Before getting off with Salesforce.com

A beginner in Salesforce?? No need to fret…just read on: 

Now, the next question that comes to mind after a brief introduction (previous post)  about the salesforce.com is: Will you be able to get through? And What are the things that you will be facing?

As they say a known devil is always better than an unknown devil! The purpose of this post is not to scare you but to give you an Idea of exciting and not so exciting things that you would get to see, learn and implement in salesforce.com . A salesforce.com programmer is one of the best quality programmers as he needs to know the architecture, database, programming languages and designing of applications. So you actually get to implement all spheres of the web and the things that you might have learned during your college days.

The salesforce.com platform can be divided into two categories for developers:

• Customization

• Programming 

Customization is the initial step to get going with salesforce.com. It uses point and click principal to perform operations. It comprises of creating objects (tables with columns to store records), creation of users (people who would use the application), profiles (setting for the application that the user would use) and roles (a hierarchy into which the users fall and functionalities associated with them). Security features also come under the customization. Most of the basic tasks can be performed using customization. Customization plays a very important role and lays the foundation for any programming.

Programming knowledge should be enhanced on acquiring a strong knowledge of customization. That is what I would recommend personally. An added advantage would be the knowledge of any Oops language, although it is not a compulsion. We would use the programming techniques when the provided features of salesforce.com are incapable to achieve its goal. Apex and Visualforce are the two programming languages that one will work on. 

Any query or suggestion is most welcome!

Written By : - Er. Anup Prakash (anup@forceapp.biz) (Certified Developer).

Edited By : - Er. Akbar Ali Khan (uckbarr@yahoo.co.in) (Mechanical Engineer)