Preparing for a Salesforce developer interview requires a comprehensive understanding of the platform’s core concepts, development tools, and best practices. This article provides a collection of interview questions and answers that are most commonly asked during technical interviews for Salesforce developer positions.
Top Salesforce Developer Interview Questions and Answers
1. What is Cloud Computing and Salesforce’s Service Model?
2. What is a Sandbox and What Are Its Types?
3. Explain Objects and Their Types in Salesforce
4. What Are the Different Types of Object Relationships?
5. What is a Junction Object and When to Use It?
6. Explain Roll-up Summary Fields and Their Limitations
7. What’s the Difference Between Profiles and Permission Sets?
8. Explain Record Sharing Methods in Salesforce
9. What is Data Skew and How to Handle It?
10. Compare Import Wizard and Data Loader
11. What is Cascade Deletion?
12. Explain Audit Fields and Their Importance
13. What Are the Different Types of Flows?
14. How to Handle Flow Errors?
15. What Are Global Variables in Formula Fields?
16. What is a Big Object and When to Use It?
17. Explain Permission Set Groups
18. What is Apex Hammer?
19. Explain the Lead Conversion process. What happens to the original Lead?.
20. How do you convert a 15-digit ID to an 18-digit ID?
21. What is a Permission Set Group, and how does it differ from a single Permission Set?
22. Explain the process of setting up Email Approval Responses in Salesforce.
23. What is the significance of using the “WhoId” and “WhatId” in activities?
24. What considerations should be taken before deleting an approval process?
25. What is the purpose of a Junction Object in Salesforce?
26. How many Lookup Relationship fields can be created on a single object?
27. How can you enable record sharing without using roles or profiles?
28. What happens when you try to delete a public group?
29. What might cause a custom object to be missing in the report builder?
30. Can we show validation errors in a Screen Flow? How?
31. Explain the term “Data Cleansing” in Salesforce and methods to perform it.
32. What are Audit Fields, and how are they used?
33. What is the difference between Object-specific and Global Actions?
34. Explain Report Types and Their Significance
35. What is a Bucket Field in Reports?
36. Dashboard Components and Types
37. API Considerations and Limits
38. External System Integration Methods
39. How to Check Org Release Version
40. Deployment Best Practices
41. Database Performance Optimization
42. Governor Limits Management
43. Error Handling and Debugging
44. Workflow vs Process Builder vs Flow
45. Testing and Quality Assurance
Fundamental Concepts
1. What is Cloud Computing and Salesforce’s Service Model?
Answer: Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services over the internet. Salesforce operates on three service models:
- SaaS (Software as a Service): Ready-to-use applications (like Salesforce CRM)
- PaaS (Platform as a Service): Development platform for custom applications (Force.com)
- IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service): Basic computing infrastructure (Not provided by Salesforce)
2. What is a Sandbox and What Are Its Types?
Answer: A sandbox is a copy of your production environment used for development, testing, and training. Types include:
- Developer Sandbox: Limited data copy, for development and testing
- Developer Pro: Larger data capacity than Developer sandbox
- Partial Copy: Includes sample data and metadata
- Full Sandbox: Complete copy of production org
3. Explain Objects and Their Types in Salesforce
Answer: Objects are database tables that store organization’s data. Types include:
- Standard Objects: Pre-built Salesforce objects (Account, Contact, Lead)
- Custom Objects: User-created objects for specific business needs
- External Objects: Objects that map to data stored outside Salesforce
- Platform Objects: Objects used by the platform (e.g., AsyncApexJob)
Data Modeling & Relationships
4. What Are the Different Types of Object Relationships?
Answer:
- Lookup Relationship: Simple parent-child relationship
- Master-Detail Relationship: Strong parent-child relationship with cascade delete
- Many-to-Many Relationship: Using junction objects
- Self-Relationship: Relationship with the same object
- External Lookup: Relationship to external objects
- Hierarchical Relationship: Special relationship for User object
5. What is a Junction Object and When to Use It?
Answer: A junction object is used to build many-to-many relationships between two objects. It must have:
- Two master-detail relationships
- The two master objects can’t be the same Example: A “Job Application” junction object connecting “Candidate” and “Position” objects.
6. Explain Roll-up Summary Fields and Their Limitations
Answer: Roll-up summary fields calculate values from related records in a master-detail relationship. They can:
- COUNT records
- SUM field values
- Find MIN/MAX values Limitations:
- Only available on master object
- Can’t reference formula fields that reference other objects
- Maximum 25 roll-up fields per object
Security & Sharing
7. What’s the Difference Between Profiles and Permission Sets?
Answer:
- Profiles: Base level of access users need to do their jobs
- Every user must have exactly one profile
- Restrictive approach
- Permission Sets: Additional permissions that extend user’s access
- Users can have multiple permission sets
- Additive approach
- More flexible for managing permissions
8. Explain Record Sharing Methods in Salesforce
Answer: Records can be shared through:
- Organization-Wide Defaults (OWD)
- Role Hierarchy
- Sharing Rules
- Manual Sharing
- Apex Managed Sharing
- Teams (Account, Case, Opportunity teams)
9. What is Data Skew and How to Handle It?
Answer: Data skew occurs when:
- Ownership Skew: Too many records owned by single user
- Lookup Skew: Too many child records related to single parent
- Record Access Skew: Too many sharing records for single record
Solutions:
- Distribute record ownership
- Use custom indexes
- Implement batch processing
- Consider architectural changes
Data Management
10. Compare Import Wizard and Data Loader
Answer: Import Wizard:
- Web-based interface
- Limited to 50,000 records
- Available for standard objects
- No export capability
Data Loader:
- Desktop application
- Up to 5 million records
- Works with all objects
- Supports both import and export
- Supports all CRUD operations
11. What is Cascade Deletion?
Answer: Cascade deletion automatically deletes related child records when a parent record is deleted. Occurs in:
- Master-detail relationships
- Certain standard object relationships
- Configuration-dependent custom object relationships
12. Explain Audit Fields and Their Importance
Answer: Audit fields are system fields that track:
- CreatedDate
- CreatedById
- LastModifiedDate
- LastModifiedById
- SystemModstamp They’re automatically maintained by Salesforce and crucial for tracking record history.
Automation
13. What Are the Different Types of Flows?
Answer:
- Screen Flow: Interactive flows with user interface
- Record-Triggered Flow: Automatically triggered by record changes
- Schedule-Triggered Flow: Runs at specified times
- Platform Event-Triggered Flow: Responds to platform events
- Autolaunched Flow: Runs via Apex or Process Builder
14. How to Handle Flow Errors?
Answer:
- Use fault paths in flows
- Configure fault email notifications
- Implement error handling screens
- Use fault connectors
- Set flow error behavior (roll back or continue)
15. What Are Global Variables in Formula Fields?
Answer: Common global variables include:
- $User (current user information)
- $Organization (org details)
- $Profile (current user’s profile)
- $System (system information)
- $CustomMetadata (custom metadata types)
- PRIORVALUE() (previous value in updates)
Advanced Concepts
16. What is a Big Object and When to Use It?
Answer: Big Objects store and manage massive amounts of data (millions to billions of records) within Salesforce. Use cases:
- Archival data storage
- Regulatory compliance
- Historical trending Example: FieldHistoryArchive is a standard big object
17. Explain Permission Set Groups
Answer:
- Bundle permission sets together
- Activate/deactivate multiple permission sets at once
- Can include muted permissions
- Status can be: Active, Inactive, or In Progress
- Useful for managing complex permission combinations
18. What is Apex Hammer?
Answer: Apex Hammer is a testing service that:
- Runs your org’s tests in both current and next Salesforce release
- Identifies potential issues before release upgrade
- Helps maintain code quality across releases
- Must have 75%+ code coverage to participate
19. Explain the Lead Conversion process. What happens to the original Lead?
Answer:
During Lead Conversion, a Lead becomes an Account, Contact, and optionally an Opportunity. The original Lead is archived and not visible by default.
20. How do you convert a 15-digit ID to an 18-digit ID?
Answer:
You can use the CASESAFEID formula function, which converts 15-digit case-sensitive IDs to 18-digit case-insensitive IDs.
21. What is a Permission Set Group, and how does it differ from a single Permission Set?
Answer:
A Permission Set Group allows multiple Permission Sets to be grouped for easier management and to mute specific permissions without removing the entire set.
22. Explain the process of setting up Email Approval Responses in Salesforce.
Answer:
To enable email approval, admins set up the Approval Process and add response keywords (e.g., Approve, Reject). These keywords let users approve/reject via email.
23. What is the significance of using the “WhoId” and “WhatId” in activities?
Answer:
WhoId refers to a Contact or Lead, while WhatId refers to an Account, Opportunity, or Custom Object, allowing flexible tracking of activities.
24. What considerations should be taken before deleting an approval process?
Answer:
Ensure there are no pending approvals, review impacted records, and consider notifying users who rely on the process to avoid workflow interruptions.
25. What is the purpose of a Junction Object in Salesforce?
Answer:
Junction Objects support many-to-many relationships between two objects, using Master-Detail relationships on each side of the Junction Object.
26. How many Lookup Relationship fields can be created on a single object?
Answer:
Salesforce allows up to 40 Lookup Relationship fields per object.
27. How can you enable record sharing without using roles or profiles?
Answer:
Use Sharing Rules or Manual Sharing for flexible access beyond roles/profiles, or use Queues for group-level record management.
28. What happens when you try to delete a public group?
Answer:
Salesforce prevents deletion if the group is used in sharing rules or approval processes, protecting dependencies.
29. What might cause a custom object to be missing in the report builder?
Answer:
Lack of report type or insufficient permissions on the custom object could prevent visibility in the report builder.
30. Can we show validation errors in a Screen Flow? How?
Answer:
Yes, use custom validations and display error messages through screen elements to guide users.
31. Explain the term “Data Cleansing” in Salesforce and methods to perform it.
Answer:
Data Cleansing removes duplicates, corrects errors, and enriches data using tools like Duplicate Rules and Data Loader.
32. What are Audit Fields, and how are they used?
Answer:
Audit Fields (CreatedDate, CreatedBy) track record creation and modification metadata, essential for data compliance.
33. What is the difference between Object-specific and Global Actions?
Answer:
Object-specific actions apply to specific objects, like creating related records, while Global Actions allow actions across the entire platform, such as creating new records from any page.
Best Practices & Troubleshooting
34. Record ID Conversion (15 to 18 digits)
Answer: To convert 15-digit ID to 18-digit:
- Use CASESAFEID() function in formula fields
- Important for external system integration
- 18-digit IDs are case-insensitive
- Last 3 characters are for case sensitivity
35. Common Validation Rule Considerations
Answer:
- Use ISNEW(), ISCHANGED() appropriately
- Consider record types in validation
- Use PRIORVALUE() for comparing changes
- Handle null values properly
- Consider impact on data loading
Data Access & Reporting
36. Explain Report Types and Their Significance
Answer:
- Define object relationships available for reporting
- Can be standard or custom
- Support up to 4 related objects
- Define which fields are available
- Control how related records are handled
37. What is a Bucket Field in Reports?
Answer:
- Groups related data into categories
- Available in summary and matrix reports
- Can create up to 20 buckets
- Supports text, number, and picklist fields
- Useful for custom categorization
38. Dashboard Components and Types
Answer: Types:
- Static: Same data for all users
- Dynamic: Filtered by viewing user
- Running User: Shows data as specific user Components:
- Charts
- Gauges
- Metrics
- Tables
- Visualforce pages
Integration & API
39. API Considerations and Limits
Answer:
- API call limits based on edition
- SOAP API for complex integrations
- REST API for modern applications
- Bulk API for large data volumes
- Streaming API for real-time updates
40. External System Integration Methods
Answer:
- Web Services (SOAP/REST)
- External Objects
- Canvas Framework
- Platform Events
- Outbound Messages
Deployment & Release Management
41. How to Check Org Release Version
Answer:
- Setup → Company Information
- Check API version in Developer Console
- Use SOQL: SELECT Release FROM Organization
- Important for feature availability
- Helps in planning deployments
42. Deployment Best Practices
Answer:
- Use change sets or metadata API
- Deploy to sandbox first
- Run all tests in production
- Create backup of customizations
- Document all changes
Performance & Optimization
43. Database Performance Optimization
Answer:
- Use selective queries
- Implement proper indexing
- Avoid filter predicates on formula fields
- Use efficient SOQL queries
- Implement bulk patterns
44. Governor Limits Management
Answer:
- Monitor Apex heap size
- Use bulk patterns in triggers
- Implement async processing
- Cache frequently used data
- Optimize SOQL queries
45. Error Handling and Debugging
Answer:
- Use try-catch blocks
- Implement proper logging
- Use Debug Logs
- Monitor debug logs
- Implement error emails
46. Workflow vs Process Builder vs Flow
Answer: Workflow:
- Simple field updates
- Email alerts
- Task creation
- Outbound messages
Process Builder:
- Complex field updates
- Create records
- Post to Chatter
- Submit for approval
Flow:
- Complex logic
- User interaction
- Multiple object updates
- Complex automation
47. Testing and Quality Assurance
Answer:
- Write comprehensive test classes
- Maintain 75%+ code coverage
- Use proper test data
- Test bulk scenarios
- Implement proper assertions
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