Salesforce Associate Certification - who is it really for?
Earlier this week Salesforce announced a brand new credential, one which has in many ways changed the landscape of Salesforce Certificates. If you’ve been on Salesforce LinkedIn this week you’ve probably seen that every second post is someone celebrating their completion of the newest Salesforce certification - the Salesforce Associate. (Congratulations to all of you by the way). Why is this credential so popular? How is it different previous certifications? Who is going to benefit from it?
Like all the best questions there is no single correct answer.
Historically when Salesforce releases new credentials they serve one of two purposes. Either to address and validate knowledge in a new service offering; or to focus on a specific niche of Salesforce (like the recent UX designer, or Strategy Designer.) This time Salesforce has gone the other direction, offering a credential for users who aren’t Admins/Developers/Architects/etc. Instead of focusing on depth on the platform they’ve focused on breadth, providing a credential that confirms users awareness of roles involved in Salesforce, and the Customer 360 suite of products.
It’s Day One popularity is due to two primary reasons. Firstly, those with experience in the platform (or even those close to taking their Administrator Certification) will have the knowledge required to take this test without any further study. Further, it is the cheapest certificate to date at $75USD, with a lower total number of questions, and a lower passing score. You can find the full Exam Guide here. There are many reasons why people have chosen to take this credential ranging from FOMO; increasing their total number of certificates for the resume pad; or curiosity for this new credential direction from Salesforce.
Personally, I think everyone involved or interested in the Salesforce platform can benefit from this certificate and the knowledge needed to pass it. It can benefit Power Users and help them provide feedback for their Salesforce instance in a language more uniform to their Admin/Architects/etc. It can benefit Salesforce Recruiters, and Users who are new to the platform and want to understand its scope. For those on their journey to becoming a Salesforce Admin this is an excellent stepping stone between entering the ecosystem and getting Admin Certified.
For myself? I sat the exam and passed 10 minutes later. I choose to sit the test for one reason - namely, that when someone asks me what the best way is to get started in the Salesforce ecosystem I can say with confidence:
Go become a certified Salesforce Associate.
See you on the Trail.