/awesome-salesforce-architect

Salesforce Architect focused list inspired by the awesome list thing

MIT LicenseMIT

awesome-salesforce-architect

Inspired by the awesome-salesforce list

Awesome

I wanted to create something more focused on Salesforce architects rather than tools and frameworks for developers. Architects still need those, and you should definately check out that list.

I really want this list to be as short as possible, with every link below adding some value to your Salesforce Architect journey. If you want to add something then please submit a pull request or even just fork this list for yourself! Links should be current (i.e. a blog or podcast not updated for more than a year is not really 'awesome' content, whereas a well written article from 10 year's ago and still relevant could be)

Table of Contents

Articles for Architects

Resources for Architects

  • Salesforce Architects Site - Offical Architect site with templates and best practices
  • Salesforce Major Release Notes - Salesforce releases a lot of new platform features three times a year. As an architect it is worth to be across them to see what can be part of your org's roadmap

Certifications for Architects

Opinions vary around whether you need to be certified by Salesforce to be an Architect. Some say that only a top certified CTA can speak with authority, and some say they can do their work with no certifications at all. In practice you are going to be helped by archieving some level of certification, as well as learning about platform aspects that you would otherwise not have encountered in your current job:

  • Salesforce Architect Certification Overview - Everything on Trailhead you need to plan your Architect journey, including CAA (Certified Application Architect), CSA (Certified System Architect) and CTA (Certified Technical Architect)
  • Salesforce Architect Trailmixes (filter on Trailmixes) - Comprehensive and free online Trailhead lessons to get you ready for your certification exams. Consensus is that these are a great start, but extra study and experience is ussually needed to pass the architect level exams
  • Focus on Force (PAID) - FoF have good study guides and practice exam questions to get you ready for your Certified Application Architect (CAA) exam
  • TOGAF - the inspiration to Salesforce's new SOGAF framework, and well regarded in its own right. Vendor neutral.
  • MuleSoft - really quite different to the Salesforce platform, but worth learning about as a Salesforce Architect

Blogs

Online Communities

As an Architect it is good to keep your finger on the pulse of the industry. There are not too many forums dedicated solely to Architects, but still a lot to learn from other experiences:

Podcasts

Tools for Architects

  • Salesforce Developer Org - Signup for a free Salesforce Developer environment. You can do most things with this.
  • diagrams.net - Usefull online drawing service that allows you to create UML diagrams. Not Salesforce specific at all. You can build basic diagrams for free, however higher complexity diagrams will require a paid subscription
  • LucidChart announced special (paid) Salesforce diagraming tools at Trailheadx '21

Related Salesforce Products

Salesforce has been investing heavially in aquisitions that are gradually integrating further into their core product. A Salesforce Architect is likely to meet some of these during their career, and worth understanding:

  • MuleSoft - core integration platform, and used in plenty of non-Salesforce environments
  • Tableau - Analytics platform, and already appearing in the core platform as Tableau CRM (merging into the previous Einstien Analytics product)
  • Slack - Collaboration platform, and possibly the future user experience for CRM in the Salesforce stack
  • Marketing Cloud - Email marketing platform for advanced customer engagement
  • Salesforce Industries - Industry specific accelerators for Salesforce, including advanced configuration based data access and forms functionality. Used to be the Vlocity company.
  • Salesforce App Exchange - An Architect should know when 'build your own' is going to be costly, and a proven paid product from the market, certified by Salesforce, is going to be a better strategic fit
  • Heroko - Extend Salesforce with scalable services

Other Vendors

You can't learn everything, but Salesforce seldom exists in isolation. Although keeping everying on one platform is attractive, it is still important to know when to leverage other technology when appropriate:

  • Amazon Web Services - AWS is the 'official' cloud partner to Salesforce, with both companies building connectors between their services
  • Microsoft Azure - Although considered a competitor to Salesforce, the Azure platform is found in many customers and it is completely feasible to integrate services in Salesforce. You can connect to Azure storage, or leverage Azure AD for SSO.
  • Microsoft Office 365 - Microsoft's other cloud service is also pervasive, and Salesforce also offer connectors to OneDrive, Outlook and Teams
  • Google G-Suite - Salesforce also integrates well with Google's office suite