Top Salesforce Developer Interview Questions and Answers for 2024

As Salesforce continues to be the leading customer relationship management (CRM) platform, the demand for skilled Salesforce developers has increased significantly. To succeed in a Salesforce developer interview, candidates need a solid grasp of Salesforce’s programming languages, data models, and platform-specific functionalities. Here are the top Salesforce developer interview questions for 2024, with unique answers to help you stand out.

1. What is Apex, and why is it important in Salesforce development?

Answer: Apex is Salesforce’s proprietary programming language, similar to Java, designed for executing backend operations on the Salesforce platform. It’s essential in Salesforce development because it allows developers to write custom business logic, create custom controllers, build complex transaction flows, and automate various tasks. Apex is used for tasks like triggers, asynchronous processing, batch jobs, and custom integrations, making it a powerful tool for customizing and extending Salesforce beyond its out-of-the-box capabilities.

Tip: Demonstrate familiarity with recent changes in Apex, like asynchronous improvements or any new syntax features from the Winter ’24 update, to show you stay current.

2. What are Governor Limits in Salesforce, and how do they affect development?

Answer: Governor Limits are restrictions enforced by Salesforce to ensure that system resources are used efficiently on its multi-tenant platform. These limits cap the resources a single transaction can consume, covering aspects like database queries (SOQL), CPU time, heap size, and DML statements. Exceeding these limits can lead to runtime errors, so developers must carefully optimize their code to remain within these limits.

To show expertise, you could add examples of common practices to avoid hitting Governor Limits, such as using for loops effectively, avoiding nested SOQL queries, and using collections to handle data efficiently.

3. Explain the difference between Trigger and Workflow in Salesforce. When would you use a Trigger over a Workflow Rule?

Answer: Triggers are pieces of Apex code that run automatically when specific database events (such as insertions, updates, or deletions) occur. They can handle complex logic and access data from multiple objects, making them suitable for intricate requirements.

Workflow Rules, on the other hand, are declarative automation tools designed to handle simpler actions, like sending email alerts, updating fields, or creating tasks, based on specified criteria.

You would use a Trigger when you need more complex logic that Workflow Rules cannot handle, such as updating related records across multiple objects or handling specific before/after operations.

4. What are Visualforce and Lightning Components, and how do they differ?

Answer: Visualforce is a Salesforce markup language that allows developers to create custom user interfaces using standard web technologies. Visualforce pages are server-side rendered, which means they’re built and processed on the server before being sent to the user’s browser.

Lightning Components represent Salesforce’s modern, client-side framework for building dynamic, mobile-friendly applications. Lightning Components leverage JavaScript and the Lightning Design System to provide a responsive, interactive experience. They are preferred for more interactive, SPA-style applications in Salesforce.

For 2024, note that Salesforce is increasingly encouraging the use of Lightning Components over Visualforce due to better performance and compatibility with the Lightning Experience.

5. How do you handle asynchronous processing in Salesforce, and why is it necessary?

Answer: In Salesforce, asynchronous processing is essential for handling operations that require extended processing time or would otherwise exceed Governor Limits in synchronous execution. Salesforce provides several options for asynchronous processing:

• Future Methods: Used for simple asynchronous calls, allowing operations to be pushed to the background.
• Batch Apex: Allows large data operations to be broken into smaller chunks, ideal for handling bulk processing.
• Queueable Apex: Offers more control over jobs than Future Methods and can chain jobs.
• Scheduled Apex: Executes at specified intervals, commonly used for periodic maintenance tasks.

It’s important to know when each type is appropriate. For example, you’d use Batch Apex for processing millions of records, while Future Methods might be sufficient for simpler tasks like making a web service call.

6. What is a SOQL query, and what are some best practices for writing efficient SOQL?

Answer: SOQL (Salesforce Object Query Language) is Salesforce’s query language for retrieving data from Salesforce objects. It’s similar to SQL but optimized for Salesforce’s data model.

Best practices for writing efficient SOQL include:

• Query only the fields you need to reduce data load.
• Use indexed fields in your WHERE clauses to speed up query performance.
• Avoid SOQL queries inside loops to prevent exceeding Governor Limits.
• Use LIMIT statements to control the number of returned records.

Knowing how to optimize SOQL is crucial because poorly written queries can result in Governor Limit exceptions or slower page performance.

7. What are Apex Design Patterns, and why are they important in Salesforce development?

Answer: Apex Design Patterns are best-practice templates for solving common development challenges in Salesforce, improving code readability, maintainability, and efficiency. Some popular patterns include:

• Singleton Pattern: Ensures a single instance of a class is used throughout the application, often for global settings or utilities.
• Factory Pattern: Creates objects based on given criteria, useful for dynamically instantiating classes.
• Service Layer Pattern: Separates business logic from presentation, improving modularity and reusability.

Demonstrating familiarity with these patterns shows that you understand how to write scalable and organized code, an essential skill in Salesforce development.

8. Describe the difference between a Master-Detail Relationship and a Lookup Relationship.

Answer: In a Master-Detail Relationship, the child record is dependent on the parent record, meaning that deleting the parent will also delete all child records (cascade deletion). This type of relationship also allows the child record to inherit the sharing settings of the parent.

A Lookup Relationship is a looser association, where the child record can exist independently of the parent. Deleting the parent does not affect the child record.

Knowing when to use each type is crucial for effective data modeling in Salesforce, especially as complex relationships can impact data visibility and security.

9. What are Custom Metadata Types, and how do they differ from Custom Settings?

Answer: Custom Metadata Types store application configuration information and can be packaged and deployed across Salesforce orgs. Unlike Custom Settings, Custom Metadata Types are metadata-driven and are accessible in production environments without modification.

Custom Metadata Types are better suited for configurations that need to be deployed or versioned, whereas Custom Settings are useful for storing simple data specific to each environment.

10. What is the use of Test Classes in Salesforce, and what are best practices for writing them?

Answer: Test Classes in Salesforce are essential for validating code functionality and meeting Salesforce’s code coverage requirement of 75% for deployment to production.

Best practices for writing Test Classes include:

• Use System.assert statements to verify outcomes.
• Use Test Setup methods to prepare common data.
• Write tests for both positive and negative cases.
• Avoid using seeAllData=true to ensure tests are isolated.

Proper testing practices ensure that your code is robust and does not break when deployed to production.

11. What is an Apex Trigger?

Answer: An Apex Trigger is a piece of code that executes before or after certain record changes, like insertions or deletions.

12. What is the Lightning Web Component (LWC)?

Answer: LWC is a modern framework for building UI components in Salesforce using standard web technologies, providing a faster and more efficient experience.

13. What is a Roll-Up Summary Field?

Answer: A Roll-Up Summary Field calculated values (like counts, sums, or averages) on a parent object based on related child records.

14. What is Dynamic Apex?

Answer: Dynamic Apex allows developers to write flexible code that can adapt to changes in schema, like querying fields dynamically.

15. What is the use of @future annotation in Apex?

Answer: The @future annotation is used to run methods asynchronously, allowing code execution in the background.

Final Tips for Salesforce Developer Interviews

Staying current with the latest Salesforce updates and understanding the salesforce developer course online and technical aspects of development on the platform are key to impressing in interviews. Showcasing hands-on experience and familiarity with best practices for efficient coding and platform limitations can set you apart as a candidate.