Keeping Salesforce Admins Awesome
Salesforce Admins - Awesome or Obsolete?
David Liu, Salesforce Architect, and blogger released a video, Why are Salesforce administrator jobs disappearing? He says that in 2010-2015, about 50% of job openings in the Salesforce ecosystem were for Salesforce administrators. In 2020, that number dropped to 20%. He notes that businesses are “hiring 10 – 20 Salesforce developers for each admin position” on the video’s blog page.
David points out a demand shift from Salesforce admins to developers in the wake of the Lightning platform. It enables essential customizations but requires more than a low-code skill set. Salesforce customers are looking at alternatives to administration, such as having developers perform administration tasks. If a developer doesn’t have the “people skills” for an admin role, a savvy user can perform basic admin tasks and delegate technical tasks to a developer / admin.
Meanwhile, Salesforce maintains its #AwesomeAdmin meme, keeping administrators up to speed on product changes and supporting them with their day-to-day challenges.
Adaptable Admins
What’s an awesome admin to do? David offers three alternatives.
| Alternative | Emphasizes |
|---|---|
| Become a Salesforce consultant | People skills |
| Learn multiple Salesforce clouds | Salesforce Customer 360 |
| Learn to code | Hybrid admin / developer |
While Salesforce administrators won’t become extinct any time soon, I agree with David that admins should adapt to the myriad changes in the Salesforce ecosystem. Some administrator tasks will go extinct, such as adding users. I delegated that task to a manager in my last engagement, where I had a system administrator role.
I foresee Salesforce making itself “lower maintenance” by automating mundane administrator tasks. Oracle has already done so with its Autonomous Database technology assuming routine database administration tasks. Some Database administrators are adapting to the new technology by transforming into data architects, for example.
Four Admin Career Directions
Awesome admins have four career paths, including consulting and development suggested by David:
Path A: Architect
An administrator who appreciates customers, wants to design new solutions, and understands software development could take the Salesforce architect path. Salesforce offers two architect certifications: Application Architect and System Architect. An architect with both certifications can become a Certified Technical Architect if he or she passes a rigorous exam and review board.
Path B: Business Analyst
Administrators favoring the business aspects of solution development can follow the business analyst path. They need excellent communication and influence skills to capture business needs from stakeholders. They should also have enough technical skills to communicate fluently with architects and developers. Salesforce does not offer business analyst certifications, but the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) offers a good collection of certifications.
Path C: Consultant
David recommends the Salesforce consultant path for administrators wanting to emphasize their people skills over technical skills. A Salesforce consultant has a similar skill set to a business analyst, emphasizing solution deployment rather than development. A consultant typically specializes in one domain, such as Sales Cloud or Service Cloud. Salesforce offers certifications for nine different domains so far.
Path D: Developer
Technically creative administrators could take the development path. David suggests learning enough code to meet job requirements, which will vary by employer. One employer may want Apex trigger development, while another needs Javascript expertise to develop Lightning web components. An aspiring Salesforce developer should determine whether he or she wants to work in user experience (Lightning) or the back end of a solution with Apex. Salesforce offers five developer certifications.
Larger employers could need devops talent to continuously deliver stable changes to their apps or customizations. An administrator having experience with software deployments could make a good candidate for devops.
David Liu offers introductory courses in Salesforce development at sfdc99.com. He’s not herding everyone to the developer path, as shown in his video, Don’t Learn to Code in Salesforce.
Awesome Career Destinations
Each career path listed above leads to a role - architect, business analyst, consultant, or developer. The diagram below shows where the roles fit in general-specific and business-technical dimensions. An administrator can use the diagram to find his or her destination role based on its scope (general-specific) and his or her inclination toward a business or technical career.
An administrator interested in the most general role would develop communication and technical skills to become a business analyst. See So You Want to Become a Business Analyst to learn more.
Taking on a new role requires education to fill skill gaps. While Trailhead provides a good place to start learning, I recommend going beyond it to deepen understanding. Ideally, an administrator can get a mentor for their new role and benefit from their real-world experience. Each role has one or more Salesforce Trailblazer communities where one can learn more about his or her destination role.
Certification in a new role gives one something to show for their learning. SalesforceBen has an excellent infographic showing Salesforce certification paths.
Salesforce administrators can learn new skills to adopt new awesome roles in the changing Salesforce ecosystem.