
What is a Salesforce Developer?
Explore how to become a developer in the Salesforce ecosystem and what it means. Dive into the role, responsibilities, and the necessary skills to have a career path as a Salesforce developer.
Explore how to become a developer in the Salesforce ecosystem and what it means. Dive into the role, responsibilities, and the necessary skills to have a career path as a Salesforce developer.
Salesforce helps more than 150,000 customers in every industry connect with their customers. People around the world rely on Salesforce’s Platform to keep their businesses running effectively and efficiently. Developers who work with Salesforce solve complex problems for customers using both code and Salesforce’s no-code tools.
Here, we’re talking about all the developers who work with Salesforce technologies to build solutions for our customers and partners. Salesforce, of course, employs a lot of developers who build our products. If that sounds more like you, check out our engineering blog. But because we run Salesforce on Salesforce, much of what you read here might still apply.
With Salesforce, you can build solutions using a combination of no-code tools and low-code. The right tools for the right task. We call this low-code development. Through no-code customizations, developers solve some requirements without coding. This means when they do code, they end up writing less repetitive or boilerplate code.
Salesforce products are expansive, covering sales, service, marketing, analytics, commerce, and more. Every part of Salesforce exposes APIs. Developers use these to create web apps on Heroku, improve their integration with MuleSoft, extend Slack or Tableau, or even customize one of the standard applications. With tools like Code Builder, a web-based integrated development environment (IDE) that simplifies and streamlines the development process, it is accessible for any developer to be a Salesforce developer.
Most developers who work with Salesforce technologies build custom enterprise applications and AI agent solutions. They do this either with the Salesforce Platform (including Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Data Cloud, and Experience Cloud communities) or with Heroku. To support this, Salesforce offers a low-code development platform that streamlines application creation, making it easier for developers to focus on innovation. While some developers specialize, most fit the description of full-stack developers working with both back-end logic and front-end experiences.
Beyond the Salesforce Platform, there are many other opportunities for developers in the world of Salesforce. Some build custom marketing experiences on Marketing Cloud. Others plumb the depths of data and expose new insights with Tableau. There are developers building engaging commerce experiences with Commerce Cloud. Others cultivate easy collaboration though custom Slack apps, and some developers use the drag-and-drop app builders to create quick solutions, each approach offering flexibility based on needs.
Salesforce technologies offer opportunities for developers to work with every aspect of business applications.
Code is the stock-in-trade of every developer, so you might wonder which programming languages you’ll use. A lot depends on which part of the Salesforce world you choose to work in.
The two most prominent languages in the Salesforce world are JavaScript and Apex. JavaScript is, of course, the language used for front-end customizations as surfaced through Lightning Web Components. Apex is the most widely adopted back-end language in the Salesforce ecosystem, and it’s used in many different features of the platform, like Prompt Builder or Agentforce.
The Salesforce Platform also has two domain-specific query languages. Salesforce Object Query Language (SOQL) is an SQL-like query language for accessing data in the Salesforce multitenant database. Salesforce Object Search Language (SOSL) is a text-based search language that can be used to find both data and documents stored on the platform.
In addition to the Salesforce Platform, certain products support other languages. Both Python and JavaScript are supported languages for the Slack Bolt SDK and TypeScript is also available on the Deno Slack SDK. For customized marketing experiences, you can use AMPscript 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) to fine-tune visualizations. And, our hyperscale data engine, Data Cloud, gives you the option to access its data using SQL.
Developers can also create sandbox development environment within Salesforce. This is an isolated, secure replica of your production environment. It’s a space to test and refine solutions before deploying them. Whatever your technical interests are, Salesforce’s broad and diverse language options means that there are a variety of areas to specialize in.
Because Salesforce offers no-code customizations, 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) customizations, can all be accomplished without coding at all.
Developers with previous experience in enterprise app development or DevOps tools 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.
As the ecosystem around Salesforce grows, developers continue to be highly sought after. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, software developers have a 17% job outlook through 2033, which is considered much faster than average.
Developers often come to Salesforce as a career opportunity. Once here, many get hooked on the friendly support of the Salesforce Developer Community. You can also connect, share ideas, and build your skills through local, in-person meetups.
Join the conversation virtually with developers every day through the Salesforce Developers group in the Trailblazer Community on Trailhead—Salesforce’s free online learning platform. Take your learning and networking even further by attending one of the community conferences found all over the world.
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. This certification tests your knowledge of JavaScript in the browser and in NodeJS.
While used to validate the skills of many candidates in the Salesforce ecosystem, because it’s focused on universal knowledge, any company can use this certification when looking to hire a JavaScript developer.
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. For developers focusing on mobile-first solutions, expertise with the mobile app builder can be an invaluable addition.
To show knowledge and understanding of different programming features, earn your Platform Developer 1 Certification (PD1). Once you have your PD1, you can go further by pursuing the practical, hands-on Platform Developer 2 Certification.
In addition to these core Salesforce Platform certifications, you can also pursue specialist certifications in products such as:
As a developer, you hold some of the most sought-after skills in every industry. Every business needs technical experts to turn their requirements for business applications, integrations, and customer-facing websites into experiences that deliver what their users and customers need.
You might have long-standing experience developing on other platforms or working with deployment environments. You might just be launching your career. You might be somewhere in between. Whatever the case, there are many paths for you to become a developer in the Salesforce ecosystem.
If this has you excited to learn more, the Salesforce Developers website is a great place to start. You can also learn about the latest developer features through our Salesforce Developers blog or YouTube channel. And to stay connected, follow Salesforce Developers on LinkedIn, and connect with fellow developers through the Salesforce Developers Trailblazer Community Group on Trailhead.
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