Who is a Salesforce Developer?

• Salesforce Developers have a good amount of experience with Salesforce, they analyze the company processes and build solutions which best meet the business needs. Solutions could involve working on both OOTB configurable options or writing a custom solution. 
• Salesforce Developers also work on integrating Salesforce with external systems both callouts and call-ins but it’s not in the scope of Platform Developer 1.
• They know the platform’s current capabilities and keep tabs on what new functionalities/improvements are released in the Salesforce releases.

For example, the tasks of a Salesforce Developer look like 

• Creating process builder / flows to automate a business process.
• Design, Develop, Test, Deploy a trigger/apex class to automate more complex requirements which can’t be achieved with OOTB configurable options.
• Create a custom UI i.e., Visualforce page or Aura Components.
• Suggest new upgrades for customers’ existing applications.

Who should go for the Platform Developer 1 exam? 

• Candidates having over 1 year of experience in building custom solutions in Salesforce plus at least 6 months of experience in Lightning components would be more suitable to appear for the exam, it is not a hard and fast rule rather a more generic understanding.
• We are assuming you understand concepts of OOPS and how programming languages work, if you are not yet confident in the aforementioned, it would be a good idea to brush up on these skills first.

If you are interested to join our real-time project based Salesforce Certification Course, contact us today!

Why should you pursue certification? 

• As per the article, Salesforce will create around 3.3 million jobs worldwide by the year 2022. 
• Salesforce Developers are in huge demand, especially in the industry segment like Healthcare, Financial Services, etc, and having a certification will help you stand out and prove your ability as a Salesforce Developer.

About the Salesforce Admin Certification exam costs: 

1. Content: There are 60 multiple-choice questions and 5 non-scored questions in the exam.
2. Time: The user is given 105 minutes to complete the exam, after which the exam automatically submits.
3. Passing Score: You need to provide at least 65 % correct answers to be able to clear the exam.
4. Costing: The Salesforce Platform Developer 1 exam costs 200$ + taxes. If you fail the first attempt, re-attempt costs 100 $ + taxes teach going forward.
5. Maintenance: After clearing the examination, you must complete the Salesforce Platform Developer I Certification Maintenance module on trailhead once a year to maintain the certification; on failing to do so, your certification will expire.

Topics Weightage 

1. Salesforce Fundamentals: 7%
2. Data Modeling and Management: 13%
3. Process Automation and Logic: 40%
4. User Interface: 23%
5. Testing, Debugging, and Deployment: 17%

S No.	Topic	Weightage
1	Salesforce Fundamentals	7%
2	Data Modeling and Management	13%
3	Process Automation and Logic	40%
4	User Interface	23%
5	Testing, Debugging, and Deployment	17%
	Total	100%

1.   Salesforce Fundamentals:        

• Considerations when developing in a multi-tenant environment i.e. person should be well aware of governor limits, do’s, and don’ts related to development.
• Understanding of the Salesforce architecture (Metadata, API names, etc).
• Understanding of the MVC architecture (VF Pages) and Aura Framework (Aura Components) and how to build applications on these.
• Be able to deduce whether to build a custom solution or use OOTB configuration capabilities to achieve a business logic. (Salesforce prefers to click over code)

Sample Questions 

1. Question: Which two models can be used to develop Lightning Components?

Answer: As of Sprint ’19, you can build Lightning components using two programming models: Lightning Web Component Model and Aura Components model. 

2. Question: How do the two programming models coexist?

Answer: Aura Components can contain and utilize LWC components while the opposite is not true LWC cannot contain Aura Components.

3. Question: What do you mean by multi-tenant environment?

Answer: In very simple words multi-tenant environment means behind the scene there is one common server that is providing storage and computation power to n number of instances. And yes you are correct that’s why we have governor limits in place to restrict one instance to consume all the resources.

4. Question: What are API names in Salesforce?

Answer: When you add a custom object or field, the platform automatically assigns an API name to the field using which you can uniquely identify the object or field in the object. We access fields or objects or any other metadata in Apex using their API names, custom fields/objects, etc have __c appended at the end of API name.

2.   Data Modeling and Management

• Good understanding of underlying schema of Standard objects in Salesforce.
• Given business requirements, be able to create and access appropriate objects, fields, and relationships.
• Good understanding of types of relationships between objects in Salesforce for example (Master-Detail, Lookup) 
• Capabilities of roll-up and formula fields in Salesforce and their use cases.
• Difference between Standard and Custom objects and setting up relationships between the two.
• Understanding of how to import and export data out of Salesforce.
• How to use schema builder to view, add and modify schema. 

Sample Questions: 

1.    Question: What is a junction object?

Answer: Junction object is an object with two master-detail relationships, it is used to make M: M (Many to Many) relationships between two objects.

for example, PricebookEntry is a junction object between Product and Pricebook objects.

2.    Question: Can we create a roll-up summary field between Contact and Account? 

Answer: No, we cannot create a roll-up summary between Contact and Account.

3.    Question: What is the difference between 15 and 18 digit ID in Salesforce?

Answer: Salesforce provides a unique ID to every metadata record in the instance. Salesforce IDs can either contain 15 digits or 18 digits. 

15 character ID is a case sensitive version that is referenced on UI

While if the same record is referenced in Apex using SOQL you will see an 18 character ID which is case insensitive.

4.    Question: What are formula fields? 

Answer: Formula fields are read-only fields that automatically derive the value as per the expression defined. These fields are updated every time they are accessed in any way for example when you access the record page if the field is accessed in trigger etc.

Formula fields can only contain 3900 characters including spaces, return characters.

5.    Question: Can we have a standard object on the detail side of the master-detail relationship? 

Answer: No 

6.    Question: Can we create roll-up summary fields on lookup relationships, and how many roll-up summaries fields can we have on each object?

Answer: No, they can be created only in master-detail relationships, and we can have only 25 rolls up fields per object.

7.    Question: Can we convert the lookup relationship to a master-detail relationship?

Answer: Yes, but before converting, we need to make sure we have populated the value into the lookup fields for all existing records.

3.   Process Automation and Logic

• Understanding of SOQL, SOSL, and DML statements in Apex.
• Be able to use Apex thoroughly to achieve business logic which includes
  • Exception handling
  • Control Flow Statements
  • The implication of governor limits
  • Access modifiers
  • Limits class
  • Variables, Constants
  • Apex collections 
• Understand security vulnerabilities
• Publish/Subscribe platform events.
• Understanding of Order of execution in salesforce.
• Understanding of recursion and how to avoid recursion
• Able to write Apex test class, how to create test data.
• Development best practices

Sample Questions

1.    Question: Is it possible to query all the fields on an object without having to explicitly write all fields in the SELECT statement?

   Answer: Yes, FIELDS() function lets you select all the fields, most importantly it helps in avoiding SOQL character limits (10,000) and URI length limits for REST calls (2048 characters).

Example: SELECT FIELDS (ALL) from Account limit 10 

               SELECT FIELDS(CUSTOM) from Account limit 10

               SELECT FIELDS(STANDARD) from Account limit 10

2.    Question: What are the different types of SOQL statements?

   Answer: There are two types of SOQL statements.

• Static SOQL
• Dynamic SOQL

3.    Question: What is the meaning of the error “Too Many Query Rows 50001”?

   Answer: This error is thrown as the maximum number of rows that can be returned via SOQL is 50000

4.    Question: What is the difference between Insert and Database. Insert?

Answer: Let us assume you are inserting 100 records in case of Insert statement if any one of the records fails to insert the whole operation is rolled back and no records are inserted while in case of Database. Insert we can partially insert the records using statement Database.Insert(list,false).

5.    Question: Are validation rules triggered even if the user deletes the record? 

Answer: No

6.    Question: What are the governor limits around DML Statements? 

 Answer: We can only process 10,000 rows in a single DML statement and moreover there can be only in total 150 DML statements in the whole transaction.

7.    Question: Does the finally block always execute?  

Answer: Finally block is an optional block in a try-catch statement and is always executed irrespective of whether there was an exception thrown in the try block or not.

4.   User Interface

• Be able to create a visual force page to display/modify data.
• Understand the difference between controllers and extensions and be able to use one appropriately.
• Understanding of Lightning Web Components.
• Be able to interact between Apex and Lightning components to meet the requirements
• Be able to communicate between different lightning components.

Sample Questions : 

1. Question: What are valid uses cases for using a controller extension in a VF page?

Answer: Controller extensions are used to extend the functionality of standard or custom controllers, they can be used to override actions such as edit, save. Controller extensions execute in system mode but they run in user mode if used with standard controllers.

2.    Question: What are the types of events in the Salesforce Lightning component?

Answer: There are 3 types of events namely : 

1. Application Event(Salesforce Document)
2. Component Event
3. System Event(Salesforce Document)

3.    Question: Can we use Lightning Components on the VF page? If yes, how?

Answer: Yes we can use the lightning out the functionality of Salesforce Lightning components.

4.    Question: How can we identify an extension controller?

Answer: We can identify by looking at the construct of extension class. The constructor of the class will take another controller instance as a parameter.

5.    Question: Which framework is LWC based on? 

Answer: Lightning web components are based on component-based frameworks.

6.    Question: Which framework are Visualforce pages based on? 

Answer: Visualforce pages are based on the MVC framework.

5.   Testing, Debugging, and Deployment

• Write test classes for triggers, apex classes, visual force controllers, flows, etc.
• Understanding of different Salesforce tools like Salesforce DX, Salesforce CLI, Developer console, and when to use them.
• Be able to debug apex classes and monitor flows, process builders.
• Able to debug batch jobs.
• Understanding of Changeset and other options to deploy metadata between connected environments.

Sample Questions 

1. Question: What all scenarios should be covered while writing test classes?

Answer: Following scenarios should be covered while writing test classes : 

• Single Record
• Bulk Record
• Positive Scenario 
• Negative Scenario
• Restricted user scenario

2. Question: What is seeAllData = true annotation?

Answer: When we use seeAllData = true annotation it grants test class access to all data in the org, we should refrain from using it.

3. Question: Can we use seeAllData = true and isParallel = true in same class?

Answer: No.

4. Question: What is a flex queue?

Answer: Any job that is submitted for execution but is in holding status currently is put in the flex queue, there can be a maximum of 100 jobs in this queue.

6.   Exam TIPS 

• Luckily we have a very good trail mix available on the trailhead to start with for preparations for Platform Developer 1.
• Try and learn each topic very well as it takes time to understand concepts in depth.
• Try to memorize the order of execution and governor limits in Salesforce, they will come really handy in the exam and also in normal development.
• The best way to deal with multiple-choice questions is to weed out obviously wrong answers which would give you a better chance of selecting the right one.
• Read the questions very carefully as sometimes there is very small information hidden which may get overlooked easily.
• Use the mark for review option very diligently, if you are not sure of an answer to a question don’t spend too much time on it, as you have got 60 questions to answer. You can always visit all the questions marked for review in the end.