Salesforce Architects are some of the most in-demand experts in the Salesforce ecosystem. Responsible for mapping the structure and function of Salesforce solutions, architects ensure companies can make the most of their Salesforce investment.
With a career as a Salesforce architect, you can open the door to endless lucrative and fulfilling job opportunities and develop transferrable leadership skills. Over the last five years, the demand for Salesforce architects has achieved a 1,292% annual growth rate.
The question is, how do you position yourself as the perfect professional for your new career? Here’s everything you need to know about becoming a fantastic Salesforce architect.
Defining the Types of Salesforce Architects
The first step in becoming a successful Salesforce architect is knowing the different types of roles you can explore. The job of an architect can be extremely varied, depending on whether you’re interested in integrated systems, overseeing projects, or something else entirely.
The common types of Salesforce architect include:
- Salesforce solution architect: Responsible for managing everything within Salesforce, from data modelling and migration to declarative automation, deployments, and environment management. Salesforce solution architects ensure everything fits together perfectly.
- Enterprise architects: Enterprise architects are involved in overseeing all other architects in a team. These professionals need exceptional leadership skills and fantastic organisational abilities.
- Technical architects: Responsible for managing how data goes in and out of Salesforce, technical architects help with multi-component solutions, using code in Salesforce, designing APIs, and data migration.
- Data architects: Salesforce data architects focus exclusively on defining and designing the data architecture in your Salesforce environment. They’re dedicated to ensuring scalability and security for your system.
- Transformation architects: Committed to defining the target operating model, skill sets, and resources required in a transformation project, transformation architects help companies evolve.
You can learn more about the Salesforce architect journey through resources like @SalesforceArchs, Salesforce Architect Digital, and the Salesforce architect blog.
What Makes a Great Salesforce Architect? The Right Certifications
While a Salesforce architect role can fall into a number of different categories, most architects will need to be capable enough to perform in any role. These professionals are digital advisors and team leaders, capable of solving problems on a scalable level.
To prove yourself to potential employers, there are various certification paths you can consider. For instance, you could get:
- The Salesforce Certified Technical Architect: This certification prepares you to solve complex large-scale customer challenges and produce scalable, secure solutions.
- Salesforce Certified Solution Architect (B2B or B2C): This certification helps you develop the skills you need to develop multi-cloud solutions for B2B or B2C companies.
- System architect: The System Architect certificate looks at off-platform systems, integration, and ensuring secure access and governance between systems.
A range of Salesforce certifications will highlight your knowledge of the Salesforce ecosystem while demonstrating your ability to thrive in an architect position.
What Makes a Great Salesforce Architect? Traits
Outside of getting the right certifications for a position as a Salesforce architect, you’ll also need to demonstrate a number of essential traits. As a Salesforce architect in any role, you’ll need to be able to act as a visionary for the business, building systems with scalability and security in mind.
You’ll be an ambassador for the adoption of new technology and an expert at big-picture planning and forward-thinking design. Salesforce architects are trusted advisors and leaders who partner with business stakeholders to design architectural solutions to business problems.
Some of the most important traits you’ll need to demonstrate include:
Leadership
As a Salesforce architect, you’ll be responsible for taking the lead in your projects from start to finish. You’ll be responsible for creating Proof of Concept ideas to explain your vision to the team and controlling the outcome of your projects with constant guidance.
To build your leadership experience for an architect position, it’s worth looking into opportunities to take the lead on small projects within your team. You can also ask for recommendations from colleagues and team members when you complete a project on LinkedIn to help highlight your skills and expertise.
Communication
Since you’ll be responsible for working with stakeholders and other team members on a constant basis, communication skills will be essential to your role as a Salesforce architect. You’ll need to be able to translate complex concepts into ideas the rest of the team can understand.
It’s also the job of the Salesforce architect to get buy-in for new investments and projects, so your persuasion skills will need to be excellent too. You may even need to learn how to resolve common customer support issues by working with clients.
Passion
A clear appreciation for the Salesforce ecosystem is useful in any environment within this space. As a Salesforce architect, your passion will help you continue pursuing further education and experience as the Salesforce technology landscape evolves.
Even after achieving your architect certifications, you’ll need to be prepared to constantly update and improve your knowledge. Developing a growth mindset and joining various Salesforce communities to help you stay up-to-date with the latest changes will be useful in this regard.
Excellent Organisation
Planning and organisation are essential in the development of any successful project. Salesforce architects need to be able to look at the bigger picture of a project and determine exactly how much time and which resources are required to ensure success.
In this position, you’ll likely also be responsible for guiding other members of your team towards success, which could include assigning deadlines and helping them manage their own schedules.
Adaptability
As mentioned above, the ever-evolving nature of Salesforce means you’ll need to be able to manage and lead the way on a wide range of different projects with different goals. Being able to adapt to suit different needs and clients is crucial.
As a Salesforce architect, you’ll benefit from an agile approach to work that allows you to pivot quickly, think outside of the box, and solve many problems for your clients and business leaders.
Do you have what it takes to be a Salesforce architect? If so, start your journey by having a conversation 📞☎ with one of the ROD team this week.
Thanks
Lee
P.S. You can see just some of the current Salesforce Architect roles we have here.
About Resource on Demand
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We assist innovative and disruptive organisations in growing their technology teams. Supporting companies to fill Cloud roles across the growing Salesforce.com suite of skills.
The team at Resource On Demand have access to an extensive database of key talent, registering over 8000 Cloud professionals each year.
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