Planning to hire a Salesforce developer for the first time and wondering how you should go about it?
To find such a qualified Salesforce consultant, you need to properly vet and screen each potential candidate when interviewing them.
The demand for skilled and competent Salesforce developers is considerably higher than the supply. That is why you need to properly vet and screen each potential candidate when interviewing them.
If you are unsure about what questions to ask before hiring a Salesforce expert, this brief guide will help you out.
5 Technical Questions to Ask Before You Hire Salesforce Developer
Before hiring a Salesforce programmer or developer, you must screen their technical acumen. These questions should help you get an idea of their technical prowess.
Do you use an Integrated Development Environment (IDE)?
IDE, Integrated Development Environment, is a professional tool that Salesforce developers use to test and deploy changes to Lightning Web Components and Apex classes.
IDE also allows developers to search for specific information within an organization's Salesforce data by running a Salesforce Object Query Language query.
There are several popular IDEs available, and each popular IDE has its unique strengths and weaknesses. Developers prefer them for specific reasons and purposes.
Knowing whether a potential developer uses IDE should give you an idea of whether they are willing to adapt and adopt productivity tools. This question is especially relevant to you if you are looking for a Salesforce Lightning developer.
What is the difference between Apex Triggers and Process Builders?
Triggers are code-based evaluations of criteria in Apex. Developers use them to set chains of events. Process Builder refers to an automated Salesforce tool that enables developers to evaluate the criteria for a record or control the order of actions.
Triggers handle "before events," whereas Process Builders are executed after records are updated or created. Developers can delete records using Triggers, but not with Process Builders.
Can you explain what Salesforce governor limits are?
Salesforce operates in a multitenant environment. That means all resources, such as CPU, memory, and storage, are shared with other companies on the platform. That is why limits are placed to ensure that all organizations using the Salesforce architecture follow certain rules. These rules guarantee that company processes or codes do not monopolize shared resources.
Governor Limits are basically usage caps that Salesforce enforces to facilitate efficient processing. A certified Salesforce developer should answer this question easily.
What is the difference between an "External ID" Field and a "Unique ID" field setting?
Developers use the "External ID" field to reference an ID from a different external system. They can search for External IDs in Salesforce and use the Upsert API call along with the External ID when referring to records for making changes through Data Loader.
On the other hand, the "Unique ID" field is a setting that developers use to prevent the same value from being used in several records for a specific field. Developers often create External IDs with Unique ID settings to ensure that the External IDs are unique to each record.
What are Salesforce Workflows?
In Salesforce, Workflows are business logic engines or containers that automate particular actions based on specific criteria.
The actions get executed only when the criteria are met. If the criteria are not fulfilled, the records get saved, but actions are not executed.
Developers use workflows to automate standard internal procedures and processes. Workflows can thereby save time across the organization.
5 Exploratory Questions to Ask Before You Hire Salesforce Developer
Ask the following exploratory questions before you hire a remote salesforce developer to know about their experience.
Have You Ever Dealt with Data Loss? If So, What Strategies Would You Use to Prevent Data Loss?
Losing valuable data is the biggest nightmare for an organization. You need to hire a Salesforce developer who knows how to prevent such a scenario.
To prevent data loss, an experienced Salesforce developer may implement various strategies such as:
- Perform Salesforce Security Health Check regularly
- Enable two-factor authentication
- Determine role hierarchy
- Implement virus scanner
- Use Salesforce shield
- Secure APIs
- Identify RPO (Recovery Point Objective) and RTO (Recovery Time Objective)
These are the basic steps that a Salesforce developer must practice to protect data.
Which Part of Salesforce Development Do You Enjoy The Most?
The answer to this question is highly personal to the candidate. So, each candidate may answer this differently.
Knowing what excites them about Salesforce development will give you an idea of how passionate they are about their work.
How Would You Choose a Sandbox for Our Project?
Salesforce developers test their code in Sandbox before implementing it into production. There are multiple Sandboxes available today. Each one is unique in terms of how much data it can store and the type of data it deals with.
Knowing which Sandbox a potential developer suggests for your project would help you determine their experience in dealing with similar projects.
Can You Give an Example of a Custom App That You Could Build Using The Platform?
A competent Salesforce developer can create custom cloud apps easily. So, the right candidate should be able to give you some examples of the custom apps they can possibly build on the platform.
What are the Different Types of Reports Available in Salesforce?
There are mainly four types of reports available in Salesforce, including:
- Tabular report
- Matrix Report
- Summary Report
- Joined Report
An experienced Salesforce developer should be able to explain which reporting style is required, when, or why they prefer one over the other.
