Salesforce Developers

Salesforce developers have duties that are similar to those of other software developers. When creating new software, they first meet with the project stakeholders to discuss the features of the software, as well as system performance expectations, its integration with other Salesforce products or third-party software, information security concerns, and other issues. Then the developer determines the costs, time requirements, and required resources that will be needed to complete the work. They present a design plan (which is sometimes known as a design specification) to stakeholders, and the developers make any revisions necessary to the plan before starting to write the code and build the application. A small project will require just one or two developers, while teams of developers will be needed for large projects. Throughout the development phase, developers conduct hands-on and automated tests to ensure that everything works as designed. They continue to test, troubleshoot, debug, and otherwise improve the software until it is released to the user. After the software release, developers address any performance or security issues that users identify. They also prepare technical documentation that summarizes their work on the project and details any significant issues that arose during the process and what they did to fix them. Developers may train staff on how to use the new software.

Other responsibilities of developers include identifying best practices around application development to improve productivity, scalability, system performance, and monitoring; assessing the software needs of new customers to determine if the existing software should be customized or upgraded or replaced by a new product and present their findings in oral or written form to stakeholders; documenting all aspects of a company’s information technology (IT) applications and systems for future reference when making upgrades or customizations to existing software; and integrating Salesforce products with other systems such as a client’s Web site or enterprise resource planning software.