Key Points of This Article

Certified Platform Developer I is the basic certification for Salesforce developers. Even for experienced programmers, understanding Salesforce-specific rules (such as Governor Limits) is essential.

  • • Basics of Apex, Visualforce, and Lightning Web Components (LWC) are tested
  • • Possible to take without Administrator certification, but advantageous to have it
  • • Understanding unique concepts like Governor Limits and Test Classes is the key to passing
  • • After passing, you can aim for higher certifications like Developer II or Architect

Overview

One of the most in-demand Salesforce certifications in system development projects is ” Salesforce Certified Platform Developer I .” This certification, which proves the ability to implement programs for custom applications, greatly increases your market value as an engineer.

In this article, I will explain the difficulty of the exam, the scope of the questions, and efficient learning methods.

Salesforce Certification Complete Map

1. What is Certified Platform Developer I?

It is the successor to the certification previously called “Certified Developer,” but with content more specialized in programming (Apex/LWC) . While declarative development (clicking settings) is also included in the scope, the main focus is “development by code.”

Target Audience

  • People with programming experience in Java, C#, Python, etc., who want to start Salesforce development
  • People who want to implement requirements that cannot be realized with Salesforce standard features

2. Exam Difficulty and Points

Difficulty: ★★★★☆ (Slightly difficult to difficult)

You cannot pass with general programming knowledge alone. Since Salesforce employs a “multi-tenant architecture,” whether you understand the rules (Governor Limits) to not monopolize resources is strictly tested.

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What's difficult:
  • Governor Limits : Best practices such as not issuing SOQL inside a loop.
  • Apex Triggers : Understanding the Order of Execution in save processing.
  • Test Classes : Not only the requirement of 75% or more code coverage, but also how to write appropriate assertions (System.assert).

3. Key Areas of the Exam Scope

① Apex Basics and Database Operations (Important)

Data retrieval using SOQL/SOSL, DML operations, and exception handling methods. Collection operations such as List, Set, Map frequently appear.

② Process Automation and Logic

Judgment criteria such as “When should Apex be used and when should Flow be used?” are tested. If it can be solved without writing code, that is often the correct answer.

③ User Interface (LWC / Visualforce)

In recent exams, the weight of Lightning Web Components (LWC) has become higher than Visualforce. In addition to basic knowledge of HTML/JavaScript, LWC-specific event communication, etc., are in scope.

4. Learning Roadmap for Success

1

Solidify Programming Foundations

Learn basics of an object-oriented language like Java. Apex has a syntax very similar to Java.

2

Trailhead Preparation Trail

Complete official learning path. Hands-on tasks like Apex Specialist Superbadge are key.

3

Practice Reading Code

Practice answering what will be the execution result of short code snippets to increase speed.

5. Career Path

After obtaining Developer I, you can aim for even higher heights.

  • Platform Developer II : More advanced asynchronous processing and performance tuning.
  • JavaScript Developer I : JS skills specialized in LWC development.
  • System Architect related : Development lifecycle, identity management, etc.

Summary

If you are starting a career as a Salesforce engineer, start with this certification. Understand the boundary between “what can be done with standard features” and “what should be done with code,” and aim to be a developer who can provide optimal solutions.

# Salesforce # Developer # Development # Apex # Certification