforce Apex Triggers 101
- Everything you need to know to read and write Apex Triggers.
- Understand Syntax, Triggers, Trigger Events, Trigger Context, and Trigger Frameworks.
- 25+ code examples, and 36 exercises to cement your learning and test your knowledge.
Trailhead Apex Specialist Superbadge
- Automate record creation using Apex triggers.
- Synchronize Salesforce data with an external system using asynchronous REST callouts.
- Schedule synchronization using Apex code.
- Test automation logic to confirm Apex trigger side effects.
- Test integration logic using callout mocks.
- Test scheduling logic to confirm action gets queued.
Trailhead Advanced Apex Specialist Superbadge
- Debug and troubleshoot Apex code.
- Develop Apex Code that will scale to large data sets.
- Develop custom interfaces using Visualforce.
- Design a test strategy that will ensure quality of code.
Salesforce Apex Testing Essentials
- Everything you need to know about Apex Testing, including Triggers, Test Data Creation, and Testing Async Apex.
- 4+ hours of instructor led videos to support your learning style.
- 40+ code examples, and 34 exercises to cement your learning and test your knowledge.
Introduction to Salesforce SOQL Course
- Understand the Salesforce database and relationships, plus how to use Workbench and Apex to write valid SOQL queries.
- 6+ hours of instructor led videos to support your learning style.
- Step by step tutorials with use cases and examples to understand various operators, clauses, and functions.
- 100+ code examples, and 52 exercises to cement your learning and test your knowledge.
Salesforce Developer Training: Key Concepts to Learn
According to Saifullah Saifi, Sr. Salesforce Developer at LeadIQ, the key concepts for a Salesforce Developer to learn are:
1. Understanding Basic and Advanced Apex Concepts
Apex is one of the oldest and single most powerful backend languages for the Salesforce platform. If you want to be a good developer you must learn the basics of Apex, data types, and collection, especially Map.
An Apex trigger is one of the most used and complex automotive tools that a Salesforce Developer can write. It is important you understand trigger framework, code optimization, plus an understanding of Dynamic Apex and Asynchronous Apex will give you the skills needed in Database Transaction and Backend Development.
2. Learn and Master Lightning Web Components
Lightning Web Components (LWC) are the first open-source JavaScript framework from Salesforce with great features and built on open web standards.
According to Trailhead:
Due to its open web standard quality, it is now very similar to any other front-end JS framework, such as angular JS or react JS. This means that if you are an Aura Component Developer, you can learn to use LWC easily. LWC and Aura can coexist, however, LWC is faster and more lightweight. Aura and LWC both can send and receive data through Lightning Data Service (LDS) and the User Interface API.
Salesforce has also included LWC features for Mobile SDK. We have VScode, and CLI to code in local machines and in the org.
3. Learn Salesforce Declarative Features
The best developers are able to utilize Salesforce’s powerful declarative features before resorting to code.
Due to Salesforce’s impressive standard features and automation tools such as Flow, many requests and problems can be solved easily without disrupting the Governor Limits of Salesforce.
For example, Salesforce Dynamic Forms that will help developers avoid redundant coding.
Only once you are sure it cannot be done declaratively or it isn’t best practice to use “clicks”, should you turn to code.
4. Learn to Work With Large Data Sets
You may have strong development skills, but in Salesforce Governor Limits have the potential to suppress items like queries, triggers, or scheduler because of the large data sizes. Even though it may have worked fine in a Sandbox, once there were volumes of records it fails.
For that purpose you need to learn the following from Trailhead:
- How you can use indexing for SOQL optimization
- Why you should use queueable or batch
- Development in Large Data set
- How and when to use Big Objects
- Choosing the best integration technique
5. Learn Salesforce Security and Sharing
Salesforce has a complex and powerful security model, however, due to its customization ability using code in Apex or LWC, a minor mistake can accidentally display sensitive data to the wrong user – that’s a BIG issue. A Salesforce Developer must always consider the org’s record access design.
You should learn about the following in detail:
- Record level access
- Apex based sharing
Extend Your Salesforce Developer Training
Seyit Usmanov has taught Salesforce in a number of places, on his YouTube channel (Salesforce Chef), at Montgomery College (the largest community college in Maryland), at a Native American reservation in Oregon, and also to his colleagues.
Based on his extensive teaching and development experience, here are his steps to getting your first job as a Salesforce Developer.
1. Be a Strong Salesforce Admin
Cement your Salesforce Admin knowledge! I recommend spending three months studying for, and passing, these certifications:
- Salesforce Certified Administrator
- Salesforce Certified Advanced Administrator
- Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder
- Salesforce Certified Sales Cloud Consultant
- Salesforce Certified Service Cloud Consultant
2. Make Salesforce Personal → Run Your life on Salesforce
Navigating and customizing your Salesforce org should become as natural and easy as navigating and customizing your iPhone’s settings. To become comfortable with Salesforce, use Salesforce for your personal needs. Is there something specific you can use Salesforce for?
Could you use Salesforce to keep track of your job applications? Each job application is an opportunity that you are trying to close. The company you are applying for is an account and the people at the company that you are interacting with are contacts.
How about also tracking your visits to your doctor/mechanic as an activity task? If you want to take it a step further – can you use workflows, Process Builder, or triggers to automate something (i.e following up on an interview)?
The more features of Salesforce you use the more you will appreciate Salesforce and easier it would be for you to get a job. You would be learning Salesforce even without realizing it.
3. Pass the Scrum Master Certification
When you join a project, you should know the key terms used in an agile project such as backlog, sprint, stand-up meetings. You can ace this certification from Scrum.org after two days of studying. Also, the exam is open book. This certification should decorate your resume.
4. Join Your Local Salesforce Developer Community Group
You might feel intimidated by other more experienced developers, but don’t worry. Since the Salesforce Trailblazer Community helps each other you will be inspired and guided by fellow developers.
Start building a local friend network of Salesforce professionals by attending your first Trailblazer Community Group.
Learn about others’ Salesforce journey: how did they find their first job? How did they learn Apex?
Also, did you know that recruiters typically come to the developer meetups? So this is an opportunity to get a feel for local opportunities and get your questions answered (and recruited)!
5. Get on Salesforce StackExchange
The Salesforce StackExchange is the best resource to crowdsource the community’s help on your specific developer questions, even if, initially, the questions discussed on the forum will be far beyond your expertise.
Still, bookmark the Salesforce StackExchange and get in the habit of logging in once a week, seeking an opportunity to ask a good question (not an easy task but you can do it. I did it!), and getting 100 reputation points.
6. Find a Technical Mentor
It can be a challenge to get used to writing code, and easy to feel stuck and overwhelmed if you don’t come from an IT or coding background (that was the case for me!)
A lot of the coding concepts might not make sense (wait, what is an Exception? If it is an error why is it called an Exception? Is not being Exceptional supposed to be a good thing?!)
It all will start clicking only after six months. The key is to survive these initial six months until you get used to Apex, LWCs, and Salesforce in general. Keep up your Salesforce momentum! An aspiring developer should find a technical mentor to overcome obstacles. This person will explain the mistakes in your code, how to achieve higher and better code coverage, or how to debug your code.
How do you find such a mentor? You could look in your local Salesforce Community (point #5), or you could look on Upwork. If you are interested in seeing how to do this step-by-step, check out Seyit’s YouTube video on this topic.
7. Apply to Jobs (Track Your Mistakes)
Have you been to job interviews? In your own Salesforce Dev org, keep track of all the interviews you have had. For each interview, create an opportunity record, and in the activity-related list, record all the questions that you were asked, what mistakes you think you made, and how you could do better.
The beautiful thing with coding interviews is that it is an objective process; therefore, you can tell what your weaknesses/gaps are, so you can work on them (using Trailhead, community friends, or Googling), and do better on your next interview. This job description template gives you an idea of what hiring managers could be looking for.
You will be surprised how much better you will get pretty quickly. Focus on questions that you answered poorly. Write out the answer for those questions and practice it so that you answer that question much better at the next interview. By tracking your mistakes and making incremental improvements you will become a very attractive candidate very fast.
If you’re looking for help with the interview, then check out these interview questions:
Your Route to the PD1 Certification
The Platform Developer Certification I will help you to cover the main concepts of Salesforce development, including not only Apex but declarative tools, best practices, security, UI, and performance – plus, it will demonstrate your tenacity to learn.
Janet Elliott, a Salesforce MVP and Solution Architect, shares her journey working towards the PD1 certification:
Once you’re in the final stages of your study, check out our free practice exam, which mirrors the real questions you can expect during the exam.
Summary
That concludes our extensive list of Salesforce Developer training resources. With a combination of time, determination, and resources from Salesforce and the community, you can skill up as a Salesforce Developer in no time.
Let us know your favorite resources in the comments!