A Complete Guide to Hiring Salesforce Developers in 2023

Hiring skilled Salesforce developers is crucial for organizations building custom applications on the Salesforce platform. With the right developer on your team, you can leverage the full power of Salesforce to enhance productivity, streamline processes, and scale your business. This guide covers everything you need to know to hire Salesforce developers successfully in 2023.

Salesforce is the world’s #1 CRM platform that organizations of all sizes use to manage customer relationships. As Salesforce usage grows globally, the demand for certified developers outpaces the supply. That’s why you need a focused approach to hiring the right Salesforce talent for your team.

Why Hire a Salesforce Developer?

Hiring a skilled Salesforce developer brings tremendous value and ROI for organizations using Salesforce. Here are the key reasons to hire dedicated Salesforce expertise:

Faster Development and Deployment

Certified Salesforce developers have deep knowledge of the Force.com platform. They can build and deploy complex custom applications much faster than in-house teams learning on the job. Developers are intimately familiar with Salesforce architecture, APIs, and tools. This results in rapid development cycles and deployment velocities.

Enhanced Productivity and Cost Savings

Hiring Salesforce developers boosts team productivity by getting experts who can maximize platform capabilities. They implement best practices for development and testing. You also get significant cost benefits with greater workflow automation and time savings. Developers optimize your Salesforce investment by driving more productivity per license.

Future-Proof and Scalable Apps

Seasoned developers design custom Salesforce applications, keeping scalability and future needs in mind. This ensures smooth adaptability to changing business requirements and leveraging declarative features as much as possible and future-proofs apps. Your custom solutions can scale seamlessly as your organization grows.

Better Data Insights

Developers are proficient in complex Salesforce object relationships, data modeling techniques, and reporting tools. They can build custom reports, dashboards, and BI apps to derive insights from your Salesforce data. Clean and connected data models also improve reporting.

Improved Customer Experience

Developers help you customize Salesforce to map your unique sales, service, and marketing processes. Streamlined workflows and intuitive UIs deliver superior customer experiences. Custom apps tailored to your users’ needs drive adoption across departments.

Innovation and Competitive Edge

Certified developers bring best practices and the latest techniques to the table. They can build innovative apps leveraging leading-edge Salesforce capabilities like Einstein, Lightning, etc. Such innovation boosts productivity and gives your business a competitive advantage.

The expertise of seasoned Salesforce developers allows you to get the most out of your Salesforce investment. Hire dedicated developers for faster deployments, productivity gains, innovation, and future-proofing of your Salesforce implementation.

Key Skills to Look For in a Salesforce Developer 

When evaluating and interviewing candidates to hire as a Salesforce developer for your team, there are some specific technical competencies and areas of experience to look for.

Salesforce Certifications

Relevant Salesforce certifications can validate a strong understanding of Salesforce development best practices. Certified developers will have practical hands-on experience with declarative features, programmatic capabilities, and data modeling on the Salesforce platform. Some of the most relevant certifications include:

• Salesforce Certified Administrator – Covers admin tasks like user management, security, and customization. Ideal for admin roles.
• Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I/II – Requires building apps with Apex and Visualforce. Proves coding proficiency needed for developer roles.
• Salesforce Certified JavaScript Developer – Validates JavaScript and front-end development skills for Lightning and UIs.
• Salesforce Certified Technical Architect – Demonstrates broad expertise in enterprise design and implementation.

While certifications are not a total replacement for real-world experience, they demonstrate a developer’s investment in mastering the Salesforce platform and can make candidates stand out. Some key benefits of certified developers:

• They understand declarative options before custom coding. Certified developers know how to use point-and-click customization before resorting to riskier, more complex code.
• They follow security and performance best practices. Certification promotes adhering to standards that minimize business risk.
• They stay on top of new platform innovations. Developers maintain certs by keeping skills current as Salesforce releases new features.
• They understand integration patterns and scalability. The certification covers architecting complex, enterprise-grade implementations.

When evaluating resumes and interviewing, look for relevant certified credentials.

Apex and Visualforce Skills

Apex is an object-oriented programming language that allows developers to code custom business logic and apps in Salesforce. Visualforce is a framework for building user interfaces that integrate seamlessly with the Lightning platform. Fluency coding in Apex and Visualforce is a must-have when looking to hire a Salesforce developer.

Ideal candidates will have experience with:

• Writing Apex triggers, classes, and methods to implement custom logic.
• Leveraging Apex to integrate external apps and data sources with Salesforce.
• Building Visualforce pages and component libraries for UIs and workflows.
• Utilizing Apex and Visualforce to augment declarative capabilities.
• Following best practices for efficient, maintainable Apex code.
• Debugging and troubleshooting Apex and Visualforce to fix issues.
• Understanding governor limits and bulking to optimize performance.
• Writing unit tests to guarantee robust, high-quality code.

Assessing Apex and Visualforce expertise will ensure you hire Salesforce developers capable of tackling your custom development needs.

Integration Experience

With Salesforce serving as a central CRM system, the ability to integrate it with myriad other applications is crucial. This may involve connecting Salesforce to databases, legacy systems, ERPs, ecommerce platforms, payment gateways, marketing tools, and more.

Look for candidates who have hands-on experience building Salesforce integrations using:

• APIs like REST, SOAP, and Bulk to connect external apps and data
• Out-of-the-box connectors like MuleSoft to simplify integration
• ETL tools like Informatica to synchronize complex data
• Identity/SSO platforms like SAML and OAuth for secure access
• Coding languages like Java and JavaScript to build custom interfaces
• Design patterns like point-to-point, hub-spoke, and messaging for scalability

The right developers will understand integration architecture patterns and best practices to avoid subpar solutions.

Industry Knowledge and Experience

Ideally, hire developers who bring experience in your specific industry vertical. Developers familiar with industry-specific workflows, processes, and data models can better customize Salesforce to meet your unique business requirements.

For example, if you operate in financial services, hospitality, healthcare, or other specialized verticals, seek candidates who have worked on relevant Salesforce projects and implementations in those areas previously.

While direct industry experience is not mandatory, it allows your developers to hit the ground running and build tailored solutions that align with your precise needs right away.

Vetting for these well-rounded technical skill areas will help you hire qualified Salesforce developers who can deliver maximum value and impact within your organization.

Interview Questions to Ask

Use these technical and situational questions during interviews to evaluate Salesforce developer skills:

1. What are the advantages of Lightning Web Components over Visualforce?
2. How do you debug Apex code? Explain the process.
3. What is the order of execution in Apex trigger events?
4. How would you optimize SOQL query performance?
5. Imagine the Marketing team asks you to build a campaign ROI dashboard. How would you approach this?

Analyze the candidate’s Salesforce expertise based on their responses. Assess problem-solving skills and ability to address business needs.

Conclusion

When hiring Salesforce developers for your team in 2023, prioritize candidates with relevant certifications, Apex/Visualforce skills, and integration experience. These technical competencies enable developers to build robust and scalable apps on the platform. Additionally, hire developers familiar with your industry’s specific processes and workflows. 

Following the above-mentioned best practices, you can build an expert Salesforce developer team in 2023 to drive innovation through expertly crafted solutions, giving your business a key competitive edge. The right hiring process is crucial to assembling a skilled team to deliver impactful Salesforce solutions tailored to your needs.