What is this episode all about?
In this episode, we will be diving into the Salesforce certification world and discussing what a Salesforce certification is, how you can get the certification, and why you should get the certification. The point of this episode is to get into the details surrounding the preparation for your certification and what you can expect after you become certified. What study guide can I trust? Is it appropriate for my company to cover the cost? And most importantly to everyone out there, will I get a salary bump? These are common questions that people ask but may struggle to find the answers to.
Boys & Girls we made it to episode 2 which is crazy to me. In this episode I bought a mic and used it, the audio seemed like the same lol but I did buy a mic to try and improve the quality for all of you. I added an intro which was a straight HOOK, in my opinion, annnnnd I added some transition music in this one so were getting there. Slowly by slowing this will hopefully get better and better for people listening. As I stated in my episode, the point of all this is to tackle so FAQ in the Salesforce world so if you have questions feel free to DM me on LinkedIn. Okay, let's move on to the breakdown of this thing.
#1 What is a Salesforce Certification
Definition: Salesforce Certifications are a benchmark that recognize the skills, expertise, and real-world know-how of today's cloud specialists.
Multiple Choice Exam (60 Questions)
The big takeaway here is that these more often than not are "Select All That Apply". In other words, its an all or nothing system and you HAVE to get all of them right to get the full point or you miss it completely. These questions are also NOT limited to just 4 choices like most multiple-choice exams. They will be spicing things up and some will have like 5 or 6 so prepare for that.
23 total exams (Roles)
The point of these certifications is to test your knowledge in a specific role so all of these certs are set up for different roles you can have in Salesforce. They have your admin ones, they have your dev ones, they have your consultant ones, and so on and so forth.
Proctored Exam
Salesforce certifications will be proctored. You have two options. One, you can go to an onsite location in your area which is typically a testing center or a college and someone will be watching you as you take the test. Two, you can choose to take this test remotely. If you take it remotely make sure that you review all of the things that you need to do to make sure you don't disqualify yourself (clutter around the area, people walking by, loud testing area, etc)
Cost
Expect to pay $200 per certification and some if you buy the study guide and practice exams
#2 How to Get a Certification?
Trailhead
The place to physically go and schedule your certification will be found on a website called Kyterion that looks like it was made in 1999. The easier route to get here will be through your trailhead account by clicking on the "Certification" tab.
Study Guides
I personally recommend going to Focus on Force to get your study guide and practice exams. They will cost you a total of $40 altogether or $20 apiece. It's well worth it in my opinion and I review more of those details in the podcast below. If you choose to go the free route like Quizlet or just googling what pops up, I am sure you can find some solid stuff out there but keep in mind you are going with a free option. Typically when you go with a free option you are not going to get the same quality as you would with a paid option.
#3 Why Should I Get a Certification?
For this section, I would tune in to the podcast but some of my biggest reasons for getting one is proving your knowledge. If you know how to do something well, you should pay a minimal fee of $200 to get it done so that future employers and current employers know you know the best practices and can apply it to business applications. The next reason here is that you WILL see a salary increase. That may not be right away but right around 50% of people said they did after getting one and as I mentioned in the podcast, that question on the survey is a little skewed so I would believe that number to be higher. The certification is going to give you more leverage for sure. Lastly, if you want to get discovered by potential employers they are searching on Linkedin by keywords like "Salesforce Certified Admin California" and what is going to pop up? A certified Salesforce admin living in California. If you don't have that on your profile, what do you think your chances are of being found? I say slim.
Comments