Hello Champs!

Yes, you are a Champ! You are here to prove your ability, which means you are already stepped ahead!

Kudos to your decision and Heartily welcome to the club!!

Let’s rock on with some reading habit and smart working talent!

Before we start reading, can we have a look at the topics and exam details? I think, it really makes sense, when we know – what we need to do before we start anything, right?

Here you go – Platform Developer – 1 Certification (PD1 in short) Exam Guide:

• Content: 60 multiple-choice/multiple-select questions and 5 non-scored questions
• Time allotted to complete the exam: 110 minutes
• Passing score: 65%
• Registration fee: USD 200, plus applicable taxes as required per local law
  Retake fee: USD 100, plus applicable taxes as required per local law
• Delivery options: Proctored exam delivered onsite at a testing center or in an online proctored environment. Click here for information on scheduling an exam.
• References: No hard-copy or online materials may be referenced during the exam.
• Prerequisite: None; course attendance highly recommended

Is it looking easy? Yes, If you are pretty much confident and skilled (Technically).

Outlined Topics:

• Salesforce Fundamentals: 7%
• Data Modeling and Management: 13%
• Process Automation and Logic: 38%
• User Interface: 25%
• Testing, Debugging, and Deployment: 17%

Never mind about the percentages, only if the topics are in your weak list.

Main Content to work on (It’s my preparation format):

• Salesforce Fundamentals (If you are an Admin or already certified Admin – its just a recap)
• Data Modeling and Data Management
• Formulas and Roll-up Summary Fields
• Apex Classes, Triggers, Test Classes
• Save order of execution
• DML, Exceptions and Governor Limits
• Construct in Apex
• SOQL and SOSL
• Visualforce Pages and Controllers
• Lightning Components Framework
• Test (Data, Framework Requirements)
• Debug and Deploy

Let’s dive deep in to each topic!

Champs, grab a cup of coffee and Start (Drinking and Reading 😉 )!!

Salesforce Fundamentals

I will start with a brief on Salesforce and explain important features, you need to be habituate to – while working on Salesforce Platform as a Developer.

Aww! Salesforce – Man! It’s a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool built on cloud platform which gives me OLED performance while navigating with point-to-click functionalities, touch screen features (drag and drop) makes me lazy(few times). I will customize my channels (like Visualforce, Aura Components, Lightning Components) to get my own view of quality and entertaining programs(Applications). Sometimes I get thundering shocks (while coding 😉 ) with its Lightning Web Components (VS Code, Apex, HTML, JS, CSS and XML).

Overall, it’s one ingredient (Salesforce Platform)- with which you will cook your beloved different dishes(Sale, Service, Marketing, Community, Customer 360, Einstein Analytics and more) to taste (Applications) best and make your family(Customers) satisfied.

If I over cooked or dish (My Content) is not good, just leave a comment.

I hope you got some basic idea about Salesforce. Now we will jump into some regular snacks (features and functionalities).

Create a developer edition and log in to it to do some research on Salesforce org(General name of an account in Salesforce). We will dig into it later.

Terminology: Objects, Fields and records. Stick them to your mind, those are the words, you live with in Salesforce.

• Objects – Simply tables to save your data.
• Fields – Columns of your table (Object).
• records – Data in your fields.

That’s it! Looks simple? Yes – it is, if you love something, you will make anything easy to live with it.

We have two types of objects and fields. You get (Standard) within Org and you will create (Custom) in your org.

First do the Trailmixes in Trailhead to understand the environment and functionalities. Here are the resources:

Platform Developer 1 Trailhead Trailmix

Week – 1

Salesforce Fundamentals

• The Force.com Multitenant Architecture
• Visualforce Basics
• Developer Console Basics
• Standard Objects
• Lightning Experience Customization
• Platform Development Basics

Week – 2

Data Modeling and Data Management

• Data Modeling
• Data Management
• Data Security
• Relationships Among Objects

Week – 3

• When to use Data Loader
• Best Practices for Deployments with Large Data Volumes

Formulas and Roll-up Summary Fields

• Formulas & Validations
• Roll-Up Summary Field

Apex Classes, Triggers, Test Classes

• Apex Basics
• Classes, Objects, and Interfaces
• Using Constructors
• Using the Schema Namespace
• Working with sObjects

Week – 4

• Data Manipulation Language
• Exception Handling
• Returned Database Errors
• SOQL and SOSL Queries
• Improve Performance by Avoiding Null Values
• Working with Polymorphic Relationships in SOQL Queries
• SOQL For Loops
• Lists of sObjects
• Sets of Objects
• Describing sObjects Using Schema Method
• Apex Security and Sharing

Week – 5

• Anonymous Blocks
• Triggers (Read about every event in the Triggers)
• Trigger Context Variables
• Triggers and Merge Statements
• Triggers and Order of Execution (Most Important)
• Asynchronous Apex Features (Read all features)
• SOAP Web Services
• REST Web Services
• Apex Email Service

Week – 6

• Debugging Apex (Read both topics in it)
• Testing Apex (Read all)
• Deploying Apex
• Execution Governors and Limits

Visualforce Pages and Controllers

• Visualforce Classes
• Unescaped Output and Formulas in Visualforce Pages
• StandardController Class
• StandardSetController Class
• Action Class
• Message Class
• PageReference Class
• sObjects That Cannot Be Used Together in DML Operations

Week – 7

Lightning Components Framework

• Introduction to the Salesforce Lightning Design System
• Using the Lightning Design System
• Creating Visualforce Pages That Work in Mobile and Desktop
• Build a Custom Controller
• Testing Custom Controllers and Controller Extensions
• SOQL Injection
• Guidelines and Best Practices
• Best Practices for Using Remote Objects
• Using Static Resources

Week – 8

Debug and Deployment Tools

• Debug Log
• Development Tools
  • Developer Console
  • Workbench
  • Force.com IDE
• Deployment Tool Options
• Sandbox Types and Templates

Ready for Exam?

Book your exam now by logging in to your Webassessor Salesforce account, even before you start studying. There’s no better way to drive you to study than booking your exam.

Practice! Practice! Practice!

For the Platform Developer I exam, I highly recommend hands-on time working with code. Trailhead is the best playground to practice your coding skills. Not only will it prepare you for the exam, but it will set you up with valuable skills. When studying, pay attention to limits and numbers.

If you have questions during your exam preparation, please feel free to reach out. I’ll do my best to respond with some help and guidance.