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How to get Salesforce coding experience

February 9, 2018

Preface: this post is part of The Definitive Salesforce Careers Guide series.

You gotta start somewhere, right?! =)

Let’s say you’ve gone through some Apex tutorials and maybe a few courses in the Apex Academy too! You’ve written working Apex and of course the test classes too!

How do you go from an Apex hobbyist to an Apex professional?

Here’s exactly what I would do if I were in your shoes:


Build your own Salesforce org

This is straight up one of the best ways to learn:

  1. Choose your favorite spreadsheet
  2. Start a free developer org
  3. Rebuild your spreadsheet in Salesforce, then delete the original!
  4. Code stuff!

BONUS: Show off your Salesforce org during your interviews and/or on your resume!


Answer questions on Salesforce forums

Fun fact: I have close to 4,000 answers on Salesforce community!

Guess what? I learned more there than I did from any job I’ve ever had!

  1. Trailblazer Community – Start here. It’s not developer focused, but there are plenty of easier entry level developer questions that are asked
  2. Developer Forum – tons of developer questions here across the spectrum. Choose ones you think you can tackle while also learning from others
  3. Salesforce Stack Exchange – these code questions are usually more difficult, so hop on board when you’re looking for a challenge

BONUS: Doing this is a great way to start building your Salesforce MVP resume!


Volunteer with nonprofit orgs

This is the best way to get real hands-on experience!

Donating your time isn’t easy for many reasons, so make sure you’re committed before diving in.

You can sign up to be a volunteer at Taproot, an organization that connects nonprofits with volunteers. Or you can find a local nonprofit to help.

Personally, I’d call up all my local nonprofits and/or visit them in person to apply.

PRO TIP: Having Salesforce certifications (guide) makes a big difference!


Rebuild your workflow rules and process builders

This one’s pretty straightforward!

  1. Find an active workflow rule or process builder
  2. Rewrite it using Apex
  3. Deactivate the original
  4. Repeat

PRO TIP: Don’t do anything that’ll get you fired!


Do some freelance work!

Make money and earn Salesforce coding experience!

Remember though that the key here is to get experience. Set your rates low and perhaps more importantly set your client’s expectations low too.

Your ideal client is someone who needs cheap Apex work and doesn’t want to pay a premium. Pour your soul into your work, get good reviews, then increase your rates over time.

I love this option because it puts you in a sink or swim scenario!

PRO TIP: Check out Upwork, one of the more popular freelancing markets!


Follow these tips and will yourself into becoming an expert Salesforce developer.

You know what to do, now nothing’s stopping you but yourself! Go get em!

Next post: How to apply for jobs in the Salesforce industry!

9 Comments
mkreddy
November 10, 2018 @ 12:54 am

i need part time job in salesforce admin or developer

Reply
Premanand Thirumal
August 7, 2018 @ 11:32 am

Hi Siri I am also with Siebel exp. Please let me know how to start and go on.
Thanks,
Prem

Reply
Ron
June 4, 2018 @ 4:55 am

Do you have a sample of rules and PB rebuild using apex?

Reply
Stephanie
May 31, 2018 @ 10:23 am

Hi. I am confused about build my own salesforce org within salesforce. How would that look like? What would I be putting into the spreadsheet?

Reply
    David Liu
    May 31, 2018 @ 10:40 pm

    Whatever you’re tracking in spreadsheets today =)

    For example, I have a spreadsheet currently tracking Apex Academy scholarships I’m giving out. It’d be great to move that to Salesforce! Another example, I use spreadsheets to track my budgets – great Salesforce use case!

    Reply
Siri
April 4, 2018 @ 2:43 am

Great tips for beginners like me from Siebel CRM to Salesforce !! Thanks

Reply
    Premanand Thirumal
    August 7, 2018 @ 11:31 am

    Hi Siri I am also with Siebel exp. Please let me know how to start and go on.
    Thanks,
    Prem

    Reply
Anonymous
February 10, 2018 @ 7:15 am

David once again you post true insight to building skill level and using it. Since finding Salesforce and the resources you provide I’ve been able to not only create Apex class to overcome Salesforce limitations but also make progress in integrations, well at least one integration with an external source to populate in Salesforce.

I wanted to add that if there are people interested in advancing their skills with integration, I would suggest to all to get familiar with Postman. I sure you are familiar with the tool but to others this is a great way to connect to non Salesforce endpoints and experiment with the returned data. I think becoming familiar with how the data is returned is key.

One again David keep up the great posts and thanks once again.

Reply
    David Liu
    February 12, 2018 @ 11:07 pm

    Thank you!!

    Great tip on Postman, I’ve used that when doing integrations too!

    Reply

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