Are you one among the many who endeavour to become a proficient Salesforce Developer? Then, this would be your first step after the completion of your App Builder Certification. Even if you hail from a different background, do not worry! All you need is a cup of coffee, a load of enthusiasm and an easy hand with basics in Salesforce platform.

 There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done!!

So, what does it take to become a developer in Salesforce? Good question, isn’t it? To your surprise, the answer is simple and straightforward. If you have the App Builder Certification and some basic coding knowledge/experience, it is just a matter of time and effort that makes it a cakewalk to clear the exam. All you need to know:

  • Click and configure on Salesforce Platform
  • Basic Object-Oriented Programming
  • Writing Unit Tests
  • Debugging a code

No coding experience? Try completing this Trailhead module to equip yourself with some basic coding nuances in Salesforce Development.

Time to fetch the pointers for this exam!

Pattern – Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ):

  • 60 multiple-choice/multiple-select questions
  • 120 minutes allotted to complete the exam (time allows for unscored questions)
  • 63% is the passing score

What to prepare?

  • Basic Apex coding structure.
  • Best practices of Apex coding.
  • SOQL and SOSL differences
  • Ways to write SOQLs (optimized approach)
  • Using custom labels and custom setting in VF pages
  • Using Lists, Sets and Maps in Apex Code
  • Using Maps from the List collections
  • Using Developer Console (learn about each option in Developer Console)
  • Basics of Lightning Component Framework (learn about the structure of LCF)
  • Multi-tenant architecture
  • Salesforce Governor Limits (Apex and SOQL is the key)
  • Relationships and how they behave during update operation
  • Debugging/Output the given Code Examples
  • Code example with null pointer exceptions
  • Code examples with DML exceptions
  • Error handling in Apex code
  • Test class writing and nuances
  • TestVisible keyword in Apex classes
  • What is feasible/Not feasible in Changeset deployments
  • StartTest() and StopTest()
  • Standard Controllers and Custom Controllers
  • Configuring the business logic with relationship fields without code (Master-Detail/Lookup)
  • Apex Triggers and their best practices
  • Using validation rules with Apex code
  • Primitive data types and its usage
  • Know when to write code and when to use declarative
  • Setting checkpoints in developer console
  • Rolling back on checkpoints in Apex code
  • Trigger context variables
  • Apex classes and interfaces
  • Best practices about apex looping
  • Apex order of execution
  • Data loading basics and external ids
  • Lightning Event Driven Architecture
  • Recursive trigger issues and resolution
  • Types of Sandboxes and its limitations
  • Using process builder over apex code/trigger
  • Process builder and their actions

Hope you had an idea of all the areas to cover. In addition, to these go through the Official Study Guide to see the weight of topics for the exam.

Final Tip: Try to eliminate all the wrong answers / unrealistic answers. It will help you boiling down to fewer options to choose.

All The Best! Waiting to hear your success stories! ?Please post your experience/study notes as a blog post so that it can help aspiring developers around the world. Let’s grow by helping each other!