
Ask HN: What Is Salesforce Developer Future? - tehn-r
Hi there,<p>While being an active SFDC developer for the past several years I have been struggling with one question: What future do SFDC devs have? 
I know that Salesforce tries to improve their system from each release, but at some point, you understand that everything is similar - making forms and fighting with limits.  How to improve yourself to be better and more valuable on this market?
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metaloha
The obvious option is to do some extra learning on your own time (or see if
your employer has any programs that are designed to level up their employees)
:)

You might also take yyyk's advice and look for a company that allows you to do
both. If you're in one of the following areas, my company is hiring SF devs
right now :D

Burnaby, BC -
[https://boards.greenhouse.io/goclio/jobs/1740124?gh_src=1a97...](https://boards.greenhouse.io/goclio/jobs/1740124?gh_src=1a97c9b51)

Calgary, AB -
[https://boards.greenhouse.io/goclio/jobs/1816592?gh_src=aca0...](https://boards.greenhouse.io/goclio/jobs/1816592?gh_src=aca064cf1)

Toronto, ON -
[https://boards.greenhouse.io/goclio/jobs/1816593?gh_src=752a...](https://boards.greenhouse.io/goclio/jobs/1816593?gh_src=752a51bf1)

Canada -
[https://boards.greenhouse.io/goclio/jobs/1831417?gh_src=411f...](https://boards.greenhouse.io/goclio/jobs/1831417?gh_src=411ff7e91)

We have offices in Los Angeles and Dublin, Ireland as well and are looking for
good devs right now.

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yyyk
Use your SFDC skills to be accepted in a company that does SalesForce _and_
other more common technologies.

Once you've done some time there working on SalesForce, try to move internally
to another division that does something else. This is significantly easier
than getting accepted from outside in some non-SFDC thing when you have no
official experience in said non-SFDC thing, and you have chances to avoid a
paycut when you make the move.

Yours truly followed a similar road and it worked well. I have now CVable
experience in common technologies, while I have retained my previous skills
and contacts - I could easily move back. Meanwhile, should that software I've
previously worked on have poor sales in country (AFAIK it unfortunately does),
I'm not dependent on the vendor's fortunes but can compete in the mass market.

~~~
tehn-r
I had already done a similar thing by switching from one technology to SFDC.
And now I am wondering how often you have to do it before you really like it.
I am currently looking to move to more independent Technical Consultant. Is
there any dis/advantages of doing it?

~~~
yyyk
Well, the reason I liked my switch was because it was towards a much more
general technology, so it gave me advantages a programmer solely involves in
$SOFTWARE would not have. If I had made that switch going to a different small
pond I might not have been so happy with it at all.

Now, I wrote at length before realising I'm not at all sure what's your intent
behind "more independent Technical Consultant". Does that mean you're open
towards switching jobs from programming towards the more business/human side
of things? (That can be a very good idea depending on what exactly), or does
it mean 'third-party freelance programming' (IMHO, this is very unlikely to
give you enough advantage)?

~~~
tehn-r
Yes. I am thinking to switch toward the business side than technical. At least
I want to try how it will work for me.

~~~
yyyk
Yes, that could definitely work if you have the skills for it.

There are several cases here:

A) The obvious "go into management" option. This isn't any different than
proceeding into management in any other software, with one exception: going
into project management, that requires some particular business skills. If you
can get business familiarity with some particular business type (e.g.
realestate, lending, restaurants, etc.), that's a strong advantage. I'm
familiar with people who went both ways (technical to business or business to
technical), that is doable and profitable.

B) There's the "do user training" option - probably pays less than what you
get now, and you could still be stuck with SFDC in a way. You have to insist
on doing more than that.

C) A friend got involved as an external consultant to a project for a client.
What she did was to look out that the actual implemtators met milestones and
help them translate business requirements into design.

The problem was that her loyalties were divided: she was hired by the client,
but she needed the project to continue to get paid. You need some political
juggling and business sense to be an external consultant (Pro-tip: lean to
$CLIENT's side in that conflict), I'm sure that's way too early for you.

D) I'd like to note for anyone reading this why IMHO being a third-party
freelancer isn't a good idea for OP:

ERP/CRM software for mid-large businesses usually has complex licensing, and
the customization can also be complex. Both of these push businesses to work
with consultancies that do the work (if they're really large or very tech
oriented they may do in house). These consultancies have an existing
relationship with the customer, and do _not_ appreciate having a third party
look and touch their code. I'm guessing that this isn't any different in SFDC-
land.

So the 3rd party is limited to stuff done externally that the consultancy is
too expensive for or doesn't want to take - maybe some BI, reporting, or even
a billing system.

One can set up a business on that, but OP's SFDC knowledge is unlikely to
grant him any advantage vs the many 3rd parties that can do these things
cheaply. Interfacing with the ERP software is by far the lesser part of these
projects, less important than being cheap, knowledge of some common
technologies and being very familiar with the BI or cloud du jour.

------
spatulagames
Get out whilst you can!

