I’ve been a Salesforce admin for eight years, but I never bothered to get certified before now. I wasn’t looking to change jobs and I figured there was no reason to get a certification. It wouldn’t do much to help me with my work and wouldn’t matter to my colleagues.
At least, that’s what I thought.
Now I’m on the other side of the exam, certification in hand. (Well, not my actual hand, but my Google drive, my LinkedIn page, and… you get it.) After planning, studying, and passing the exam, my perspective has totally shifted. So why did I bother?
Get a Job
Perhaps the most obvious reason is for your career. Lots of people with more experience and authority than me have written about how certifications help you get a job and make more money. From what I’ve seen, nearly every job listing for a Salesforce admin, developer, or other role requires a certification. So getting certified, especially getting that first certification, can make all the difference in getting hired.
Build Skills
What really gets me excited, though, is the skill-building. Over the last eight years, I learned most of my Salesforce skills in order to solve a specific problem that was right in front of me. Want to standardize opportunity names? Learn how to do it with Process Builder. Need to build a volunteer application? Try out Web-to-Lead.
I think this is a great way to learn. Everything you learn is immediately applicable to your work. And by focusing on a real-world need, you cement those skills through hands-on experience.
In contrast, getting a Salesforce certification requires a broad understanding of the platform. Each exam covers a range of topics, sometimes getting into really specific features. To prepare, you need to learn all of it, even the parts you’ve never used in your job.
Or perhaps I should say the parts you haven’t used in your job—yet. You may learn something that will help with your next project or your next job. You may learn about a feature you would have used last year, if only you’d known it existed.
These two styles of learning—hands-on, use-case-specific learning and more general study—complement each other really well. Together, they give you a thorough understanding of how Salesforce works. And when you’re planning changes to your org, that understanding gives you the confidence that you are making the right choices and recommendations.
Go For It
I’m hardly alone in this opinion. I see people posting their certificates on LinkedIn and Twitter every day. But if you’re on the fence? I say go for it. It’s an investment of time, but it’s time well spent. If your experience is like mine, you’ll see rewards as soon as you start studying. Check out the certification overviews, pick your trail on Trailhead, and get started.