36 Salesforce Developer Interview Questions (With Tips)

A Salesforce developer is a computer programmer who writes software on a Salesforce CRM platform and other Salesforce cloud technologies. If planning to become a professional Salesforce developer, interviewers may ask you questions about Salesforce development to assess your skills and knowledge. Understanding these interview questions enables you to prepare adequately for the interview and secure the job. In this article, we explore some general, background-related, and in-depth Salesforce developer interview questions, provide sample answers to additional questions you can review before your interview, and explore some tips to help you prepare.

10 general Salesforce developer interview questions

Interviewers can ask general Salesforce developer interview questions to learn more about you and how best you suit their company’s culture. If answering these questions, ensure they depict your understanding of the Salesforce developer role and the organization. Below are 10 general questions to expect in a Salesforce developer interview:

Can you introduce yourself?
What’s your inspiration for becoming a Salesforce developer?
Why did you choose to work here?
In what aspects of Salesforce development are you proficient?
How do you plan to maintain interpersonal and professional relationships at work?
Why did you leave your previous organization?
In what work environment do you work best?
What motivates you at work?
What’s your interpretation of our company’s vision and mission statements?
How can you add value to our company?

10 questions about experience and background

Interviewers can also ask questions regarding your experience and background to develop insights into your educational qualities and experience. Your answers to these questions can help them determine your expertise in Salesforce development. Below are 10 questions to expect from a Salesforce developer interview regarding your experience and background:

Do you have prior experience in Salesforce development?
What object relationships do you use in Salesforce?
What’s SOQL used for?
What Apex best practices do you follow in Salesforce?
In what areas do you hope to improve as a Salesforce developer?
Why did you choose Salesforce development as a career?
What’s a successful Salesforce development career for you?
What experience do you have in managing business projects?
How do you approach the responsibilities of this job using your present education and skill set?
Have you held a leadership role in previous organizations?

10 in-depth interview questions

Interviews often ask in-depth questions to gain further insights into your work style and how you manage different work situations. In-depth questions are open-ended questions that interviewers can modify to fit any role. Here are 10 in-depth interview questions for a Salesforce developer role:

What technique do you use to deploy from a Sandbox to production?
Have you used critical thinking and problem-solving skills to accomplish excellent tasks for a project?
What is the meaning of CRM?
What’s the Lightning Message Service (LMS)?
What are the portals available in Salesforce?
What’s workflow?
What’s the difference between lightning web components and lightning components?
Can you explain the use of a roll-up summary field?
Can you explain the difference between a profile and a role?
Can you discuss the types of object relationships in Salesforce?

6 interview questions with sample answers

Researching Salesforce developer interview questions can help you gain mastery of the skills and concepts needed to prove your expertise. It can also help you prepare clever responses for the interview. Below are six questions an interviewer may ask you as a Salesforce developer:

1. How do users differentiate themselves from others in Salesforce?

Interviewers often ask this question to hear your recommendations on user satisfaction, especially if the role is in customer service. You can answer this question to reflect your ability to create distinct identities and build networks in Salesforce. Ensure you inform your interviewer of any prior and relevant experience creating functional and unique profiles on Salesforce.

Example: “Users build their unique profiles themselves to distinguish themselves from others. User profiles determine their access levels in the Salesforce community. I accepted a role in my former company to create several social media profiles and the process enabled the company to gain over 100,000 followers in two months.”

2. What database architecture is Salesforce based?

Interviewers may ask questions on basic concepts to determine your fundamental theoretical knowledge of Salesforce. Excellently answering this question can convince them of your expertise. Besides answering this question plainly, you can also explain why the database architecture suits Salesforce.

Example: “Salesforce operates on a multi-tenant database architecture. Several users and clients can share a copy of the database. This structure suits Salesforce because it’s simple, highly scalable, affordable, and can accommodate multiple users.”

3. What is a Sandbox?

Interviewers may ask this question to learn your knowledge of wide-used and vital tools in Salesforce. Regardless of the position you hope to fill, knowing Sandbox is crucial. Ensure you answer this question to depict your understanding of special Salesforce functions. You can answer by defining Sandbox, explaining its use, and identifying its different types.

Example: “A Sandbox is an isolated testing environment that allows users to run programs, open files, and test new Visualforce pages apps without affecting the system or platform. In software development, it’s the practice of running, observing, and analyzing code in a safe network environment. Essentially, it allows for safe experimentation with new tools like workflow processes, objects, fields, and page layouts without affecting an existing configuration. The four Sandbox types are Partial Copy, Developer, Full Copy, and Developer Pro, which all vary based on the size and file types they can copy.”

4. What is a custom object in Salesforce?

Interviews can ask this question to discover your Salesforce modification skills. Ensure you respond to the question to demonstrate your knowledge of the configuration and customization tools available to users. You can explain custom objects and how they work extensively. You can also provide a list of custom objects’ available features and functions.

Example: “A custom object in Salesforce is a database table containing company-related data. While user data may not fit into standard objects, they can modify several objects to suit their needs. For example, a logistics service company may customize some objects to store its monthly schedules and dispatch details. You can conduct several tasks using custom objects, such as building custom fields, developing page layouts, and tracking events. Further, you can create custom tabs and share applications.”

5. What are the different ways to lose data in Salesforce?

Interviewers can also ask this simple question to assess how you identify and solve problems. If you understand how data goes missing in Salesforce, you can contribute more effectively to troubleshooting processes. In your answer, describe all the ways you know that data can get lost in Salesforce.

Example: “The different ways to lose data in Salesforce is by altering data and migrating numbers, percentages, or currency from other data types. It also happens by migrating from the multi-select picklist and automated numbers and checkboxes to other data types. Some cases also occur where data goes missing from accidental deletion, bad code, and a SOQL error.”

6. What are Governor limits?

Interviewers can ask this question to discover your understanding of a multi-tenant environment. Ensure you answer this question effectively to demonstrate your knowledge of the vital steps to maintain effective performance in multi-tenant environments. You can explain Governor limits and discuss the different types of Governor limits in Salesforce.

Example: “Governor limits in Salesforce are the runtime limits developed by the Apex code and runtime engine to write scalable and efficient code. They are usage caps enforced by Salesforce to facilitate optimal processing. Salesforce utilizes these runtime limits for ensuring the consistent and efficient performance of its multi-tenant database. The different Governor limits types are per-transaction Apex limits, static Apex limits force.com platform Apex limits, size-specific Apex limits, miscellaneous Apex limits, and static push notification limits and e-mail limits.”

Interview tips

Preparing before you attend any interview is vital to improving your chances of getting the job. Below are some tips to help you prepare for your Salesforce developer interview:

Conduct extensive rehearsals. It’s helpful to gather common Salesforce developer questions and rehearse adequately before the interview. You can conduct this rehearsal with family, friends, and colleagues to identify patterns and trends.
Practise mock interviews. Conducting mock interviews with expert and experienced Salesforce developers can help you even when applying to big tech companies. Mock interviews can improve your interviewing abilities and build confidence.
Prepare for behavioural interviews. It’s crucial to prepare for behavioural interviews to show interviewers that your personality suits the job. You can research behavioural interview questions alongside your general interview preparations.
Write a follow-up after the interview. After an interview, you can thank the interviewers for their time and the opportunity. You can send an e-mail or a handwritten note 24 hours post-interview to show thoughtfulness.