Professional Opinions on Salesforce Certification: Is it Worth it?

Being a self-taught Salesforce specialist is one thing, passing Salesforce certification tests and being certified is a completely different level. Such attestation is proof of having extensive knowledge of the field, confirming the individual’s professional expertise and competence reached as a result of long hours of studying and training. There exist numerous Salesforce certification types, some are aimed at administrators and consultants, others at developers, architects, app builders, among others.Yet is actually having Salesforce certification important in reality? What’s it like to have Salesforce certification? What does it influence? Most importantly, what’s the best Salesforce certification for 2023, and what is in demand in the current market? To answer these questions, we started exploring discussions on “Are Salesforce certifications worth it” on Reddit. This topic turned out to be very acute. We found a significant community of professionals eager to share their experiences and insights. We inquired about their opinion regarding the value that such certification brings when looking for a job, the benefits of passing a certification exam and being certified, as well as their overall thoughts on the subject.

So, if you’re just starting out with Salesforce or are in two minds about whether you should invest time in getting the certification, below we gladly share our findings!

The Importance of Salesforce Certification: Truth or Myth?

In the table below, is the full list of Salesforce professionals who we’ve interviewed:

Photo credit: LinkedIn 

Alex Slack from Eugene, Oregon, USA

I’ve been in the banking industry for the majority of my career. Recently I’ve moved over to the consulting world. I think my knowledge of the banking field has allowed me to really excel within the consulting industry because I have the business knowledge that’s required in consulting but I also have the technical expertise from the Salesforce perspective as well as just coding, in general, from the time when I was in school. 

Q: Why did you decide to get Salesforce certification? After how much time did you make a decision to get your first one?

A: When I was at my previous job at PenFed Credit Union we had started implementing Salesforce. At the time I was a business analyst and I was already planning on making the move to become a developer. I was sort of the very first person in the company to learn Salesforce and so I became our de facto expert. Over the course of about 8 months of learning Salesforce and actually doing our implementation, going through multiple different SI partners at the company, I had to learn the system, make sure that I understood how to do things the correct way rather than the easy way.

At that point, I thought that I had a really good base and so that’s when I took my Salesforce Platform Developer 1 test and passed from the first time. Back then, I fully intended to continue to get more certification, it just worked out that over the next year I didn’t have the time because we got so busy with work. When I switched jobs, though, I was urged to get my Admin certificate since I had the expertise and it would have been an easy test for me, so I got it within my first week on the new job. I have 2 Commercial Banking nCino certificates as well, by the way.

Q: Was it hard and time-consuming to prepare for the certification? Which materials did you find helpful for preparation?

A: That’s a tough question to answer because I don’t personally think that I studied to prepare for the test all that much, via Trailhead, for instance. It was mostly on-the-job training for me, i.e. actually having business requirements and doing the work, thus I had to learn as I went. So I guess I had a different path to learning the system and how to develop within Salesforce because of that. I have since then gone back to Trailhead and read through them to make sure that I have the necessary knowledge. I completed them for my Platform Developer 2 test, whenever I decide to take that. It was never really a chore to learn, I was inquisitive and I wanted to learn because that was part of my job. And since I have a technical background and I like coding, it was never really learning, more just something I do for work.

One-the-job-training was my “big” but I also utilized Focus on Force which is a website that has some practice tests and some material there that I used for my Developer 1 test. And then there were other materials like Quizlets that I used for the Admin test to just verify that my knowledge was prepped.

Q: Was having Salesforce certification useful when searching for a job?

A: Yes, it was very useful, actually. I was able to utilize that to get some interviews. And then for the job that I ultimately landed on, Zennify, it wasn’t necessarily a requirement but having certification was strongly encouraged. That, tailored with the fact that I had many years of financial industry experience, helped land the job for me and allow me to get a higher pay scale as well as a better path forward to move into the Architecture position which is one of the things I’m working on right now (being promoted into Solution Architect).

Q: Is Salesforce certification worth it? What are the additional benefits of having such certification that you can mention?

A: I think that having certification shows your expertise within the platform. I don’t necessarily think that it’s a requirement. I know a lot of various skilled developers and admins who don’t have their certifications but know the platform better than people who have their certifications. I’m very much of the opinion that if you can do it and do it well, a piece of paper shouldn’t dictate anything. Certification just means that you can take a test, that’s all it means. Practical skill is more important for me and being able to look at requirements and to understand how to build something rather than “I know how to do everything because I took the test”, that doesn’t mean anything to me, personally.

Q: Are you planning to get more certificates and why?

A: Yes, that’s the goal! It just comes down to timing. Right now I’m working on all of my Architecture certifications, I’m trying to get my Application Architect as well as my System Architect sides of the pyramid done. There are about 6 additional tests in total that I’ll need to take in order to achieve that. I don’t have them scheduled right now but internally within my company we quiz each other, we have different meetings throughout the month with our current Solution Architects and we go through different practice questions to make sure that we understand the platform and what we’re trying to build. Hopefully, in the near future, I’ll find the time to take them!

Q: Do you find it difficult to maintain the certificates that you already have?

A: Sometimes, yes. Normally, not so much, it’s just a Trailhead that we need to finish for each one of the certificates. But at times finding the time to do that can be a little cumbersome. Overall, I would say that it’s negligible and very easy to keep them in track and make sure that you’re completing the work necessary for each one of the Salesforce releases and understand the new features that are coming out. So, really not that difficult, it’s more of a personal problem for me to sometimes forget about it. 

Jonathan Fox from Clowne, Derbyshire, UK

I started my Salesforce journey 2 years ago when I was in the British Army. I studied for a year, self-teaching development, web design, as well as Trailhead. It wasn’t until last spring when I left the British Army I found Salesforce Military (previously called Vetforce). They’ve put me through most of my certifications, a couple of the Trailhead Academy courses, and took me to the Dreamforce event as well, and it was utterly fantastic! Although I’ve worked as a Salesforce professional for only about 8-9 months, I’ve got 4 certifications and one on Salesforce Maps.

Q: Why did you decide to get Salesforce certification? After how much time did you make a decision to get your first one?

A: I got my first certificate straight away, right after I’ve just started learning Salesforce, so, about 2 years ago. Mostly because I knew that companies will want you to have it. But I suppose after I got it I realized how straightforward it was to get more certifications and especially for a developer path. Because that was the path I wanted to go down, and it was quite fierce because I needed to decide what my next courses were going to be, so I just wanted to achieve them as fast as possible.

Q: Was it hard and time-consuming to prepare for the certification? Which materials did you find helpful for preparation?

A: Time-consuming, I would say so, just because there are many resources out there that focus on Force, Trailhead, QuizLet, plus lots of people share lots of resources but you never really know what’s going to be on the exam. The Trailheads don’t always give everything, so it’s time-consuming because you have to go above and beyond to make sure to cover everything. I wouldn’t necessarily say “difficult” because all the information is readily available and just so easy to get a hold of.Mentioning materials, Focus on Force, definitely. It provides mock-exams and guides that are nearly identical to the actual exams and they cover almost everything. Obviously, there are parts that it misses but near enough everything is provided. I think it’s a great way to not only prepare for the exams but also to learn the kind of terminology that’s used. Also, Martin Gessner’s video course covers a lot of the material Focus on Force does but this is a person teaching you rather than you have to tutor yourself, they’re also really useful.

Q: Was having Salesforce certification useful when searching for a job?

A: I think it was but I don’t think it should be. I applied for a job this time last year as a developer and they did have the minimum requirement of Salesforce Admin certification. They understood that I had no background and experience in the Salesforce ecosystem, but they realized that the experience and the skills that I got from the military were worth just as much if not more than some of the skills that you can gain working in the environment. So the certification was much like a “tick box” exercise just to show that you’ve got an interest in the ecosystem and platform, it didn’t mean everything for the job role.In my opinion, having certificates is useful because usually, companies want you to have at least Salesforce Administrator certification to show that you’ve invested some time on the platform and that you understand it because obviously that’s what you’re going to be using every day and you need to demonstrate somewhere that you’ve got experience.

Q: Is Salesforce certification worth it? What are the additional benefits of having such certification that you can mention?

A: I personally agree that certifications aren’t the be-all and end-all. I think if you’ve got the experience that would outweigh not having the certification, you can get away with it. But again, 9 times out of 10, the company will want you to go through with that process in any case. So if you’ve got the experience, you’ve probably got the certification. I also think it’s important for people to have certifications, though, especially for partners, because it goes towards the Partner Community on the AppExchange. Unfortunately, I guess you need your employees to have their certifications to show how many certified professionals you have in your company.

Q: Are you planning to get more certificates and why?

A: Yes, definitely, I’m hoping to become an Application Architect by the end of the year. Being a developer, I think application activity is the most sensible route towards the CTA path. And System Architect involves a bit more experience on heavy integrations and technical aspects, so I think that getting an Application Architect certificate is a great way to start off with as it explains the platform in more detail so it’s more about Sharing, Visibility, and Data Management. I guess that applies across the board.That route is definitely my next one but I’m also going to throw in the Sales and Service Cloud just because it’s a core product, everyone uses it. If you’re using Salesforce, you’ve generally got sales or service and you can’t really have any of the products without those two. So I think it makes sense just to get at least one of those, better both.

Q: Do you find it difficult to maintain the certificates that you already have?

A: No, I don’t, especially now. Salesforce has just recently announced that they only want you to maintain your certifications once a year rather than after every release, so it makes it easier to maintain them especially if you’ve got a lot. However, I don’t think that should be the case, I think you should have to do it after every release because every release is going to have an update, and it’s an area of your certification so you should stay current and on top of the area that you’re an expert in. I don’t believe it was ever difficult, though, because it’s just a two-module Trailhead batch to do, so it was never a challenge, never particularly difficult anyway, so I think it was quite easy to keep on top of. 

Andrea Start from Greater Seattle, Washington, USA

I started my career in Marketing, doing all the online marketing (email campaigns, SEO, SEM, web development) and ended up as a Salesforce user as part of my job. Back then we used it as a glorified Rolodex. Eventually, I was moved into the IT department to administrate Google Apps for business, Zendesk, Moodle, and my path has led me to Salesforce. I've been working with Salesforce since 2008! 

Q: Why did you decide to get Salesforce certification? After how much time did you make a decision to get your first one?

A: At my previous job, there was a need for automating processes and moving our ticketing system onto Salesforce, so I began to learn the configuration side of things. My boss at the time wanted to explore some more customized solutions and sent me to the Salesforce Developer 401 training. After that, I took the Developer 401 certification test and passed that. I immediately started getting job offers with that certificate (it has been discontinued and moved into Platform App Builder and Platform Developer 1) and I ended up getting a raise to stay at my company! Later on, that company had a re-org and was no longer investing in Salesforce, so I moved on to a company with a new implementation, and they were very supportive of me continuing my education.

As far as experience, I've done a lot of admin work, a lot of what's considered platform app building, custom development with Apex and Visualforce, some Lightning development with Aura, multiple Community Cloud implementations and projects, Service Cloud implementations and projects, business analysis, working with both stakeholders and end-users, Architect solutions, and training end-users.

Q: Was it hard and time-consuming to prepare for the certification? Which materials did you find helpful for preparation?

A: Some were harder than others, for my original Developer 401 certification, the one that was later retired, I went to an in-person Salesforce training course which helped tremendously. For the Administrator certificates, Service Cloud, and Community Cloud I relied on recent experience since I’ve just done some implementations, so most of the topics were fresh in my mind. The Architect/Designer ones, including the Salesforce UX Designer Trailhead, were the toughest, and I used Trailhead modules along with practical experience to prepare for them. My newer Platform Developer 1 was also Trailhead combined with the work I'd been doing.

Q: Is having Salesforce certification useful when searching for a job?

A: Definitely. I get recruiters hit me up via LinkedIn and email nearly every day.

Q: Is Salesforce certification worth it? What are the additional benefits of having such certification that you can mention?

A: Yes, I believe it's worth it both for showing your expertise and because certification maintenance requires you to keep up with changes to the platform, so you're always learning.

Q: Are you planning to get more certificates and why?

A: Tough question! Previously, I took the short exam to convert my Developer 401 certificate to Platform App Builder, followed by my Administrator certificate. After the Community Cloud implementation, I took the Community Cloud Consultant certificate. I was doing a lot of development at the time, so I then went for Platform Developer 1 and set my sights on the Application Architect certificate. For that, I got my Data Architecture and Management certificate, the hardest so far, and then Service Cloud Consultant because I worked on Service Cloud a ton and wouldn't need to study much. I got Advanced Administrator because I had a free cert voucher for the $200 certificates, then refocused on Application Architect and took my Sharing and Visibility exam this January. That was the last one I needed for Application Architect, so I automatically got that one at the same time.

Q: Do you find it difficult to maintain the certificates that you already have?

A: No, Salesforce is good about sending a notification and most of them are now completed by doing a Trailhead badge rather than an exam, which is better because you also get the hands-on experience rather than just answering a few questions. 

Kevin Michie from Buffalo Grove, Illinois, USA

My career path started out as a high school teacher of Chemistry and Physics. I’ve always had this passion for learning and educating, and what helped me a lot through learning Salesforce in general and getting Salesforce certifications was that “teacher mindset”, meaning being able to understand something to convey it to other people. That way I could be the most effective as possible. I got my Master’s of Informational Technology at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. I’ve worked for Salesforce as a Partner Practice Development Specialist for some time as well. Plus, I recently got my 10th certification and am studying for my 11th one right now, Salesforce CPQ.

Q: Why did you decide to get Salesforce certification? After how much time did you make a decision to get your first one?

A: I actually was in the Salesforce ecosystem for about two years before I really started diving into the certification process. Once I got in, I saw an immediate value add when I started getting my certifications. What I found was that in the framework they actually have you learn and make sure that you’ve identified and understood all the key pieces that blend into that certification. For example, I came from a background where I was more of a developer, and the Platform App Builder certification made me realize a lot of different great configuration aspects of Salesforce where I could get out of creating all this code from scratch and just create a configuration piece that accomplishes the same thing with less development and easier maintainability.

Certification really helped me from that starting point to understand what are the great features of Salesforce. As I started getting the more architecture-based certifications, it helped me see from a holistic standpoint of Salesforce of how to actually use it to integrate it with other systems and how to best leverage Salesforce to maximize its CRM capabilities. To me, it became almost an addiction of finding these little morsels that I can use in practice. This is what started taking me out into the journey of getting all of these certifications because it felt like I was uncovering and finding great pieces of Salesforce.

Q: Was it hard and time-consuming to prepare for the certification? Which materials did you find helpful for preparation?

A: Yes, it is hard. It’s really difficult. I’ll be honest, I usually put in one or two hours per day every day including weekends so that I can start gaining the knowledge and then applying it.

A great benefit that I had was that I actually got to work for Salesforce and that was extremely helpful! Working for the company, I got to interact with a lot of different clients and I got to see a lot of different experiences that I think a lot of people who are just in the consulting sphere might not have that opportunity. I absolutely recommend also having hands-on experience of going through and actually doing the implementation, it really helps to reinforce the knowledge as you study to get you to the end. It’s a lot easier that way, I would say.Apart from Trailhead, Focus on Force was huge, I loved that resource! Then, Salesforce Ben was very helpful. I’ve also followed Chris Gardner on LinkedIn who has 24 Salesforce certifications, I’ve read some of his articles and they were pretty fantastic.

Q: Was having Salesforce certification useful when searching for a job?

A: Oh yes, it helped immensely! It’s a way to validate your skills and your portfolio. One thing I’ve noticed was that whenever I’m interviewing someone or am just trying to do research, it’s really hard to say things like: “Based on my portfolio, we did X, Y, Z on that project”. And what I like about the certifications is that they solidify the working knowledge of core requirements around this or that Salesforce certification, it basically answers the questions of “How did you actually contribute to this project?” and “What is your actual knowledge and understanding of it?”It’s helped me a lot. I love being at Avionos, but I will say that I do get about 30 to 40 recruiter messages a week which is flattering! It’s awesome because I remember that at one point in my life I was fighting to get any recruiter to notice me, and it would be months. Once I started getting those certifications, I showed recruiters my background and skill sets and that I just need a shot at getting in there. Certificates have helped me get opportunities that I would’ve not been able to get before. So, I absolutely recommend it! And they’re such a low financial entry point. For instance, if I’d get a college degree, it would cost over 65k USD, Trailhead learning is free and it’s a 200 USD per certification.

Q: Is Salesforce certification worth it? What are the additional benefits of having such certification that you can mention?

A: Definitely. Certification is a nice and easy way to present that you’re knowledgeable about something, that you took the time to invest and study. I align this to almost getting a college degree that says that you have the requirements that ultimately made these objectives at hand.I think it also just allows you to be a thought leader in the space as well. When I post out articles, saying that something is really important to the space, people can see that I have a valid opinion because of my certificates. I’ve studied the platform, I have the credentials to prove it, here’s my opinion regarding the next steps and where we should be going. It ultimately provides a lot more validity to what I’m ultimately saying because I can prove having needed background. I think it helps to drive thought leadership and allows you to be a strong presence in the ecosystem.

Q: Are you planning to get more certificates and why?

A: Yes, right now I’m working on my Salesforce CPQ certification. Right now I’m studying for Salesforce CPQ and it’s been quite an adventure because there has been a unification of B2B Commerce and CPQ in the Salesforce Commerce space and it’s really starting to grow. I call it “the worst kept secret in Salesforce”. Because you have this Salesforce B2B Commerce, you have this CPQ piece, and people want to see a process to unify the two processes. So that way we can drive that out.And since I come from a B2B background and I’m really trying to understand deeply that CPQ and how everything works with the Cloud and how to actually bring the two together. It’s been my big “push” as of late, as I’m trying to find how these two can unify and work cohesively.

For those also interested in diving deep into Salesforce CPQ and understanding its intricacies, exploring the comprehensive guide on Salesforce CPQ can provide valuable insights and practical knowledge to enhance your skills in this area.

I ultimately also want to have a strong presence in the Salesforce Commerce space. After I get that, I really want to dive in and get my Platform Developer II certification because learning how to leverage the Lightning component framework, what you can and can’t do with it, and the reusability aspect is important for going forward. I also really want to be a CTA and get the Certified Technical Architect of Salesforce. I think that will be an amazing achievement. There’s so much to learn. It helps me identify the different gaps that I have in my understanding of Salesforce and just general architecture. I’m looking forward to that journey and I like that there’s a clear pathway for how to get there.

Q: Do you find it difficult to maintain the certificates that you already have?

A: I’m going to go with “yes” just because there is a release cycle that makes keep my certificates up to date. It can get tough like when I’m on two projects simultaneously and we’re in a big crunch. I do usually have a nice window of about a month to do it but I’ve noticed that sometimes it gets really difficult to go in and maintain it.

Salesforce has done a great job of making the process of updating significantly easier and more accessible. I remember when there was a point when we had to take another exam to update it, and now it’s just a Trailhead that you can go through which has been really helpful. So, it does get harder the more certificates you get to keep up to date. The nice thing is that it’s on Trailhead and some of them, for example, the Admin and Community Cloud, can be knocked out with one renewal, so it applies to multiple. Salesforce has made it easier and I also like the renewal process too, to be honest, because it opens up to new features that you can apply to your projects. So, it’s kind of good and bad, it’s hard but rewarding too! 

Polina Tsuban-Drobot from Wetzlar, Hessen, Germany

I'm a Salesforce Developer with a Bachelor’s in Applied Mathematics. Alongside that, I also worked as a Marketing Cloud Developer for about one year and as a Product Owner for around seven months. Currently, I’m a Technical Lead and enjoy supporting clients in reaching their goals. 

Q: Why did you decide to get Salesforce certification? After how much time did you make a decision to get your first one?

A: My first certificate, Dev01, I got within the 1st year of work because the company encouraged everybody to do that and it was a good aspect for becoming a Junior Developer (from Intern).

Q: Was it hard and time-consuming to prepare for the certification? Which materials did you find helpful for preparation?

A: Well, Dev01 was quite easy, because it's more about programming and all "concrete" tools. Regarding time, I just prepared using mock exams, this took maybe a few days. What’s for other exams like Sales Cloud Consultant and Salesforce Administrator, yes, it was hard because I don’t have a very good memory, and here you need to remember a lot of things with which you haven't worked yet.

Mentioning materials, I read Salesforce documentation and passed mock exams. Trailhead, not that much, I find it to be a long way to get info when you already know something. But it’s great for starting out with something new.

Q: Was having Salesforce certification useful when searching for a job?

A: Yes, it was absolutely useful, and the salary also depends on that.

Q: Is Salesforce certification worth it? What are the additional benefits of having such certification that you can mention?

A: Worth it and isn't worth it, in my opinion. Worth it because it covers some common rules of the game, and if you want to achieve a higher position, in fact, you have concrete conditions for that. It isn’t worth it because from the developers' perspective it doesn't prove anything, regarding whether a person works well or not. Simply because exams are not the same as real work. So if I consider new developers for the team, I don't look at the certifications, but at their general experience, especially in common languages like Java.

Q: Are you planning to get more certificates and why?

A: Yes, I plan to because it's valuable for the company, and for me as a specialist. This opens a career growth path.

Q: Do you find it difficult to maintain the certificates that you already have?

A: Nope, it’s easy to maintain and renew the Salesforce certificate.

Nicolas Kadis from Strovolos, Nicosia, Cyprus

I graduated from the University of Essex with a degree in Computer Science. I've been working on the Salesforce platform as a developer for nearly 2 years now. I started off with absolutely no experience in any of the Salesforce languages (Aura, Apex, VisualForce, etc.), but Trailhead - the Salesforce certification site - helped me learn a lot of what I know today.

Q: Why did you decide to get Salesforce certification? After how much time did you make a decision to get your first one?

A: I've earned 3 certifications up until now (Administrator, App Builder, and Developer 1).

I had to get my first two certifications as part of my probation period at BrightGen, which were a requirement. I earned my first certification (Platform App Builder) during my second month at BrightGen, and Administrator 3 months later.

The Developer 1 certification wasn't something the company asked me to pass, but since the work I do is more development than consulting, it was something that would be really useful for me. Now, of course I wanted to take that exam earlier than I actually did (1 year after my second exam) but due to work, life, and the fact it wasn't a requirement, I ended up not taking it until now. Why did I take it now? Well, the coronavirus situation and lockdown gave me enough free time to study for it!

Q: Was it hard and time-consuming to prepare for the certification? Which materials did you find helpful for preparation?

A: I actually only ended up studying because I forced myself to study by booking the exam before I had studied. There's a lot of material online to help study for the exams. I personally went through all the available Trailhead material at first so that I covered all the areas I needed to study. For the nitty-gritty details, I attended one of the Salesforce Certification Days webinars. That, in my opinion, was the most useful material for the exam because you get a Salesforce Instructor to walk you through all the important stuff. There's also some online mock exams and flashcards that I used for my previous exams, but because Salesforce has changed their exams recently, a lot of those are out of date now, so I wouldn't recommend any of that. Also, having learned Java at university helped me out a lot, since Apex is very similar.

Regarding the time-consuming part, it depends on the exam you're studying for. I usually expect about a week going through all the Trailhead modules for that exam, and Certification Days webinars last about 5 hours.

Q: Is having Salesforce certification useful when searching for a job?

A: I don't have any experience on that yet because this is my first job, but I think that it counts a lot if you’re applying for a Salesforce-related job. If applying for any other job, then I don't think it would be as useful.

Q: Is Salesforce certification worth it? What are the additional benefits of having such certification that you can mention?

A: I have yet to see the results of owning the certificates out of the benefits I get within BrightGen, but from what I've heard, it's definitely worth it. Most of the benefits of having a certificate, I think, revolve around the extra knowledge you gain about things you might not have had the chance to work on in your current role. As a developer, it also taught me Salesforce best practices. Things like the Salesforce order of execution are fundamental principles you can't really learn through writing code, but rather by studying.

Q: Are you planning to get more certificates and why?

A: Yes, of course. The main reason, as I mentioned earlier, is that these certificates are a good source of knowledge on the Salesforce platform. Moreover, they're also something I can add to my resume along with my work experience which will both be helpful in the future if/when I decide to look for another job.

Q: Do you find it difficult to maintain the certificates that you already have?

A: Oh, no! That's probably the easiest thing. You are required to maintain your certs 1-3 times a year (I think they recently made it once a year only, but I'm not sure). And the only thing you need to do to maintain your certificates is to go through a Trailhead maintenance module. 

Kévin Tchaka from London, United Kingdom

I'm a software developer, whose work was mainly oriented in research on computer vision applied to medical research. I was mainly used to programming in C+/C++. Last August I got introduced to the Salesforce platform and offered to join the Mason Frank Tech Academy (now Revolent Group), and get training and practical experience as a Salesforce Developer.  

Q: Why did you decide to get Salesforce certification? After how much time did you make a decision to get your first one?

A: Since I joined Revolent, I've passed my Administrator, Platform Developer I, Platform Developer II and Platform App Builder certificates. The program I joined at Revolent was purposefully designed to help us get our Administrator and Platform Developer I certifications. So I guess you could say, I made the decision as soon as I decided to join.

As for the reason, it's because I understand that in the competitive world of today, a proof of qualification is necessary, and Salesforce certifications are the official standard of evaluation so far. I was interested in the potential of the Salesforce platform, so I decided to agree to its evaluation standards, I guess.

In terms of practical Salesforce experience, however, I only worked on a small Lightning web component project as an internal mission for the Frank Recruitment Group, last December.

Q: Was it hard and time-consuming to prepare for the certification? Which materials did you find helpful for preparation?

A: I'm not too sure, for that one. Was it time-consuming to prepare for the certification? Yes, as with most exam preparation it took time. At the same time, and maybe that's because it's only been a few years since I've been out of university, but I did not find it too hard. I mean exams are generally things that require time and preparation in any case, so maybe I simply did not feel it. What I can say for sure, is that the difficulty level is dependent on the certification you aim for. I found the Administrator and App Builder certifications quite easy, while the Platform Developer II was more demanding, in my opinion.

Considering materials, I'm a fervent user of both the Trailhead platform as well as the Salesforce developer guide, blogs, and the Focus on Force website. The Salesforce community is an especially useful trove of helpful resources as well.

Q: Is having Salesforce certification useful when searching for a job?

A: I guess that would depend on what you are aiming for as a job. I have only been in the Salesforce environment for a little while and I don't think my chances to get hired for general development opportunities have been either helped or hindered by my having Salesforce certifications. However, when considering Salesforce related jobs, there's no question.

As I've said before, the world is competitive and the people recruiting want to know with relative certainty that their recruits are capable of doing the job. Salesforce certifications provide a reliable estimation that someone has the 'skills' and 'knowledge' necessary for the task. I believe if one wants a Salesforce related job, one SHOULD have a certification.

I don't think they are necessary for general job hunting. However the Salesforce space is growing and there are opportunities at the moment, so having certifications would definitely open doors. The same could be said of other certifications likewise.

Q: Is Salesforce certification worth it? What are the additional benefits of having such certification that you can mention?

A: From my perspective, absolutely worth it. Since I've had my first certification, I've received more job offers in line with the skills related to the certifications. Like most diplomas, awards, and publications, certifications improve a resume. Just by being there, they allow a candidate to more easily get to the final stage of 'interviews' and to get that 'one on one' conversation that can get you started. As I mentioned, it all depends on where one's planning to go, but if used correctly, certifications are extremely useful tools to get the role or position of one's choice.

Q: Are you planning to get more certificates and why?

A: Yes, indeed I am. I am personally interested in the development of whole systems and solutions. I am interested in the role of a Technical Architect, so I am planning to aim toward that qualification. To that effect, I need to obtain my qualifications as both a System Architect and Application Architect. I am currently halfway through the required certifications to be an Application Architect, so I'll aim towards that first. My next step is the Sharing and Visibility Designer certification.

Q: Do you find it difficult to maintain the certificates that you already have?

A: No, at first Salesforce had a requirement to do some modules on Trailhead three times a year to maintain certifications, and even then that requirement was actually quite easy. Now, they reduced it to once a year for most certifications. You would literally have to completely forget about it, to fail at maintaining them. 

Agnes Nadzieja from Oxford, United Kingdom

I've been in the IT industry for quite a few years now, doing various things from all levels of support, through to managing company servers. My journey with Salesforce started a little bit by accident, I had to find a CRM for the Sales Team, and I fell in the so-called tech-love with the platform. I pursued that further to a new job and started specializing in Salesforce Development, which took me to here and now. 

Q: Why did you decide to get Salesforce certification? After how much time did you make a decision to get your first one?

A: I see certifications as a form of personal accomplishment, and I got to the stage when I knew that I will be working within the Salesforce ecosystem for a foreseeable future if not forever, and it made sense to start taking exams.

Speaking of “when”, quite early, from what I remember. I thought of getting certified in less than a year of starting working within the speciality, but it took a little bit longer to feel brave enough and ready enough to do it. So around June last year I booked my exam for a few months ahead to have a strict deadline waiting for me and motivating me.

Q: Was it hard and time-consuming to prepare for the certification? Which materials did you find helpful for preparation?

A: I didn't find preparing for the Platform Developer I hard, and so far I feel the same about Platform Developer II. Trailhead is my go-to place, I find everything to be comprehensive enough between the modules and use the links to various Salesforce documentation. Plus my day to day job is pretty demanding, which makes for good practice and a learning curve every day anyway. Salesforce CPQ certification, on the other hand, is difficult. There are some Trailhead materials but they are still a bit scarce, compared to parts of the platform that have always been native. I found that CPQ is one of those aspects of the platform that unless you go to a Salesforce course and/or work with it regularly, it's challenging and difficult to get your head around it. Luckily for me, we use it but I'm not as hands-on on the CPQ-related tasks as my colleagues. But I managed to go on the 5-day CPQ course at the start of this year and that felt like a lifesaver in feeling that I have a good understanding of the product and I could take that further to learn more and get certified.

Q: Was having Salesforce certification useful when searching for a job?

A: Not in my case, as I wasn't certified when I got my current job. But I noticed, observing the market, that more and more companies are listing certifications as part of the required items. So, hopefully, having a few will be a form of advantage in the future.

Q: Is Salesforce certification worth it? What are the additional benefits of having such certification that you can mention?

A: I think it's totally worth it. Even if it won't help in getting a new or better job, it's a drive to learn more, to learn new things, new parts of the platform, to expand the knowledge - and that's the main thing that drives me in getting further certifications more than job opportunities. And that extra knowledge, I think, is the biggest benefit of getting certified.

Q: Are you planning to get more certificates and why?

A: So far I only have Platform Developer I, but I'm booked in for App Builder and Platform Developer II in the next 2-4 weeks, and I'm also aiming to take CPQ Specialist around June/July.

Q: Do you find it difficult to maintain the certificates that you already have?

A: Not at all. I like that the maintenance modules are on Trailhead, carrying on the gamification aspect. And with the recent announcement from Salesforce, it will be even easier to go forward, as most of the certifications will now be maintained only once a year instead of three. And to be honest, I like that they need to be maintained, rather than be just one exam for life, considering how dynamically and quickly the platform is evolving. 

Aman Mishra from Erlangen, Bavaria, Germany

I am currently working with Infosys as a Salesforce Consultant based out of Germany and working at the client location. I have a total experience of a little over 4 years of which 3 years 8 months is on Salesforce. Talking about Salesforce, I have extensively worked in the B2C domain and mostly on the Service Cloud where almost all the offerings of Salesforce are implemented, including Einstein Analytics and Communities.

Q: Why did you decide to get Salesforce certification? After how much time did you make a decision to get your first one?

A: I decided to get certification solely for a career perspective as it helps you to stand out. It also keeps you competitive so that you never lose track of what you are doing and working on. I decided to get my first certificate within the first 6 months of starting my Salesforce journey.

Q: Was it hard and time-consuming to prepare for the certification? Which materials did you find helpful for preparation?

A: It was not difficult nor time-consuming as I was already working on those things, so it did not take a big toll on me. I used all the official help links and materials provided by Salesforce to prepare and, of course, Trailhead. They are really good and enough for getting certifications.

Q: Was having Salesforce certification useful when searching for a job?

A: Regarding job perspectives, I personally haven’t tried outside my current organization yet, but yes, I think it can help you to stand out depending on the position you are applying for.

Q: Is Salesforce certification worth it? What are the additional benefits of having such certification that you can mention?

A: Yes, it is worth it! Other benefits will be increasing your knowledge of various domains. It’s a great way to keep yourself updated as the certifications need to be maintained throughout the year. And yeah you can flex it on your resume!

Q: Are you planning to get more certificates and why?

A: Yes, I am planning for more. As I have worked extensively on those products.

Q: Do you find it difficult to maintain the certificates that you already have?

A: No, Salesforce has made the process easy through Trailheads so it’s easy but sometimes time-consuming depending upon your other commitments. 

Danijel Scuric from Greater London, United Kingdom

I have 12+ years of developer experience in information technology through Salesforce, Oracle, and Microsoft. As of now, I’m 4x Salesforce certified (plus I have a Salesforce Certified Force.com Developer certificate which is now retired). In the course of my career, I was fortunate enough to work on the projects which helped me to grow as a full stack developer.

Q: Why did you decide to get Salesforce certification? After how much time did you make a decision to get your first one?

A: I had Admin and Developer certification as part of my contract terms from my employer. So I started to study for them immediately after I started working for the Salesforce partner. Afterwards, I continued with them to improve my knowledge.

Q: Was it hard and time-consuming to prepare for the certification? Which materials did you find helpful for preparation?

A: It was. For me, it was very time-consuming, so for the first one, I spent a week of annual leave just to study for it. Materials were and are still a big pain point. When I started five years ago the materials were not adequate and now you have Trailhead which is very good but there is no clear correlation between the exam and the materials. There are Trailmixes, but then you find the exam contains questions that are not even mentioned in Trailmix. I guess they count on your experience as well, intentionally.

In the end, passing the exam is very useful, so it's not just that you get some paper saying you are certified, you really gain the knowledge in the process which you can really use in your work.

Q: Was having Salesforce certification useful when searching for a job?

A: I think it is but luckily I think the overall experience takes precedence. So you need to have both, good experience and also be certified.

Q: Is Salesforce certification worth it? What are the additional benefits of having such certification that you can mention?

A: They are worth it. Additional benefits and all benefits are knowledge. You gain valuable knowledge that you use in your day to day work.

Q: Are you planning to get more certificates and why?

A: Yes, to gain more valuable knowledge!

Q: Do you find it difficult to maintain the certificates that you already have?

A: No, maintenance is not a problem and it's actually very useful. Especially with the new ways of maintaining certificates through Trailhead. 

Liliana Centra from Cagliari Area, Italy

I'm Lili, I'm from Italy. I have been a developer of Java framework CMS for over 2 years in Bergamo. I also have 4+ years of experience as a Salesforce Developer and coach for junior resources. My office is my house, I'm a smart worker. 

Q: Why did you decide to get Salesforce certification? After how much time did you make a decision to get your first one?

A: I got my Developer Salesforce Platform I certification in 2019. I believe that if you are working with the Salesforce platform, usually the certification helps you to find new job opportunities and improve your skills.

Q: Was it hard and time-consuming to prepare for the certification? Which materials did you find helpful for preparation?

A: Integrating the documentation modules on Trailhead, Salesforce. I'm also a Ranger with over 100 badges and 1 super badge "Process Automation Specialist" with over 72k points. There are modules for each certification. Also you can look on Google forums for the question-answer banks (like Propofs.com, Focus on Force, quizlet.com).

Q: Was having Salesforce certification useful when searching for a job?

A: Usually the list of most popular certifications are: Marketing Cloud/Sales and Service. Admin is a base for each role. The Salesforce Trailhead platform helps you to find a list of the best certification paths for you.

Q: Is Salesforce certification worth it? What are the additional benefits of having such certification that you can mention?

A: I’m learning and finding some information that’s needed for work, plus I’m improving my daily knowledge. I'm looking for new opportunities every day, f.e. I like digital communication for high performance for smart workers like me.

Q: Are you planning to get more certificates and why?

A: I would like to get the Application Builder certificate. I study every weekend and my deadline is summer 2020. Actually, I'm so busy with a project following the system test phase on service/sales product with Custom Wizard in Lightning Web Components and Aura.

Q: Do you find it difficult to maintain the certificates that you already have?

A: No, I don't. The maintenance release has some new features. You can find the release note and follow Trailhead, the documentation on Trailhead is perfect for learning and passing the questions to get the maintenance certification for each release. For covid19 there’s a new update, the maintenance for Spring 2020 was removed, it doesn't expire. Also, the exams have a little restriction such as one and not two webcams. 

Brandon William Bridges from Houston, Texas

I’ve been working in the Salesforce ecosystem for six years. In that time I’ve worked as an Administrator, Developer, and Solutions Architect. Verticals include energy, retail, and non-profit. I have twelve Salesforce certifications. A lot to list here!

Q: Why did you decide to get Salesforce certification? After how much time did you make a decision to get your first one?

A: I got my first certification about a year after I started and would have gotten it sooner had I realized it existed. I got it because I felt it would help me to be better at using the system.

Q: Was it hard and time-consuming to prepare for the certification? Which materials did you find helpful for preparation?

A: Preparing wasn’t very difficult. About an hour a day for 7-10 days using the practice questions, and focusonforce.com. Once you can reach a score of 85-90 on all the quizzes, you’re ready to pass the real exam.

Q: Was having Salesforce certification useful when searching for a job?A: Definitely, yes!Q: Is Salesforce certification worth it? What are the additional benefits of having such certification that you can mention?

A: I think they’re worth it. Other than job prospect benefits, Salesforce is a huge and complex product and it’s impossible to know it all. Every time I study for an exam I learn about features that are new or I didn’t know existed in the context of a question. If I haven’t heard of it, I then look it up and now know more.

Q: Are you planning to get more certificates and why?

A: Considering that at this point any company I work for will pay for my certs, I don’t see why I shouldn’t. Most people don’t realize that the true skill set in tech is not any tech in particular but rather continual learning. Further, I’ve reached a point that I’m on the precipice of the Certified Technical Architect which is the most sought after certification in the Salesforce ecosystem so I’m going for it.

Q: Do you find it difficult to maintain the certificates that you already have?

A: No, maintenance is easy. A few times a year you have to complete a maintenance module on Trailhead. Not a module for each cert though, some like Admin and Advanced Admin are grouped together. For my 12 certs, I guess I have maybe four branches requiring a module. 

Ravi Bhoyar from Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

I have a total of 7 years of IT experience, out of which around 4.8 years as a Salesforce Developer. And the rest as a dot net developer. I work with Saint-Gobain, a world-class glass manufacturing company, in its in-house development center. The company is established in 70+ countries, thus we’re developing a Salesforce solution for them. 

Q: Why did you decide to get Salesforce certification? After how much time did you make a decision to get your first one?

A: Salesforce certification is proof for the clients who we service that we do have sufficient skills and knowledge to handle their critical business processes. After making the decision, I got 2 months to complete my first certification preparation.

Q: Was it hard and time-consuming to prepare for the certification? Which materials did you find helpful for preparation?

A: In my opinion, it was not tough. We just needed to cover the basic fundamentals along with your real-time work experience. For the basic Administrator and Platform Developer I, Trailhead and the Salesforce Developer Guide are enough to pass the certification.

Q: Is having Salesforce certification useful when searching for a job?

A: Yes of course! In developed countries, it must be.

Q: Is Salesforce certification worth it? What are the additional benefits of having such certification that you can mention?

A: My personal opinion is that certification is not the key to get the job. It just gives you confidence.

Q: Are you planning to get more certificates and why?

A: Yes, now I am preparing for Platform Developer II certification and plan to get many more because a greater number of certificates give more value to your resume on the job market.

Q: Do you find it difficult to maintain the certificates that you already have?

A: No, maintaining certificates is not difficult as it is just one module in Trailhead containing only 4 - 5 questions. But yes, before it was harder because every year we’d need to pay about 100 USD for maintenance. Now it's absolutely free but 3 times a year sometimes feels hectic. 

Christopher Mielczarski from Louisville, USA

I'm a little bit of a non-standard developer/architect. Regardless of how often I was told I was well-suited for it due to my technical inclinations, I sort of railed against ending up in this kind of work because my initial drive was to be a writer. Though since there wasn't as much of a steady stream of work in terms of writing I sort of fell into a Salesforce position by accident. I started at a warranty company doing simple data entry into their Salesforce implementation, and since the work wasn't too taxing, I began taking a look at the back end during lulls in the work, seeing what could potentially be done to improve the system. It turned out that would require more of a programming background than I had at the time, so I enrolled in some preliminary classes and got a minor degree to have a handle on the basics. 

Q: Why did you decide to get Salesforce certification? After how much time did you make a decision to get your first one?

A: As my skills grew and I applied them to my current position, moving up the ranks of the company I was at, I quickly reached a point in which I outgrew them to a degree, particularly regarding what they were willing to support in terms of professional development. Looking for other options it became apparent that any new position which would allow for the type of support and engagement I was looking for required at least one or two related official certifications from Salesforce to even be considered, and recruiters I spoke with told me much the same.So, with that in mind, I tackled my first two certs, the Salesforce Administrator and Platform Developer I. This is where I'd become more of an advocate for the certification process.

Q: Was it hard and time-consuming to prepare for the certification? Which materials did you find helpful for preparation?

A: With my scattered background and largely self-taught experience, I was still somewhat raw in terms of following the best practices at times, but going through all the documentation, study resources, and Trailheads helped me adopt better ways of approaching tasks from users and an overall better methodology to implement what was needed more efficiently.

I found the blogs of other Salesforce-proficient individuals like Keir Bowden and Jitendra Zaa much more beneficial for the practical examples provided.Honestly, through trial, error, and a little ingenuity I've been able to coax a few things out of the system most of their documentation say is not entirely possible (and have seen where many others have accomplished similar feats), though I will admit it was all built on the same foundation I acquired while studying for those certifications. Continuing to go after new certifications after the first set has only enhanced that.At the time I was studying for the bulk of these last year, I found appropriate time during a lull in a big project, so it was not so much time-consuming as maximizing a large amount of time I hadn't expected to have so that I still felt productive. However, now that things have shifted more to a remote-focused environment of late I am finding it a little more difficult to carve out some time to pursue new ones and still maintain a healthy work-life balance, just because there are generally more meetings which take up what used to be free moments.As for difficulty, there is always the fact that, given the sheer amount of documentation Salesforce has, even when you do follow the exam guidelines and resources, it may not cover everything, but the community itself is good about filling in the gaps and guiding people to other areas which might need to be focused on.The most helpful resources are sometimes the community because there's no reason to reinvent the process when so many other people have gone through it as well, and many are good enough to post their thoughts and study notes online, so what I would always to in the last run-up to taking a test, after going through all the official material, would be to compile notes from people who had taken the exam and left flashcards and the like, and go through them as well as a secondary resource.

Q: Was having Salesforce certification useful when searching for a job?

A: You can chalk it up to the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon if you want, that the studying and enhancements I've been able to make along the way have instilled a bit of cognitive bias because as I've expanded my knowledge base I've found more and more ways to apply the things I've learned not too long after becoming aware of them for new tasks or to go back and enhance existing projects.

Thanks to the Integration Architecture Designer, Sharing and Visibility Designer, and System Architect skills I’ve picked up along the way, we maintain six distinct lines of business, all configured to their own particular specifications (thanks, App Builder, Data Architecture Designer, and Application Architect) in our Enterprise environment in such a way they would swear they were the only ones using the system.

Q: Is Salesforce certification worth it? What are the additional benefits of having such certification that you can mention?

A: Like I said, my background was patchwork in the beginning, so it may just be me filling in the holes that a more formalized experience would have covered, but with the educational framework Salesforce provides I do often feel I'm getting more value from the investment than I have with other programs in the past, and with the maintenance cycles requiring certification holders to keep up with the evolving changes of the platform it ensures that cert holders have the current necessary skills to adapt to what's on offer from the service, so they can better serve their clients.

That's a potential problem in the tech sector, some IT people are able to coast on certifications from other industries they managed to get themselves grandfathered into before the latest generation adopted the current mandatory renewal cycles, so they may be stuck with an out of date toolkit, and unable to provide the best service to address an industry which is iterating faster and faster in recent years.

Whatever it boils down to, I was able to take all that I’ve learned and can prove that I’ve learned with the official certs, and go from data entry at a small company with only a handful of users to acting as a system and application architect for the Enterprise implementation for a Fortune 500 company in less than 10 years.

Q: Are you planning to get more certificates and why?

A: The only thing I'm concerned about at the moment in terms of difficulty in preparing for exams is that this year I had wanted to really dig in and start working towards the Certified Technical Architect exam and was hoping to get some practical mock-interview experience, but now that preparation has had to shift to remote as well. While the community is also doing a good job of rallying there, I'm still not where I would have liked to be at this point this year, but that has more to do with still trying to carve out downtime amidst everything to go through past scenarios and do a number of timed exercises, so for the moment I've pivoted to pursuing the JavaScript Developer I certification they recently introduced and will return to the architect once that's completed.

My only initial hesitance in obtaining more certifications when I first started studying for them was the cost involved, as Salesforce had yet to waive the maintenance fees for the majority of them when I started looking at expanding, and that would have posed a costly ongoing investment in addition to the initial exam fees themselves.

It also doesn’t hurt that my current company views the effort taken to obtain them alongside my ongoing work as a big plus for ongoing evaluations, because it’s a win for them as well that I keep improving.Removing the roadblocks highlight the people who are dedicated to learning the platform well, as well as those who don’t, because at this point there is little excuse not to get certified in things you probably already do as part of your daily work, and it goes a long way towards putting actual weight behind each one you earn, especially now that some of the new technical tests also require completing practical application projects to demonstrate true proficiency. I’ve never seen the value of growing complacent and choosing not to learn something when the resources are so readily available to allow you to do so. That’s when you see someone’s performance start to slip alongside it, and in such an increasingly competitive marketplace it never hurts to show that you’re willing to stay on top of things and improve.

Q: Do you find it difficult to maintain the certificates that you already have?

A: Previously, having 12 certificates like I do currently (and looking to add more soon) would have started adding up if I wasn't being reimbursed by my current company. I think Salesforce was smart to realize that might be holding some people back, particularly anyone who had to do it completely out of pocket, and it was a good step to start growing their partner/professional ecosystem to make it more accessible. 

Shubham Saini from Churu, Rajasthan, India

I studied in India and am a Bachelor of Computer Application. I started my career as a web developer and worked for about a year as one, then moved on to Salesforce. Now I have 2 and a half years of experience with Salesforce. I’ve worked on multiple types of projects, for instance, I developed AppExchange products and worked with Community. 

Q: Why did you decide to get Salesforce certification? After how much time did you make a decision to get your first one?

A: I decided to get certified to increase my market value and for learning. I decided to get certified after I got approximately a year of hands-on experience on the platform. At present, I am also learning about Vlocity.

Q: Was it hard and time-consuming to prepare for the certification? Which materials did you find helpful for preparation?

A: It's not hard. But as we know, to get something we have to prepare and put our efforts into it. So we need to spend some time studying. I prepared using Trailhead, the Salesforce developer guide, and the Salesforce community.

Q: Is having Salesforce certification useful when searching for a job?

A: Yeah definitely. Because when preparing for certification, we learn a lot of things. So it helps when searching for a job. But one thing that’s most important is that we must have hands-on experience.

Q: Is Salesforce certification worth it? What are the additional benefits of having such certification that you can mention?

A: Yes it’s worth it. It helps to learn Salesforce, it’s useful when searching for a job, and helps to do the business for the company.

Q: Are you planning to get more certificates and why?

A: Yes, because I always want to learn new things. This is why I am learning about Vlocity and integration architecture design to become an Architect.

Q: Do you find it difficult to maintain the certificates that you already have?

A: Nope, it takes only half an hour to complete the Trailhead module to maintain the certificate.

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Final word

Having interviewed our distinguished experts and analyzed various threads where professionals debate whether “Is salesforce certification worth it” on Reddit, we can state that “yes”. It’s worth it, and the benefits of having Salesforce certification aren’t a myth.

We’d also like to thank the Salesforce pros from all around the world who we’ve interviewed for sharing stories about their personal Salesforce certification journeys, we greatly appreciate this! From reasons why to get certified to experience on preparing for certification, from handy tips on which materials to make use of to opinions on maintaining the certificates once you’ve obtained them — we hope that the expert points of view collected in this article will give you a hand in making your own conclusions regarding the importance of being Salesforce certified!