A Salesforce platform developer is an individual that has the knowledge, skills, and experience to build and maintain custom applications on the Lightning Platform. They have data modeling capabilities and can develop complex business logic and interfaces. In short, such a developer is capable of designing, developing, testing, and deploying programmatic solutions on the Lightning Platform, and these solutions are not only maintainable and re-usable but also follow design patterns as well as object-oriented programming best practices.

How to Become a Salesforce Platform Developer?

Background

Commonly, professionals who choose to become a Salesforce platform developer have some experience in developing applications in languages like JAVA, AngularJS, C#, PHP, C++, or other programming languages. If you have the benefit of experience in these programming languages, then you will find the Salesforce platform developer track quite familiar. Most development work on Salesforce is based on APEX which is based on JAVA.

Prerequisites

If you do not have any development background, this should not be an impediment. In fact, there are no pre-requisites to becoming a Salesforce platform developer. Some successful Salesforce platform developers go as far as saying that being a clean slate when it comes to programming can be an advantage because Salesforce has a unique set of rules about how it works. Having the flexibility to learn these set of rules can be an advantage instead of trying to adapt to Salesforce from a different development background.

Skills

As far as skills required to become a Salesforce developer are concerned, you basically need to have a logical and analytical mind. Additionally, having exceptional people skills that are necessary to relate well with people in a business environment can be extremely useful.

For example, as a Salesforce platform developer, you will be required to understand business requirements/challenges and then find a solution to those challenges/requirements using Salesforce. If you have a business background or if you are at least able to understand and communicate proficiently, then your job will be a lot easier, and you will be a lot more valuable in a work environment.

Certifications

Speaking of work environments, most organizations only hire certified professionals. Of course, there are a few that do not have Salesforce developer certifications, but they are few and far between. If you are contemplating building a career as a Salesforce platform developer, you are better off getting certified because it will give you the professionalism and confidence that you need to perform at the highest levels as a Salesforce platform developer.

Salesforce platform developer certifications on offer include the following.

1. Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder

A holder of this certificate proves that the individual:

Is comfortable with the declarative aspects of Salesforce.
Is comfortable using the Lightning platform and the Lightning app builder

Other important details

Exam cost: $200
Number of exam questions: 60 Multiple choice questions
Time to complete the exam: 90 minutes
Marks required to attain certification: 63%
Weightage of topics covered in the exam:

2. Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I

If you have between six months and one year of experience developing applications on the Lightning platform, then the Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I certification is the perfect one for you to start with. Passing the Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I exam means that:

You can proficiently build custom apps on the lightning platform
You can develop applications using APEX and Visualforce

Other important details

Exam cost: $200
Number of exam questions: 60 Multiple choice questions
Time to complete the exam: 105 minutes
Marks required to attain certification: 68%
Weightage of topics covered in the exam:

3. Salesforce Certified Platform Developer II

To qualify for the Salesforce Certified Platform Developer II exam, you need to have passed the Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I exam. Most candidates who seek Salesforce Certified Platform Developer II certification also have two to four years of experience as a developer and a minimum of one year's experience on the Lightning platform.

Candidates who pass the Salesforce Certified Platform Developer II exam have:

Mastered the use of APEX and Visualforce, and
Are comfortable using REST APIs, SOAP, Heroku and building Lightning components

Other important details

Exam cost: $400
Number of exam questions: 60 Multiple choice questions
Time to complete the exam: 120 minutes
Marks required to attain certification: 63%
Weightage of topics covered in the exam:

Employment and Salary Prospects

Salesforce is the number one CRM solutions provider in the world. As such, there is no shortage of opportunities to build a career in Salesforce as a developer since the demand for professionals is high.

According to Payscale.com, the minimum and maximum salary range for a certified Salesforce Platform developer is as follows:

Roles and Responsibilities

The fundamental responsibilities of a Salesforce platform developer in an organization include the following:

To work on development lifecycle activities of Salesforce applications including analyzing, designing, coding, testing, and implementation.
To execute on all Salesforce application projects such as successful deployment and resolving of application issues
To proactively adapt to the changing technological and business landscape on the Salesforce platform and on other platforms such as the .NET and JAVA platforms
To form effective project plans and design Salesforce solutions that add value to an organization
To liaise directly with customers and understand their functional, business and technical requirements before starting any programming work.

The Bottom Line

If you want to become a thriving Salesforce platform developer, it is imperative to study, practice and learn the ropes to become confident. Acquiring certification is the best path to follow for anyone that wants to build a long-term career in a reputable organization. In as much as some people can study and learn to become a Salesforce developer using readily available resources such as the free Salesforce Trailhead resources, it has to be said that for most people, taking a training course is a better alternative.

Through a reputable and comprehensive Salesforce Platform developer course, you do not have to search for the right material, assistance, or mentors to succeed in your pursuit to become a proficient Salesforce Platform Developer.

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