I’m happy to announce that my book, “Salesforce Advanced Administrator Certification Guide: Unleash your Salesforce administration superpowers with an advanced training certification guide”, made it to BookAuthority’s Best New Salesforce eBooks.
BookAuthority collects and ranks the best books in the world, and it is a great honor to get this kind of recognition. Thank you for all your support!
The book is available for purchase on Amazon.
Itâs been another exciting year in the Salesforce ecosystem. Weâve seen expanded strategic partnerships, brand new products, and revolutionary integrations made possible by Salesforceâs savvy acquisitions in recent years (MuleSoft and Tableau, to name just a couple).
Salesforce is one of the fastest-moving tech ecosystems on the planet. Thatâs why itâs so important to stay on top of whatâs happening in the world of a once humble CRM technology thatâs now growing into the most-dominant business software across all markets and industries. We helped create a monster!
Released annually, the Mason Frank Salary Survey is the largest independent study of the Salesforce community. Itâs an invaluable resource for Salesforce professionals, partners, and customers looking to gather insights into the working culture of the technology ecosystem, and to benchmark salaries, benefits and market trends.
With thousands of Salesforce professionals and employers surveyed, we can use Mason Frankâs research on product trends and job market depth to steer growth in businesses using Salesforce technology. For candidates, learning which skill sets, technologies, and certifications maximise earning potential is extremely useful.
You can, of course, download the report in full for free on their website, but here are my highlights from the 2019/20 survey report, along with findings that may be of particular interest to Italian members of the Ohana.
What is the top Salesforce product in 2020?
Itâs unsurprising to see Sales Cloud maintain its position as the top Salesforce product in 2020, given that the technology is ultimately sales-focused, as well as the market dominance of Sales Cloud in the CRM world.
Service Cloud has risen to the third most-used Salesforce product over the last months, and this is unsurprising given the recent developments in the technology.
Just recently at Dreamforce, it was announced that Service Cloud would now benefit from integration with Amazon Connect, empowering contact centre agents with access to customer information across multiple disparate systems. Service Cloud Voice will also perform real-time sentiment analysis to gauge common customer problems and position relevant solutions to reduce average case handling time. Itâs a great time to be a service cloud user!
Which Salesforce certifications maximise earning potential?
IT research firm IDC recently predicted that the demand for Salesforce technology would create 4.4 million new jobs by 2025. This is fantastic news for Salesforce professionals, who are already in high demand, but which certifications will open up the most opportunities and earning potential?
Of all respondents to Mason Frankâs survey, 71% were Salesforce-certified, with the Admin certification being the most popular cert (88% of certified talent held the Salesforce Certified Administrator credential). Of those who werenât certified, 72% said they were working towards this certification.
Salesforce Developer was recently named in the worldâs top 10 jobs, and we can see from the report that only 36% of certified talent hold the Platform Developer I certification; only 10% had achieved Platform Developer II. Given the current and anticipated skills gap, balanced against the low percentage of Salesforce-certified Developers, thereâs clearly opportunity for those looking to move into this role.
Certification in any form is likely to open earning potential. The survey found that 44% of certified talent experienced a salary increase after certification, with an average pay rise of 24%. Whatâs more, two-thirds of these certified professionals indicated their employer paid for their cert exam, so risk/reward is firmly in the favour of ambitious professionals.
What other factors impact earning potential?
While certifications can count for quite a lot, they arenât everything. By far the largest factor impacting earning potential is experience, with 86% of survey respondents considering this to be significant, compared to just 62% who felt the same about Salesforce certifications. Similarly, 76% also considered exposure to large products to be an important factor.
Only 31% of respondents thought a university degree was an essential factor in earning potential, and 30% considered it not important at all. This question was extended to whether they thought a degree was important when working generally with Salesforce, and 63% indicated they didnât consider it important. Given the culture of the âaccidental adminâ, these feelings support the idea that Salesforce is an accessible technology even to those without a technical or academic background.
An Italian working in Salesforce
Members of the Milano and Cagliari Salesforce Developer Groups will share the sentiment that it can be difficult to find accurate local market data on Salesforce, but fortunately Mason Frank drills down salaries across all major European countries.
We can see that the average salary across core Salesforce roles (Admin/Dev/Functional & Technical Consultant) in Italy tends to start at around âŹ20,000. Junior Admins can earn up to âŹ26,000, while Junior Consultants and Developers can command salaries between âŹ30,000 and âŹ35,000.
Moving into senior roles, Admins tend to max out at around âŹ32,000, which is where most make the jump into a specialist role. Senior Developers, Functional and Technical Consultants earn between âŹ40,000 and âŹ50,000.
Salesforce continues to enhance functionality of Marketing Cloud, primarily through integrations, making this skillset very in demand. Itâs worth noting that even Junior Marketing Cloud Consultants and Specialists can start at âŹ30,000 and earn up to âŹ48,000 when they accrue enough experience. Looking for a specialist area? This could be it.
I hope this exploration of Mason Frankâs findings has been helpfulâyou should definitely be using this type of market intelligence to set you apart from your peers, so use it when finding your next job, employee, or Salesforce solution to fully benefit from the report.
Looking for more insights? Download the Mason Frank Salary Survey 19/20 in full for unique sentiments on technologies, salaries, and culture in the Salesforce ecosystem.
I’ve recently published a post on Mason Frankâs blog, where I wrote about some Salesforce Developer hacks. Hereâs a quick summary below and link to the full article, I hope you enjoy!
Iâm lazy. Most developers are! This is not necessarily a bad thing, and Bill Gates summarizes this concept easily by saying âI choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do itâ.
Donât misunderstand this statementâlaziness is not staying on your couch the whole day and watching all of Game of Thrones in one sitting. Itâs a different kind of being lazy.
The lazy developer is the one that, in order to avoid doing anything more than once, tries to automate it or knows exactly when that line of code is stored (they may actually not be able to write it themselves and thus have to Google for it).
Thatâs exactly what I saw in my own 12 years of work experience: the best developer is not the one who knows exactly which Apex function has which parameters (if you can, well⊠congratulations!), but the one who quickly knows how to solve a problem and where to look to maximize productivity (and happiness for the project manager or the customer).
I recently joined other Salesforce influencers in contributing to Mason Frankâs âAsk The Expertsâ series, where I wrote about my ten best tips to become an amazing Salesforce Developer. Hereâs a quick summary below and link to the full article, I hope you enjoy!
âAm I the best Salesforce Developer I can be?â
This is a question all Salesforce Developers should be asking themselves. If you said âYesâ, well⊠you donât need to read this post as you may be in the âOlympusâ of coders.
If your answer is âNoâ, welcome my friend, keep reading this post. I have some tips for you, based on my experiences, that may lead you to the right trail.
Iâve always felt like Iâve never achieved anything to the top level, and I guess this drove me to overcome my limits and achieve a lot in my personal and professional life.
If you are in the circle of developers that believe they can empower their skills day after day, you are using a mental process that I call âContinuous Self-Improvementâ (CSI, isnât it cool? I guess Iâve not invented anything, but I love giving names to stuff). I even call it the âJohn Snow syndromeâ, because your student mentality means youâre a coder who feels like they âknow nothingâ.
One of the easiest Javascript libraries for encryption I usually adopt is CryptoJS, quick setup and good support for most algorithms.
But I got an headache trying to make it talk with Salesforce, this was due to my relatively low encryption-topics training but also to a specific way Salesforce handles encryption.
I was surprised that none has ever had the same need before.
I’m not going to explain how I came up to this solution (one of the reasons is that I already forgot it…as I always say, my brain is a cool CPU but with a low amount of storage), but I’ll just give you the way I solved encrypted data exchange between a Javascript script (whether it is client or server side) and Salesforce.
In Apex encrypting and decrypting a string is quite easy:
//encrypt
String algorithmName = 'AES256';
Blob privateKey = Crypto.generateAesKey(256);
Blob clearText = Blob.valueOf('Encrypt this!');
Blob encr = Crypto.encryptWithManagedIV(algorithmName, privateKey, clearText);
system.debug('## ' + EncodingUtil.base64encode(encr));
//decrypt
Blob decr = Crypto.decryptWithManagedIV(algorithmName, privateKey, encr );
System.debug('## ' + decr.toString());
This could be an example of the output:
## Lg0eJXbDvxNfLcFMwJm6CkFtxy4pWgkmanTvKLcTttQ=
## Encrypt this!
For encryption noobs out there, the encrypted string changes every time you run the script.
The string if first encrypted with the AES256 algorithm and then decrypted using the same secret key (generated automatically by Salesforce).
All is done through Crypto class’ methods:
Valid values for algorithmName
are:– AES128
– AES192
– AES256These are all industry standard Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithms with different size keys. They use cipher block chaining (CBC) and PKCS5 padding.
Salesforce HELP
PKCS5 padding is a subset of the more general PKCS7, that is supported by CryptJS, so it still works.
The only thing that is not clearly stated here (at least for my low storage brain) is that this method uses an Initialization Vector (IV, that is used together with the private key to generate the proper encryption iterations) which has a fixed 16 Bytes length.
Also, the IV is included within the encrypted string: this is the key point.
To encrypt and decrypt using the following method the CryptoJS must be aware of the first 16 Bytes of the IV and append it to (if we are encrypting from JS to Salesforce) or extract it from (if we are decrypting in JS from a Salesforce encrypted string) the encrypted string.
This is what I came up with after a bit of research (you have to deal with binary data when encrypting, that’s why we use Base64 to exchange keys and encrypted strings).
//from https://gist.github.com/darmie/e39373ee0a0f62715f3d2381bc1f0974
var base64ToArrayBuffer = function(base64) {
var binary_string = atob(base64);
var len = binary_string.length;
var bytes = new Uint8Array( len );
for (var i = 0; i < len; i++) {
bytes[i] = binary_string.charCodeAt(i);
}
return bytes.buffer;
};
//from //https://gist.github.com/72lions/4528834
var appendBuffer: function(buffer1, buffer2) {
var tmp = new Uint8Array(buffer1.byteLength + buffer2.byteLength);
tmp.set(new Uint8Array(buffer1), 0);
tmp.set(new Uint8Array(buffer2), buffer1.byteLength);
return tmp.buffer;
};
//from //https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9267899/arraybuffer-to-base64-encoded-string
var arrayBufferToBase64 = function( arrayBuffer ) {
return btoa(
new Uint8Array(arrayBuffer)
.reduce(function(data, byte){
return data + String.fromCharCode(byte)
},
'')
);
},
//Encrypts the message with the given secret (Base64 encoded)
var encryptForSalesforce = function(msg, base64Secret){
var iv = CryptoJS.lib.WordArray.random(16);
var aes_options = {
mode: CryptoJS.mode.CBC,
padding: CryptoJS.pad.Pkcs7,
iv: iv
};
var encryptionObj = CryptoJS.AES.encrypt(
msg,
CryptoJS.enc.Base64.parse(base64Secret),
aes_options);
//created a unique base64 string with "IV+EncryptedString"
var encryptedBuffer = base64ToArrayBuffer(encryptionObj.toString());
var ivBuffer = base64ToArrayBuffer((encryptionObj.iv.toString(CryptoJS.enc.Base64)));
var finalBuffer = appendBuffer(ivBuffer, encryptedBuffer);
return arrayBufferToBase64(finalBuffer);
};
//Decrypts the string with the given secret (both params are Base64 encoded)
var decryptFromSalesforce = function(encryptedBase64, base64Secret){
//gets the IV from the encrypted string
var arrayBuffer = base64ToArrayBuffer(encryptedBase64);
var iv = CryptoJS.enc.Base64.parse(arrayBufferToBase64(arrayBuffer.slice(0,16)));
var encryptedStr = arrayBufferToBase64(arrayBuffer.slice(16, arrayBuffer.byteLength));
var aes_options = {
iv: iv,
mode: CryptoJS.mode.CBC
};
var decryptObj = CryptoJS.AES.decrypt(
encryptedStr,
CryptoJS.enc.Base64.parse(base64Secret),
aes_options
);
return decryptObj.toString(CryptoJS.enc.Utf8);
};
By sharing the Base64 of the Salesforce generated secret (using the method Crypto.generateAesKey(256) ) between your JS client and Salesforce, you can store and exchange encrypted data with a blink of an eye.
More then 3 months from the last Reindeer Release say hello to the ORGanizer for Salesforce Giraffe Release (0.6.8.4).
Why a Giraffe, you ask?
Like a Giraffe points its head up to the sky, the Giraffe Release points toward release 1.0, when we’ll finally go out of beta, closing an almost 3 years old path since its first release 0.1 in September 2016.
I’ve worked a lot on stability and bug fixing in these months, reviewing tens of issues and suggestions, provided by my beloved ORGanusers who support my day by day work.
It’s also a pleasure to introduce you to our next sponsor NativeVideo for the next months, starting from the current release!
Founded in London in 2018, NativeVideo is on a mission to bring businesses and people closer together with the power of Video.
NativeVideo is the platform that, once installed from the AppExchange, enables video recording and browsing as a native functionality inside Salesforce.
The company has already released two “extension packages” that customise the solution to 2 specific use cases:
NativeVideo customers have customised the NativeVideo platform and the use of Video to their needs on other use cases, like Service – screen recording sent by the service representative to answer questions and solve bugs, CPQ – a walkthrough screen recording video where the offer is explained when it is sent to the customer, Customer feedback / testimonial – inviting customers to answer a few questions on video to provide feedback on the service and results they are receiving, and many more.
Jump to NativeVideo landing page to say hello and thank them for helping the ORGanizer to keep the hard work going!
First we have new consolidated limits for logins storage:
Approaching to release 1.0 the number of logins that can be stored with the free edition of the ORGanizer will gradually decrease. The number of logins will be limited in the free edition but all the other features will always be kept free.
Pro version can be purchased from the Chrome Web Store and now using Promo Codes (only available on Chrome version as of now):
A promo code is strictly related to the user email address and has an expiration date, and conveys the same enhanced limits of the Pro version in-app purchase.
Why a promo code?
To allow companies to mass purchase ORGanizer licenses or for promotions or free trials.
The following permissions are now required:
Read the change log for the whole list of what’s inside this new release, and see you in the next release!
This blog has been verified by Rise: Rb4a7093bc3979124c781aae186805e25
Few days ago I was thinking about optimizing the use of constants (usually of String type) inside projects to avoid proliferation of public static final String declarations on various classes (with a limited control over duplicates) but giving at the same time developers a way to increase readability of constants in their code.
The reason for this post is that I want to know your opinion on this strategy, that on my eyes appear elegant and clear but may bring some drawbacks.
public class Constants{
private static ObjectName_Constants objectNameConstants;
public static ObjectName_Constants ObjectName{
get {
if(objectNameConstants == null){
objectNameConstants = new ObjectName_Constants();
}
return objectNameConstants;
}
}
public class ObjectName_Constants{
public String CustomField_AValue { get { return 'aValue'; } }
public String RecordType_ADevName { get { return 'aDevName'; } }
}
}
The class is basically shaped as follows:
This brings to a cool looking:
String myDevName = Constants.ObjectName.RecordType_ADevName;
This way we have the following pros:
And these are the cons:
I’m curious to get some feedbacks.
This article has been packed up by Lindsey Weiss, who will tell us some suggestions to keep an eye on security.
Lindsey enjoys marketing and promoting one’s brand. She believes that to move your market, you must know your market. She loves writing articles on helping people build buzz around their brand and boosting their online presence.
For small business owners, fraud and data breaches are a nightmare. Not only can those issues bring work to a standstill, but it can also mean lost consumer confidence and even the closure of a business. Itâs crucial to guard against threats, and if you should fall victim to one, expediting your response is the best chance for a sound recovery.
Big businesses often make the news when they become victims of cybercrime. However, itâs important for small business owners to recognize their own vulnerability. Gone are the days when it was safe to fly under the radar of cyber scoundrels; in fact, they are catching the eyes of criminals more than ever. Some statistics indicate small businesses are being attacked more each year, with average losses ranging from $84,000 to $148,000. Most of those companies go under within six months of being attacked, and according to studies cited by IBM, for each stolen record, you can expect a loss of nearly $150.
When it comes to evaluating your companyâs vulnerability, the easiest place to start is with a careful look at your hardware and software. Making solid choices means you have a wall of defense in every direction. Start with a thorough evaluation using a checklist. Data should be backed up to a remote location routinely, and all computers and devices should have antivirus software installed. If you arenât using a firewall, that is another a must-have.
Research whether the electronics youâre using are known for being secure, and if not, invest in better equipment. For instance, shimming is an unfortunate but growing trend that threatens many small businesses. Data protection ultimately protects your customer base since a breach means lost confidence on the part of consumers. Consider investing in a more secure payment system with features such as safeguards against fraud and real-time data security.
If you havenât already done so, now is a perfect time to start using the cloud. It protects your data by saving it offsite while also freeing up some of your overhead, thereby reducing the amount of time and money your company has to spend updating software and saving files to external drives. It also means your business can operate more freely. Instead of being tethered to the office, you and your staff can do more work on the fly. Better flexibility can mean increased productivity and a better bottom line. Think through what your particulars are, such as how many devices your business requires and how much storage you need, and check reviews to find the right cloud storage option for your situation.
If your company handles sensitive data, encryption is another must-have in your line of defense. Basically, encryption uses a cipher to turn your clean data into gobbledygook, keeping would-be criminals at bay. As Business News Daily points out, the law requires encryption if you handle sensitive data such as health records, credit card numbers, or Social Security numbers, but even if you donât handle that kind of information, itâs a worthwhile layer of protection against to help cybercrime. In fact, some operating systems have built-in encryption options, and there are plenty of encryption software packages available.
Once you shore up your hardware and software defenses, itâs time to examine the human element. As part of the equation where you have the least control, staying abreast of the people handling your data can be especially challenging for small business owners. Disgruntled or dishonest employees can worm their way into your confidence and your systems, leaving you vulnerable to fraud. With that in mind, make sure youâre hiring people based on their talents and integrity, and mesh your quality staff with top-notch bookkeeping software so you can keep your finger on the pulse of your accounts.
A strong defense is your key to protecting your business against fraud and data breaches, so ensure your systems are well-protected with carefully thought out choices. When a cybercriminal has your company in his sights, youâll be ready.
The ORGanizer for Salesforce Reindeer Release is finally live!
Thanks to the guys of The Welkin Suite we have a special gift for all ORGanusers: an amazing 40% discount if you start a subscription from within the TWS ORGanizer’s banner!
To discover how to get it, follow this post!
Before discovering all the new features of the Reindeer Release v0.6.8.0 let’s see how to get the 40% discount for The Welkin Suite subscription.
Make sure you have the latest ORGanizer for Salesforce version (right click on the ORGanizer icon > Manage Extensions):
Now click on the ORGanizer for Salesforce icon to show the Popup page and identify The Welkin Suite banner:
Click it and the promo code will be automatically added to your basket on the Welkin Suite site!
If you have purchased ORGanizer PRO, drop me a line using the support form, I’ll send you a dedicated promo code.
If you purchased a PRO license (available only on Chrome version) you’ll now get increased storage limits:
That is you can store up to 2000 logins (sync or not) and up to 1000 sync logins: the Beta limits are 200/150, but the free tire limit will get lower once the ORGanizer gets out of Beta!
Want to massively change profiles? With the Profiles Chamber plugin you can!
In this release the plugin only supports Login Hours massive update with different options and the chance to create templates for a given Org).
You can choose multiple profiles and days to update and then apply changes (by deploying in your ORG): only the Login Hours data is actually pushed.
For detailed info about the Profiles Chamber follow this link.
The Replace API Names plugin has been completely rewritten to give consistency between Classic and LEX:
The API name is now shown directly next to the real label: few bugs has also been fixed (e.g. misbehavior with fields with the same label).
Becoming a Salesforce Administrator is often the entry route into the worldâs number one CRM technology, but this doesnât make the job interview process any easier for prospective admins.
As the most prominent role in Salesforce, the competition for a job as a Salesforce Administrator is particularly high. In Mason Frankâs 2018/19 independent Salesforce salary survey, 70% of respondents reported being a Certified Salesforce Administrator, far higher than any other certification. With other candidates waiting in the wings, you need to be sure your interview goes perfectly to guarantee the job offer, and that comes down to preparation.
A job interview for a Salesforce Administrator role can take many forms, and so youâll need to be prepared for several different lines of questioning. Your interviewer wonât just be interested in your technical experience as an administrator, theyâll also want to know how you see CRM as part of a larger business, and use this to test how much youâve researched their organisation. In addition, theyâll also want to get to know you as a person.
Read on for a series of tips on how to prepare for your next job interview as a Salesforce Administrator.
Ultimately your prospective employer will want to learn how skilled you are on the Salesforce platform, and so you should expect to be asked technical interview questions. A Salesforce Administrator is quite a varied role, and so technical questions you may be asked can be quite broad. You could be asked something very functional such as âwhat is a roll-up summary fieldâ, or perhaps something a little more scenario-based, such as âhow do you share a record and in what circumstances would that be expected?â
One thing that you need to be aware of going into the job interview is that your interviewer may have no experience using Salesforce, or alternatively they may be a Certified Technical Architect.
With this in mind, itâs not enough to simply have a good working knowledge of Salesforce, you need to be prepared to explain technical concepts in plain language so that a non-expert will understand you. Having technical knowledge is one thing, but being able to communicate your knowledge to a layman is another thing entirely, so practice this before the interview.
While knowledge is valuable, application is power.
Salesforce Trailhead is a fantastic education portal and is responsible for launching the career of thousands of Salesforce professionals, but it wonât provide you with that all-important practical experience that employers are looking for. This is why experience is incredibly valuable, and so you should be prepared to discuss the projects youâve worked on and what you learned from them.
If youâve worked as part of an implementation team, be ready to discuss the technical elements as well as the challenges you faced and how you overcame them. If youâve ever experienced data loss or a data breach, be ready to discuss how you discovered the event and how it was resolved. Donât be afraid to discuss challenges and mistakes madeâthis is what experience is all about, and will set you apart from the other candidates.
Something else that employers value highly is your ability to work on a collaborative project. As an Admin itâs unlikely that you will be working completely independently, so be prepared to talk about your communication skills, requirements gathering, and ability to work within the confines of a project timeline, using examples from your previous experience.
Itâs essential you have the skills and experience to perform the job youâre being interviewed for, but your prospective employer will also want to get an idea of who you are as a person. After all, theyâll likely be spending around 40 hours a week in your presence, so itâs important they employ someone who theyâll enjoy working withâyou should also be confident that youâll enjoy working with them as well!
Given that your technical knowledge and experience come with the territory of being a Salesforce professional, getting your personal character across can often be the most nerve-racking element of a job interview, but this shouldnât be the case. Just be yourself and communicate your goals and ambitions clearly.
Itâs always a good idea to think about why you entered Salesforce technology and where you eventually want your career to take you, as long as you can relate this to why you want the job youâre interviewing for and how this will help you achieve your goals.
Being a successful Salesforce Administrator is about more than just doing the job, itâs about finding ways to maximise the value of Salesforce in an organisation, and making yourself indispensable as a result.
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