What is a Salesforce Developer?

In this blog, we’ll run you through the job description of a Salesforce Developer, including their key roles and responsibilities, important skills and more.

• What is a Salesforce Developer?
• Key skills for a Salesforce Developer
• What types of programming languages will you use as a Salesforce Developer?
• Is a Salesforce Developer a good career?

First of all, let’s give you a brief introduction to Salesforce, to help you better understand what a Salesforce Developer is and what they do. Salesforce is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform, which manages a company’s customer interactions and information, allowing them to automate a series of processes throughout the customer’s journey. It is a powerful piece of software that can be used to manage marketing, sales and customer service, to improve overall customer relationships.

What is a Salesforce Developer?

Simply put, a Salesforce Developer is someone who works with Salesforce. And, no, that does not mean they work for Salesforce – a Salesforce Developer simply uses the Salesforce platform. Since Salesforce offers SaaS and PaaS platforms, you could work for any organisation, be that in banking, marketing, healthcare or IT, for example. More than 150,000 companies are now using Salesforce!

The real question is: what does a Salesforce Developer do exactly? Working as a Salesforce Developer is a varied position, and each day will look different. However, the main roles and responsibilities of a Salesforce Developer include (but are by no means limited to):

• Communicating with clients to understand CRM requirements
• Designing, building, and implementing custom Salesforce applications
• Testing application functionality to identify potential issues
• Fixing bugs and improving app functionality
• Integrating Salesforce with other 3rd party application

Key skills for a Salesforce Developer

To become a Salesforce Developer, you must be equipped with a specific set of skills. These include:

• Programming languages
• Analytical skills
• Written and verbal communication
• Excellent problem solving
• Creativity
• A passion for technology
• A positive mindset

To land a job as a Salesforce Developer, you also require the appropriate qualifications. For more information on how to become a Salesforce Developer and the certification you’ll need, see our guide to getting a Salesforce Developer Certification.

What types of programming languages will you use as a Salesforce Developer?

Apex, similar to Java, is a special Salesforce programming language, which can be used to programme the platform itself, as well as VisualForce, similar to HTML. VisualForce is a markup language that can be used to customise Salesforce pages.

Lightning web components are modular, modern user interface components built using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. They are a functional replacement for VisualForce. although VisualForce does still exist in a lot of older Salesforce implementations.

Is a Salesforce Developer a good career?

An increasing number of businesses are on the lookout for passionate Salesforce Developers, with more than 1.9 million new jobs created in Salesforce in 2020 alone. Now’s definitely the time to get started!

Working as a Salesforce Developer also offers ample opportunities for progression into a Senior Developer, Architect, or Senior Architect.

Are you looking to launch your career as a Salesforce Developer? Check out the FDM Salesforce Developer Graduate Programme to get started.