{"id":10922,"date":"2023-05-26T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-26T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=10922"},"modified":"2023-09-27T02:16:37","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T02:16:37","slug":"what-is-a-salesforce-developer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/in\/blog\/what-is-a-salesforce-developer\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is a Salesforce Developer?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Salesforce helps more than 150,000 customers<\/a> in every industry connect with their customers. People worldwide and in India rely on our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform and Salesforce Customer 360<\/a> to keep their businesses running effectively and efficiently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, we\u2019re talking about all the developers who work with Salesforce technologies to build solutions for our customers and partners. Salesforce, of course, employs<\/em> a lot of developers who build our products. If that sounds more like you, check out our engineering blog<\/a>. But since Salesforce runs Salesforce on Salesforce, much of what you read here may still apply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How developers work in the world of Salesforce<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With Salesforce, you can build solutions using a combination of no-code tools and code. The right tools for the right task. We call this low-code development. Through no-code customisations, developers solve some requirements without coding. This means when they do code, they end up writing less repetitive or boilerplate code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salesforce products<\/a> are expansive, covering sales, service, marketing, analytics, commerce, and more. Every part of Salesforce exposes APIs<\/a>. Developers use these to create web apps on Heroku<\/a>, supercharge their integration with MuleSoft<\/a>, or even customise one of the standard applications. It\u2019s fair to say that any developer can be a Salesforce Developer<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Trailhead Project<\/h2>\n\t\t\t

Build a simple app and see what it's like to develop on the Salesforce Platform.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n

Hit the Trails<\/a><\/div>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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+400 points<\/div>\n\t\t\t
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Get Started with Salesforce Development<\/p>\n\t\t\t

Introduction to developing on the Salesforce Platform.<\/p>\n\t\t\t

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What does a developer do with Salesforce?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Most developers who work with Salesforce technologies build custom business apps and solutions. They do this either with the Salesforce Platform<\/a> (including Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Experience Cloud communities) or with Heroku. While some developers specialise, most fit the description of full-stack developers working with both back-end logic and front-end experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the Salesforce Platform, there are many other opportunities for developers in the world of Salesforce. Some build custom marketing experiences on Marketing Cloud<\/a>. Others plumb the depths of data and expose new insights with Tableau<\/a>. There are developers building engaging commerce experiences with Commerce Cloud\u2019s PWA kit<\/a>. Others craft their company\u2019s digital HQ<\/a> with custom Slack apps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salesforce technologies offer opportunities for developers to work with every aspect of business applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Build Your Developer Career on Salesforce<\/h2>\n\t\t\t

New to Salesforce development? Here's a quick tour of how you can quickly build apps and integrations with Salesforce.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n

Hit the Trails<\/a><\/div>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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+9,700 points<\/div>\n\t\t\t
Trailmix<\/div>\n\t\t\t

Build Your Salesforce Developer Career<\/p>\n\t\t\t

Follow this path to get the skills you need to become a Salesforce Platform Developer.<\/p>\n\t\t\t

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Which skills does a developer need to work with Salesforce?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Code is the stock-in-trade of every developer, so you may wonder which programming languages you might use. A lot depends on which part of the Salesforce world you choose to work in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two most prominent languages in the Salesforce world are JavaScript<\/a> and Apex<\/a>. JavaScript is, of course, the language used for front-end customisations as surfaced through Lightning Web Components<\/a>. Apex is the most widely adopted back-end language in the Salesforce ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Salesforce Platform also has two domain-specific query languages. Salesforce Object Query Language (SOQL<\/a>) is a SQL-like query language for accessing data in the Salesforce multi-tenant database. Salesforce Object Search Language (SOSL<\/a>) is a text-based search language that can be used to find both data and documents stored on the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the Salesforce Platform, certain products support other languages. Both Python and JavaScript are supported languages for the Slack Bolt SDK<\/a>. For customised marketing experiences, you may use AMPscript<\/a> for Marketing Cloud. If you build integrations with MuleSoft, your data transformations can be written in DataWeave. If you work with dashboards in Salesforce CRM Analytics, you might use the Salesforce Analytics Query Language (SAQL<\/a>) to fine-tune visualisations. And, most recently, Data Cloud gives access to its data using SQL<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The technology and language landscape for Salesforce is rich and broad. No matter your interests, you can find a niche to master.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Discover Developer Centres<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Get tools, technologies, and resources to help you innovate on Salesforce.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\tFind out more<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t
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Since Salesforce offers no-code customisations, every developer working in the Salesforce ecosystem will end up learning how to use the no-code tools that support their work, too. For instance, certain features that can be complex to implement, like wizards, data security rules, and basic user interface (UI) customisations, can all be can be accomplished without coding at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Developers with previous experience in enterprise software tend to make the easiest transition to working in the world of Salesforce. But this is by no means a requirement. Again, any developer can become a Salesforce Developer. Many have joined directly from college or moved over from other software engineering experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the career prospects for a developer who works with Salesforce in India?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As the ecosystem around Salesforce grows<\/a>, developers continue to be highly sought after. In the past 5 years, the number of new developer positions has increased by 165 percent<\/a> on average year-over-year. And based on U.S. data, a starting salary for a developer is $105,000 per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Developers often come to Salesforce as a career opportunity. Once here, many get hooked on the friendly support of the Salesforce Developer Community<\/a>. You can also connect, share ideas, and build your skills through local, in-person meetups<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Join the conversation virtually with developers daily through the Salesforce Developers<\/a> group in the Trailblazer Community<\/a> on Trailhead\u2014Salesforce\u2019s free online learning platform<\/a>. Take your learning and networking even further by attending one of the community conferences<\/a> found worldwide and in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Connect with Trailblazers from anywhere<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Join the conversation in the Trailblazer Community.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\tSign up today<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t
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Which credentials and certifications are relevant for the job?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As a developer, you want to work with the most relevant technologies, languages, and platforms. No language is more universally relevant today than JavaScript. You can show your JavaScript competence by earning the JavaScript Developer 1 Certification<\/a>. This certification tests your knowledge of JavaScript in the browser and in NodeJS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While used to validate the skills of many candidates in the Salesforce ecosystem, because it\u2019s focused on universal knowledge, any company can use this certification when looking to hire a JavaScript developer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To demonstrate your competence in developing with Salesforce Platform-specific features, tools, and technologies, you can pursue several paths. To learn about all the platform features that require no coding, you can take the Platform App Builder Certification<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To show knowledge and understanding of different programming features, earn your Platform Developer 1 Certification (PD1)<\/a>. Once you have your PD1, you can go further by pursuing the practical, hands-on Platform Developer 2 Certification<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Earn role-based Salesforce credentials<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Prove your hands-on experience with Salesforce and gain a competitive edge that leads to new opportunities.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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In addition to these core Salesforce Platform certifications, you can also pursue specialist certification in products such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n