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Salesforce Developer Responsibilities

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📖 Concept

A Salesforce Developer is responsible for building and customizing solutions on the Salesforce platform using Apex, Visualforce, Lightning Web Components, and declarative tools.

Core responsibilities:

  1. Custom Development — Write Apex classes, triggers, batch jobs, and Lightning Web Components
  2. Declarative Configuration — Build flows, process builders, validation rules, and formula fields
  3. Data Management — Design custom objects, relationships, and manage data migration
  4. Integration — Connect Salesforce with external systems via REST/SOAP APIs
  5. Testing — Write unit tests with ≥75% code coverage (platform requirement)
  6. Deployment — Package and deploy changes using change sets, SFDX, or CI/CD pipelines

Day-to-day work:

  • Translate business requirements into technical solutions on the Salesforce platform
  • Collaborate with admins, architects, and business analysts
  • Debug production issues using debug logs, SOQL queries, and the Developer Console
  • Evaluate "clicks vs. code" — always prefer declarative solutions when possible
  • Participate in code reviews and maintain coding standards

Key technical skills expected:

  • Strong Apex programming (object-oriented, governor-limit-aware)
  • SOQL/SOSL query mastery
  • Lightning Web Components (LWC) for custom UI
  • Understanding of Salesforce security model (OWD, profiles, sharing rules)
  • Familiarity with Salesforce DX and version control

What separates a good developer from a great one: A great Salesforce developer doesn't just write code — they understand the platform philosophy. Salesforce is metadata-driven and multi-tenant. Every line of code runs within governor limits. Great developers think in terms of bulkification, security context, and declarative-first design.

🏢 Enterprise context: In large organizations, Salesforce developers work on orgs with 500+ custom objects, millions of records, and complex automation chains. Understanding how your code fits into this bigger picture is essential.

💻 Code Example

codeTap to expand ⛶
1// A typical day for a Salesforce Developer — building a trigger
2// that automatically assigns a Case to the right queue based on criteria
3

4trigger CaseAssignment on Case (before insert, before update) {
5    // Bulkified — handles single and bulk operations
6    List<Case> casesToRoute = new List<Case>();
7    
8    for (Case c : Trigger.new) {
9        if (c.Status == 'New' && c.Priority == 'High') {
10            casesToRoute.add(c);
11        }
12    }
13    
14    if (!casesToRoute.isEmpty()) {
15        // Query once outside the loop — governor-limit-aware
16        Group escalationQueue = [
17            SELECT Id FROM Group 
18            WHERE Type = 'Queue' AND DeveloperName = 'Escalation_Queue'
19            LIMIT 1
20        ];
21        
22        for (Case c : casesToRoute) {
23            c.OwnerId = escalationQueue.Id;
24        }
25    }
26}
27

28// Developer also writes the corresponding test class
29@isTest
30private class CaseAssignmentTest {
31    @isTest
32    static void testHighPriorityCaseAssignment() {
33        // Create test data
34        Case testCase = new Case(
35            Subject = 'Test High Priority',
36            Status = 'New',
37            Priority = 'High'
38        );
39        
40        Test.startTest();
41        insert testCase;
42        Test.stopTest();
43        
44        // Verify assignment
45        Case result = [SELECT OwnerId FROM Case WHERE Id = :testCase.Id];
46        // Assert the case was routed to the escalation queue
47        System.assertNotEquals(UserInfo.getUserId(), result.OwnerId, 
48            'High priority case should be reassigned to queue');
49    }
50}

🏋️ Practice Exercise

Self-Assessment Exercises:

  1. List 10 declarative tools in Salesforce and when you'd use each vs. writing code
  2. Write a trigger that prevents duplicate Contact records based on Email
  3. Build a Lightning Web Component that displays Account details with related Contacts
  4. Create a batch Apex job that updates all Opportunities closing this month
  5. Set up a connected app and make a REST API callout to an external service
  6. Design a custom object model for a project management application
  7. Write test classes achieving >90% coverage for a complex trigger
  8. Debug a governor limit exception in a production debug log
  9. Deploy a package of changes from sandbox to production using SFDX
  10. List all governor limits you can name from memory

⚠️ Common Mistakes

  • Writing SOQL queries or DML operations inside loops — leads to governor limit exceptions in production with bulk data

  • Not understanding the difference between before and after triggers — before triggers modify records without DML, after triggers have record IDs

  • Ignoring bulkification — code that works for 1 record fails when Data Loader inserts 200 records

  • Choosing code over declarative solutions — always evaluate if a Flow, Validation Rule, or Formula can solve the problem first

  • Not considering the security context — running SOQL 'with sharing' vs 'without sharing' has major implications

💼 Interview Questions

🎤 Mock Interview

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