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How to prepare for a Salesforce industry emergency

April 19, 2020

Times like these get you to think – how prepared are you for the inevitable crash of our industry?

Oracle, IBM, HP – these companies were once the “Salesforces” of their generation. But every great company has a rise and a fall. And Salesforce is no exception.

Make no mistake, the Salesforce industry will decline during your career. It’ll happen as quickly as how Salesforce hit Oracle. And once you realize the decline is here, it’s already too late to prepare.

You need to be ready for an industry shift starting today. Here are my recommendations:

Salesforce Administrators

Admins will likely struggle the most during the transition:

  • An admin’s hard skills are generally not transferrable: process builder, sharing rules, etc.
  • Soft skills, an admin’s specialty, are found in professionals of all industries
  • Admins are the majority of the industry, increasing the amount of competition

That said, it’s certainly not a doomed career path. Here’s what I’d do to prepare:

  • Actively go towards the management path. Read management books, manage up, etc.
  • Become a consultant to double down on your soft skills
  • Learn more hard skills like coding, AI, SQL, etc.
Salesforce Developers

Developers have the strongest career security of the main Salesforce paths during a transition:

  • Coding skills translate across all programming languages
  • There is a worldwide shortage of programmers
  • Developers make good money and have larger safety nets

Nothing is guaranteed though. Developers still need to prepare for the worst:

  • Learn programming fundamentals such as design patterns
  • Double down on Javascript skills as you build more in the Lightning framework
  • Spend extra time understanding integration architecture end to end
Technical Architects

Technical architects are also well positioned to overcome industry shifts:

  • An architect’s skillset already includes many non-Salesforce technologies
  • Enterprise systems are resistant to change and prefer proven technology
  • Architects command massive paychecks and have larger safety nets
  • Lesser hands-on skills may hurt your job prospects

Technical architects too should prepare for industry changes:

  • Expand your skills by working on larger and larger deployments
  • Follow the CTA path as not all architect job titles are equal
  • Get your hands dirty with technology too!

No matter how secure you think your job is, we all need to plan for the long-term.

Hope for the best and prepare for the worst!
David

17 Comments
lavanya
June 19, 2020 @ 9:15 am

Hi David

I am really excited to learn and work in salesforce environment but could you please guide me the path to start

Reply
    David Liu
    June 19, 2020 @ 9:17 am

    You’ll see some great posts on this in page 2 of this site!

    Reply
B
April 23, 2020 @ 9:42 am

Hi David,

I’m about to start your 15 week coding plan, but I do not yet have professional experience as an admin (I do have the admin certification and 5 superbadges).

Do I need to work as an admin first to have a reasonable or realistic chance of becoming a salesforce developer?

Reply
    David Liu
    April 23, 2020 @ 9:51 am

    If I were in your position I’d probably start learning dev. It could be a while when you’re technically “ready” and that might push things forever.

    Reply
Natalie Gunther
April 21, 2020 @ 11:24 am

Hey David, this is great! I’m just finishing up your pluralsight classes. What would you suggest is a good next step for learning to code? I have some examples I am starting to play with but am finding I still don’t know enough to go beyond what process builder and visual flow.

Reply
    David Liu
    April 21, 2020 @ 11:28 am

    Thanks Natalie! Two things I’d recommend. First is the final project on bit.ly/go-apex and second is to start with some Lightning components. Trailhead is the place to go for the latter!

    Reply
Dinesh
April 21, 2020 @ 10:26 am

Actually I am high School student next I study to Salesforce developer…I can’t understand
Now can I do study or not

Reply
    David Liu
    April 21, 2020 @ 11:17 am

    It’s still the hottest thing on the market. I wouldn’t assume it stays hot your entire career though. At some point you’ll have to pivot.

    Reply
Jameel
April 21, 2020 @ 9:53 am

David, I appreciate the insight; however, the article didn’t state why this is being shared. The CRM industry projections show an increase in demand and jobs throughout the next few years. Do you see a particular downturn?

Reply
    David Liu
    April 21, 2020 @ 11:16 am

    The time frame for this article is across a career. The projections are probably a lot shorter term than that. More importantly though, projections are revised all the time!

    Reply
Madhu
April 20, 2020 @ 8:21 pm

Hey David,

What would be your advise for someone who wants to learn coding now and to become a sfdc developer?

Is it a right career choice to learn sfdc development during this time? Or do you suggest any other language for a bright career opportunities..

Thanks in advance!
Madhu

Reply
    David Liu
    April 21, 2020 @ 11:13 am

    It’s really a fantastic time to be a Salesforce developer, and it will be for 5+ years from now. This post just highlights the importance of not getting too complacent!

    Reply
Sai A
April 20, 2020 @ 8:17 am

Hi David,
Would you recommend this book: Head First Design Patterns (per article above) to a seasoned admin who is learning to code? I just completed 2 of your beginner APEX course in Pluralsight and currently working on SOQL.
Or should I wait until I get more coding experience?
Point being, will I be able to relate with fundamentals behind design patterns or it would make more sense to me after I get more involved with coding projects?
Let me know your thoughts.
Sai

Reply
    David Liu
    April 20, 2020 @ 8:48 am

    Definitely until you have more coding experience and doing it full time!

    Reply
      Sai A.
      April 20, 2020 @ 9:16 am

      Thank you!

      Reply
Anonymous
April 20, 2020 @ 4:02 am

Thank you David for sharing this…

Reply
Sybil Carter Love
April 19, 2020 @ 10:12 pm

David, thanks again for sharing your timely advice and best practices in this time of uncertainty!

Reply

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