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How many certifications should you get?

February 18, 2021

Love it or hate it, certifications are an inevitable part of your Salesforce career.

And for 2021, here’s my analysis of how many certs you need these days to stand out.

I’ll cover this topic for each experience category – entry, mid, and senior level professionals. I’ll also cover what order to take your certifications in for admin, developer, and architect job paths.

Enjoy!

Sponsored by Focus on Force, helping you prepare successfully for your certification exams for the cost of a lunch. For a limited time, get 25% off using code sfdc2021 when you purchase 2 or more exams or study guides.

17 Comments
Kelly
May 11, 2021 @ 6:22 am

I have Certified Admin, Certified Platform App Builder, and Certified Platform Dev 1. Should I go Platform Dev 2 or pursue the other 2 certs and go for Application Architect? I’m trying to break into Salesforce ecosystem but I have 20+ years of IT dev in Java/.Net and Project Management.

Reply
    David Liu
    May 11, 2021 @ 11:43 am

    PD2 will give you the most bang for the buck, but only if you actually want to look for hybrid or development jobs

    Reply
Luke
February 25, 2021 @ 7:21 am

Hey David, thank you for the inspiration! I passed the Platform Developer 1 exam yesterday.

This is my only certification and I currently work as a Salesforce Administrator. I would like your thoughts on if I should bother with the Admin certs or should I focus on the A-tier certs?

Appreciate your wisdom!

Reply
    David Liu
    February 25, 2021 @ 1:21 pm

    Congrats! Go PD2! If that seems like a big mountain go Admin certs (Adv Admin eventually)

    Reply
Solution Architect
February 23, 2021 @ 5:10 pm

Hi David,

Thank you for this video! I’d like to know your thoughts regarding the new cert for B2C Solution Architect. I’m wondering if I should go for that instead of Application Architect, since I’m interested in multi-cloud.

Reply
    David Liu
    February 23, 2021 @ 5:17 pm

    Not sure what that niche is yet to be honest. I initially thought it was related to their B2C commerce area which IMO is low value. Most Salesforce orgs are B2B so I wouldn’t invest a ton into B2C unless you’re already part of that niche

    Reply
Breck
February 18, 2021 @ 2:35 pm

David, well thought out video again I loved it and enjoyed it throughly. So the magic number of certs to impress in 12?

Reply
    David Liu
    February 18, 2021 @ 2:55 pm

    12 for F U count. But only 7 to be above the curve

    Reply
      Breck
      February 18, 2021 @ 5:16 pm

      seriously thank you David!

      Reply
Breck
February 18, 2021 @ 2:27 pm

How do you get the two free certs David I’m so confused loved the videos. If I got cta cert could I get a job at salesforce?

Reply
    David Liu
    February 18, 2021 @ 2:55 pm

    You get the certs just by achieving the certs under them. No test required!

    Reply
KAT
February 18, 2021 @ 10:50 am

It worked for me, I stupidly choose Paypal which I could not remember my password for so I exited to pay via CC and the coupon no longer works.

Reply
    KAT
    February 18, 2021 @ 10:51 am

    I should say it worked for me initially but I was unable to complete the transaction.

    Reply
steven wilson
February 18, 2021 @ 9:21 am

the certs coupon doesn’t work

Reply
    David Liu
    February 18, 2021 @ 11:00 am

    Did you purchase 2 or more items? I believe that is a requirement. I will make this more clear!

    Reply
      KAT
      February 18, 2021 @ 11:11 am

      I put 3 exams and 3 guides. I never successfully checked out, I wonder if their system cached my session and once the redirect went to paypal, it wouldn’t apply it again (even though I didn’t complete the transaction). It says I’ve reached my max coupons even though I didn’t complete the transaction so I guess I will have to email their support directly.

      Reply
    Lynn
    May 16, 2021 @ 7:34 am

    I think the coupon only work once/account. It worked for me when I purchased 2. I later purchased another pair but the coupon doesn’t work.

    Reply

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