Looking to cross-train and join the Salesforce ecosystem? As the world’s #1 CRM, a whopping 150,000 companies use Salesforce to fire up their day-to-day operations, with the majority of these based in the US. But what key skills will you need as a Salesforce Developer? And how can you acquire them? Let’s find out…
What are the salaries and job prospects for Salesforce Developers?
The high demand for Salesforce Developers means those with the right commercial experience can command impressive salaries. Here are the latest Salesforce Developer salary insights from Mason Frank’s Careers and Hiring Guide, the most comprehensive resource of its kind in the Salesforce ecosystem.
| Junior pay band | Senior pay band | Contract rate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States ($) | 100,000-129,000 | 129,000-178,000+ | 94-161 (p/h) |
| United Kingdom (£) | 42,250-79,750 | 79,750-99,250+ | 522-804 (p/d) |
| Germany (€) | 60,000-75,000 | 75,000-94,750+ | 533-767 (p/d) |
United States:
- $100,000-$129,000 (junior pay band)
- $129,000-$178,000+ (senior pay band)
- $91-161 p/h (contractor rate)
United Kingdom:
- £42,250-£79,750 (junior pay band)
- £79,750-£99,250+ (senior pay band)
- £522-£804 p/d (contractor rate)
Germany:
- €60,000-€75,000 (junior pay band)
- €75,000-€94,750+ (senior pay band)
- €533-€767 p/d (contractor rate)
But it’s not all about the money. The same survey reveals that Salesforce Developers have a good work-life balance, with permanent Developers working 41 hours a week, on average, and contractors working 33 hours on average. Furthermore, 81% are satisfied with their job, a whopping 63% increase since 2023.
Although Salesforce Developers come from a wide range of backgrounds (and the Salesforce ecosystem is always looking for fresh perspectives!), they often come from a tech background, having previously held roles such as:
- JavaScript Developer
- Junior Software Developer
- Salesforce Administrator
- QA/UAT Tester
In addition to lucrative salaries and good working conditions, Salesforce Developers also have fantastic career progression opportunities to boot. They can progress on to become Senior Salesforce Developers, Tech Leads, or (with considerable experience) Salesforce Architects.
For inspiration...
Check out this case study about how one IT professional became a 6x certified Salesforce Developer after completing our fully-funded Salesforce Careers Program!
For inspiration...
Check out this case study about how one IT professional became a 6x certified Salesforce Developer after completing our fully-funded Salesforce Careers Program!
With no further ado, here are five top skills you need to become an amazing Salesforce Developer:
1. Salesforce Admin skills
The best Salesforce Developers know their Admin certifications like the back of their hand. Yes, you want to become a Salesforce Developer. However, your ability to write code to create solutions is only as good as your ability to configure those solutions. And configuration is a core Admin skill.
This fantastic blog by Mason Frank contains some great guidance and resources for acing your Salesforce Administrator certification. We recommend you give it a read if you’re looking to cross-train as a Salesforce Developer.
2. Effective communication
Consultancy skills or soft skills are an underrated strength of great Salesforce Developers. The ability to communicate effectively is crucial for a range of Salesforce roles, including Salesforce Developers.
Even if you have the most encyclopedic coding knowledge, you’ll struggle to find work with some of the best clients if you’re not able to effectively communicate across key stakeholders, manage multiple projects successfully, or understand and translate business requirements properly.
As a Salesforce Developer, you’ll be working with other engineers, developers, and stakeholders with varying levels of knowledge of the platform. As such, you’ll have to collaborate effectively to create quality solutions.
Top-tier Salesforce Developers understand that while their knowledge of the platform itself is incredibly important, complementing this with a strong set of consultancy skills is just as much so.
But don’t worry if you don’t have these skills yet. Our fully-funded Salesforce Careers Program includes two weeks of intense consultancy skills training, where you’ll be able to learn and perfect skills such as effective communication, persuasive presentations, and stakeholder management among others.
3. Knowing how to use declarative vs. code
The question of when to use a declarative solution vs. a tailored coded solution is one you’ll ask yourself often as a Salesforce Developer.
Because of how many solutions there are to choose from in Salesforce, a large part of your job is figuring out which will best apply to your particular project or task, before configuring it to work.
When deciding between declarative or code, you should ask yourself one simple question: Can you do this effectively with a declarative solution, or do you have to create new code?
If you can do something declaratively, it is usually best to do so. It’s simpler and quicker, and leaves you free to work on projects that require more intensive coding and attention.
For those who are curious, declarative solutions are usually simpler for a few key reasons:
- The more declarative solutions you use, the less code you have to maintain overall. Having a lot of code to maintain can be a real chore as a Salesforce Developer, no matter how good you are!
- Declarative development is native and, therefore, should need less attention/troubleshooting when new versions of Salesforce are released in the Spring, Summer, and Winter releases.
- Declarative solutions are much easier to understand and document, so other developers can pick up your work and hit the ground running, if you need support with a project.
4. Passion for learning Salesforce
The Salesforce ecosystem is well known for being filled with people who see their career as more than “just a job”. No wonder the ecosystem is famously called “ohana” or family—it’s far more than just a workplace community. The people who work within Salesforce live and breathe for the ecosystem—and for good reason too! The Salesforce ecosystem is a place where people excel, as much as do work. It’s not just a job; it’s a vocation.
Beyond this, you have to think about keeping your skill set sharp. Salesforce is a hugely exciting and innovative technology and new releases, products, and updates are always being announced. To be a great Salesforce Developer, you have to keep on top of them all which can be a challenge if you don’t truly love your work.
5. Creativity and problem-solving
When people think about what Salesforce Developers do day-to-day, they rarely think about how creative they have to be. True, there’s a lot of procedural understanding involved in the workload; you have to understand the language you’re working with, and how different pre-built components fit together effectively.
But to truly excel as a Salesforce Developer, you have to think creatively about building elegant solutions that users can get the most out of, as well as come up with creative solutions to problem-solving that crop up every day.
What’s more, it takes a creative mindset to understand requirements from clients that can often be somewhat abstract and then visualize a new process that you can build to meet these requirements.
Tips from other Salesforce Developers
Getting started in the Salesforce ecosystem is as much about individual learning as it is about using the resources that are already out there to help you get ahead. There are so many incredible people in the Salesforce Ohana who are always willing to help others join the ecosystem and get ahead.
With that in mind, we asked a few of our Revol Salesforce Developers for their top tips on getting started in Salesforce. Here are their top responses:
“Your mindset is incredibly important. You’ll get out what you put in, in terms of effort and reward. You have to put the work in to become great at Salesforce, but if you do, you will become great. I promise.”
“You’ve got to work hard and constantly push yourself to gain new knowledge. Great Salesforce Developers thrive on overcoming challenges and—in Salesforce—your potential never really reaches a limit, so keep pushing yourself.”
“Learn the basics of OOP (Object-Oriented Programming). This will give you great insight into APEX and the LWC and Aura frameworks, which you’ll need to succeed.”
“Understand the core concepts, plain and simple. Once you have your head wrapped around all of the concepts, passing your certs will become much easier.”
Plus, don’t forget to utilize the great resources that are already out there in the ecosystem. They’re tried and tested, created by people who have mastered these important skills:
