Salesforce Administrators, or ‘admins,’ are the unsung heroes of the business world. They harness the power of the Salesforce platform to streamline operations and drive efficiency. According to Salesforce, companies that fully deploy Salesforce see an average of 25% increase in revenue. Admins play a pivotal role in achieving these impressive metrics by implementing tailored solutions and automating processes. Given their crucial role, it’s no surprise that Salesforce Administrators are highly sought after. The demand for skilled admins is rising globally, with a median salary of $86,000 in the US alone. Obtaining a Salesforce Administrator certification not only validates your expertise but also opens up lucrative career paths in this dynamic field. So, if you want to boost your career, earning this certification is smart. So, let’s kickstart your Salesforce admin certification journey with an exhaustive list of Salesforce admin certifications.
Read our ultimate guide to Salesforce Certifications for a deep dive into all available Salesforce certifications.
Understanding the Salesforce Admin Certification
The Salesforce Administrator certification is designed for individuals with at least six months of experience working with Salesforce. It validates a candidate’s ability to apply a broad range of applications, manage end-user features, and handle configuration and management options for Sales, Service, and Collaboration Clouds.
Salesforce Certification Pathways
Salesforce Administrator:
- Focuses on the foundational skills needed to maintain a Salesforce implementation.
- Covers essential admin tasks, business requirements, and platform maintenance.
Salesforce Advanced Administrator:
- Intended for certified Salesforce Administrators with advanced skills.
- Emphasizes platform customization, security best practices, and the application of advanced Salesforce features.
Both certification exams are carefully crafted. Candidates should be able to handle administrative tasks, respond to standard business requirements, and maintain a Salesforce platform. Thus, a Salesforce Admin should showcase a blend of technical and non-technical skills.
What are the Required Skills for a Salesforce Admin Career Path?
Salesforce administrators often wear multiple hats, serving as project managers, IT support, database managers, business analysts, and system analysts. Key skills include:
- Communication: Coordinate among the stakeholders to produce, design, configure, and execute Salesforce.
- Security management: Proactively implement industry-standard security procedures for handling and safeguarding client and corporate data.
- Data analysis: Deliver reports regularly to assist executives and users in deriving conclusions and making decisions based on Salesforce data.
- Designer’s mindset: Improve user experiences.
- Process automation: Build, manage, and improve business processes to automate and streamline production.
- Project management: Arrange and supervise Salesforce projects to guarantee timely and cost-effective completion.
Key Highlights of the Salesforce Administrator Exam
Here are the important details about the Salesforce Administrator exam:
- Content: It contains 60 multiple-choice/select questions and 5 non-scored questions.
- Exam duration: 105 minutes
- Passing score: 65%
- Registration fee:$200 (plus applicable taxes), $100 for retakes.
- Delivery options: On-site or online.
- Prerequisite: None.
Topics and Weightage: Salesforce Admin Certification Exam
An ideal applicant should possess prior experience as a Salesforce Administrator. The Salesforce Administrator exam will comprise sections that will evaluate the following features and functions
| Online Backup | Manual Backup | |
|---|---|---|
| Reliability | Cloud backup leverages cutting-edge technology, including compression, encryption,storage virtualization, data deduplication, disk-based backup, server & and application-specific protection to maximize the reliability and efficiency of the backups. Backups reliably occur at scheduled intervals with no intervention required. | Manual tape backups typically have a 30-year shelf life. However, their reliability also hinges on the maintenance of their transport and supported infrastructure. Additionally, because of the nature of manual processes, such backups are error-prone. |
| Scalability | Public clouds such as AWS and Azure offer effortless scalability. This is particularly helpful for SMBs that can pay-as-they-grow. | Scaling manual backup essentially means adding more tapes, purchasing additional infrastructure and maintaining it. This can be cost prohibitive in the long run. |
| Accessibility | Cloud storage ensures access from any location with an internet connection | Access is limited to the physical location and network. |
| Security | Cloud backup, while not offline, is offsite and air-gapped. The cloud backup needs to have security features such as encryption, immutability, and secure authentication. It should also comply with data regulatory laws such as HIPAA and GDPR. | Tapes are in essence "offline", making them secure and impervious to ransomware, malware, and other online breaches. |
| Redundancy | Online backup on public clouds inherently includes multi-site data redundancy. In addition, public clouds such as AWS S3 offer additional redundancy on Glacier too. | To achieve redundancy, you have to create one more manual copy and store it in another location. Apart from being cumbersome, transport and maintenance of the additional backup can be costly. |
| Ease of Recovery | Recovery from online storage requires no transport and related effort in retrieving the data. Most cloud backup solutions will offer recovery on the click of a button from your chose point in time | In the case of tape storage, an operator needs to recall the tape, load it, locate the data, and recover the data. |
| Setup Cost | Online backup solutions typically have a monthly or annual subscription. Apart from that there is no other cost of infrastructure at your end. | When compared to online backup, the initial investment may be more. However, the costs can even out if the storage size grows in the petabyte realm. |
| Maintenance Cost | Here too, the cost of maintenance is typically borne by the cloud backup company. However, check the fine print for additional costs for added storage, data recovery, and other fine print | The cost of supported infrastructure such as tape drives, archive software, and tape libraries can spiral. Add to this power and cooling requirements. And the cost of maintenance staff |
Cost of the Salesforce Admin Certification Exam
Here is a snapshot of the Salesforce Admin certification cost
| Products | Google Workspace User Based | Workspace Drives Storage Based | Google Workspace Complete User Based |
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| Minimum Level | No Minimum | No Minimum | No Minimum |
| Requirements | No Requirements | No Requirements | Requires Activation of all G Suite Users. |
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| Terms | Per User | Per 10 GB | Per User |
Preparation Strategy: Salesforce Admin Certification Practice Exams and Tests
While the Salesforce Administrator certification may appear intimidating, one can pass this exam with careful research and planned study with flying colors. Listed below are some of the study strategies for the Salesforce certification exam. Harness the gamut of learning tools, educational programs, tutoring services, and educational resources created to improve students’ results on standardized examinations.
- Leverage Trailhead: Utilize Salesforce’s free learning platform, Trailhead, for modules, preparation kits, and maintenance modules. Use the Trailblazer Community to connect to new employment prospects, learn in-demand skills, and obtain credentials worth adding to a resume. Apart from Trailhead, here is a list of other resources for learning Salesforce for free.
- Explore expert-led Prep Courses: Expert-led courses provide invaluable insights and a deep understanding of the subject matter to prepare for the Salesforce certifications. They are essential for learners seeking guidance from seasoned professionals who can offer personalized feedback and strategies tailored to each student’s unique learning needs. Here is a list of Salesforce training courses to prepare for your admin and other certifications.
- Gain Hands-On Experience: Practical experience solidifies theoretical knowledge. Gain practical experience with the Salesforce CRM platform tools to solidify the theoretical knowledge that one has acquired.
- Familiarize with Exam Format: Take mock exams to get comfortable with the multiple-choice/select question format. Salesforce exams use multiple-choice or multiple-select questions. Taking mock exams is one of the best approaches to getting acquainted with these exams, as they accurately mirror the real exam.
Exam Strategy: Salesforce Admin Certification Exam
Below are some exam tips one can follow while attempting the exam.
- Take the time to read the question multiple times and pay close attention carefully. The answers to scenario-based questions will provide helpful indicators to guide you toward the correct response.
- Use the provided pen and paper to sketch patterns, the role hierarchy, or any other design to help you visualize the answer.
- Apply the elimination technique while selecting an answer. Salesforce often provides responses that are factually incorrect or consist only of features.
- Candidates can use the “Mark for review” feature on the exam portal. They can come back later to a particular question anytime.
- Take the time to review all your answers to minimize the chances of making any silly mistakes.
Salesforce Admin Certification Exam Code of Conduct
Must-haves
- Examine and follow the instructions for both on-site and online proctored certification tests.
- If you witness any action compromising credential security, reach out to the Credential Security team.
Strictly Avoid!
- Share, use, or ask for solutions of super badges or certification exam questions and answers.
- Ask or accept assistance during the exam.
- Acting in any way that undermines the terms of the Salesforce Credential & Certification Program.
Consequences
- Termination of any upcoming certification assessments.
- Debar or suspension from taking proctored online tests.
- Prohibition from sitting for any certification tests.
- Superbadge and certification revocation.
These consequences are not limited to the application. It will based on the gravity of the act.
How CloudAlly Academy Can Help
CloudAlly Academy offers tailored study programs and materials for Salesforce certification preparation. Whether you’re a beginner or at an intermediate level, our courses can guide you through the Salesforce certification pathways. Explore our comprehensive learning resources to kickstart or advance your Salesforce admin career path. Check out our free flagship course, “Principles of Salesforce SaaS Data Protection with Francis Pindar,” at CloudAlly Academy. Led by Francis Pindar, an 8-time Salesforce MVP, the course offers in-depth insights and practical tips for data protection in Salesforce. Moreover, you can also get a hands-on feel of taking an actual Salesforce backup with a full-feature 14-day trial of CloudAlly’s top-rated Backup and Salesforce recovery service – Start your free trial here.
