Top 25 Salesforce Interview Questions and Answers for Experienced Professionals

List of 25 essential Salesforce interview questions and answers tailored for experienced professionals, covering advanced concepts in administration, development, integration, and architecture:

---

1. What is the difference between a Profile and a Permission Set?

Answer:

• Profile: Defines a user’s baseline permissions (object/field access, login hours, etc.). A user can have only one profile.
• Permission Set: Extends permissions without changing the profile (e.g., granting temporary access to a custom object). A user can have multiple permission sets.
  Best Practice: Use permission sets for granular access control to avoid profile sprawl .

---

2. Explain Governor Limits in Salesforce. How do you handle them?

Answer:
Governor limits enforce platform scalability (e.g., 100 SOQL queries/transaction). Mitigation strategies:

• Bulkify code: Process records in collections, not loops.
• Asynchronous Apex: Use @future, Batch Apex, or Queueable for large datasets.
• Caching: Store frequently used data in static variables .

---

3. What is a Trigger Framework? Why is it important?

Answer:
A trigger framework (e.g., Trigger Handler Pattern) separates logic from triggers for:

• Maintainability: Centralized logic in handler classes.
• Reusability: Avoids redundant code.
• Testability: Simplifies unit testing.
  Example: One trigger per object delegating to handler methods .

---

4. Compare Master-Detail vs. Lookup Relationships.

Answer:

Master-Detail	Lookup
Child records deleted if parent is deleted (cascade delete).	No cascade delete.
Roll-up summary fields possible.	No roll-up summaries.
Ownership inherited from parent.	Ownership independent.
Use lookup for optional relationships; master-detail for strong dependencies .

---

5. How do you bulkify an Apex Trigger?

Answer:

• Avoid SOQL/DML in loops. Use collections:

trigger AccountTrigger on Account (before update) {
    List<Contact> contactsToUpdate = new List<Contact>();
    for (Account acc : Trigger.new) {
        if (acc.Active__c) {
            contactsToUpdate.add(new Contact(AccountId = acc.Id, Status__c = 'Active'));
        }
    }
    update contactsToUpdate;
}

• Leverage Trigger.newMap and Trigger.oldMap for efficient record access .

---

6. What are Platform Events? When would you use them?

Answer:
Platform Events enable pub/sub messaging for real-time integration. Use cases:

• Decoupled systems: Notify external apps (e.g., ERP) of Salesforce data changes.
• Microservices: Trigger serverless functions (e.g., AWS Lambda).
  Example: Emit an event when an Opportunity closes, updating a dashboard .

---

7. Explain the Order of Execution in Salesforce.

Answer:
Key phases:

1. Validation Rules → 2. Before Triggers → 3. System Validations → 4. DML → 5. After Triggers → 6. Assignment Rules → 7. Auto-Response Rules.
   Pro Tip: Avoid mixed DML errors by scheduling async operations for user/record updates .

---

8. What is Lightning Web Components (LWC)? How does it differ from Aura?

Answer:

• LWC: Modern, standards-based (Web Components), faster performance, smaller bundle size.
• Aura: Legacy framework, heavier, uses proprietary syntax.
  Migration: Salesforce recommends LWC for new development .

---

9. Describe Salesforce DX and CI/CD best practices.

Answer:
Salesforce DX streamlines DevOps with:

• Scratch Orgs: Ephemeral environments for testing.
• Version Control: Git integration for metadata.
• CI/CD Pipelines: Tools like Jenkins/Copado for automated deployments.
  Best Practice: Use unlocked packages for modular deployments .

---

10. How do you debug a complex performance issue in Salesforce?

Answer:

• Tools: Developer Console logs, Execution Overview, Salesforce Inspector.
• Optimize:
• SOQL selectivity (indexed fields).
• Avoid view state issues in Visualforce.
• Use LIMIT in queries .

---

11. What are Custom Metadata Types? Compare them to Custom Settings.

Answer:

Custom Metadata	Custom Settings
Deployable (packaged).	Not deployable (org-specific).
Supports relationships.	No relationships.
Use metadata for environment-agnostic configs (e.g., API endpoints) .

---

12. Explain Sharing Rules vs. Role Hierarchy.

Answer:

• Role Hierarchy: Grants access to records based on hierarchy (e.g., managers see subordinates’ records).
• Sharing Rules: Extend access beyond hierarchy (e.g., share Accounts with a Public Group).
  Note: OWD (Org-Wide Defaults) set the baseline .

---

13. What is Apex Managed Sharing?

Answer:
Programmatic record sharing using Share objects (e.g., AccountShare). Use cases:

• Dynamic sharing based on complex logic.
• Replacing manual sharing for scalability .

---

14. How do you integrate Salesforce with an external REST API?

Answer:

1. Named Credentials: Secure endpoint storage.
2. Apex HTTP Callouts:

HttpRequest req = new HttpRequest();
req.setEndpoint('callout:Named_Credential/api/data');
req.setMethod('GET');
HttpResponse res = new Http().send(req);

3. Error Handling: Retry logic for timeouts .

---

15. What is Batch Apex? Provide a use case.

Answer:
Batch Apex processes large datasets asynchronously in chunks. Example:

global class CleanupBatch implements Database.Batchable<sObject> {
    global Database.QueryLocator start(Database.BatchableContext bc) {
        return Database.getQueryLocator('SELECT Id FROM Account WHERE Inactive__c = true');
    }
    global void execute(Database.BatchableContext bc, List<Account> scope) {
        delete scope;
    }
    global void finish(Database.BatchableContext bc) {
        System.debug('Batch completed');
    }
}

Use for data cleanup or nightly jobs .

---

16. Compare SOQL vs. SOSL.

Answer:

SOQL	SOSL
Queries single objects (like SQL).	Full-text search across multiple objects.
Uses SELECT with filters.	Uses FIND with RETURNING.
Example SOSL:

FIND 'Acme*' IN ALL FIELDS RETURNING Account(Name), Contact(LastName)

.

---

17. What are Lightning Data Service (LDS) benefits?

Answer:

• Performance: Client-side caching reduces server calls.
• Security: Respects FLS/Sharing Settings.
• Consistency: Single source of truth for records .

---

18. How do you handle errors in Async Apex (e.g., Queueable)?

Answer:

• Implement Database.AllowsCallouts for callout retries.
• Log errors to custom objects or Platform Events.
• Use System.enqueueJob with transaction finalizers .

---

19. What is a Junction Object? Provide an example.

Answer:
A custom object linking two master-detail relationships (e.g., Course Enrollment linking Student and Course). Enables many-to-many relationships .

---

20. Explain the use of with sharing vs. without sharing in Apex.

Answer:

• with sharing: Enforces user’s FLS/sharing rules (default for controllers).
• without sharing: Bypasses sharing rules (use cautiously for admin ops) .

---

21. What are Platform Cache strategies?

Answer:

• Session Cache: User-specific (e.g., frequently accessed records).
• Org Cache: Shared across users (e.g., reference data).
  Limit: 10MB/org (Enterprise Edition) .

---

22. How do you design a scalable Salesforce architecture?

Answer:

• Data Model: Avoid data skew (e.g., limit child records per parent).
• Async Processing: Use Queueable for complex logic.
• Governor Limits: Monitor with Salesforce Health Check .

---

23. What are Change Data Capture (CDC) use cases?

Answer:

• Real-time Sync: Stream record changes to external systems.
• Audit Logs: Track field history without triggers.
  Subscribe via PushTopic or CometD .

---

24. Compare Process Builder vs. Flow.

Answer:

Process Builder	Flow
Simple point-and-click automation.	Supports complex logic (loops, screens).
No user interaction.	Screen Flows for UIs.
Best Practice: Migrate to Flows (Process Builder is deprecated) .

---

25. How do you secure a Salesforce org?

Answer:

• Authentication: MFA, OAuth 2.0.
• Data: Field-Level Security (FLS), Encryption (Shield).
• Monitoring: Login IP Ranges, Event Logs .

---

Top 25 Salesforce Interview Questions and Answers for Experienced Professionals

Mastering Salesforce: 25 Must-Know Interview Q&As for Advanced Admins, Developers, and Architects

25 Advanced Salesforce Interview Questions for Seasoned Professionals

Ace Your Salesforce Interview: 25 Expert-Level Questions and Answers

Salesforce Interview Guide: 25 Essential Questions for Experienced Candidates in Admin, Dev & Architecture

TAGS : Salesforce, #SalesforceInterview, #SalesforceAdmin, #SalesforceDeveloper, #SalesforceArchitect, #SalesforceIntegration, #SalesforceJobs, #TechInterviews, #CRMJobs, #AdvancedSalesforce, #SalesforceExperts, #SalesforceCareers, #InterviewPreparation, #SalesforceQandA, #SalesforceTips