💃 The Best and Worst Salesforce Admin Roles 🕺

Good morning, Salesforce Nerd! As a former Salesforce Consultant, who is now a Salesforce Admin, I’ve got a story for you-

Sometimes the grass is greener - no more timesheets, I don’t have 3 bosses, and I’m not responsible for a massive data conversion and migration a few times per year.

BUT…as an admin - so many tickets, it can be a lonely experience, and I’m doing constant mini-data-conversions to accommodate the ridiculous business decisions (“We’d like to change the lead stages…again…” 😡).

However…

Salesforce Admin =/= Salesforce Admin

Here’s what that means 👇

SALESFORCE ADMIN =/= SALESFORCE ADMIN

A Plethora of Flavors, With No Regard to Salary

As a consultant, I worked with many of our client’s admins. And their roles were more flavors than Baskin Robbins 🍦.

Some were hopelessly overworked, and I prayed for them when we rolled off 🙏.

And some did NOTHING!! I could see the dust particles on their keyboard.

The wildest part? Pay had no bearing on anything. The top and bottom 10% were paid appropriately. But the middle 80%? There were some studs making $50k and some wastes-of-space making $115k.

Here are 3 types of admins I saw ⬇️

THE LONE RANGER 🤠

The Solo Admin

You’re the lone ranger of Salesforce at your company. If it happens in Salesforce, it’s your responsibility.

Need a new field? You build it, name it, label it, put it on the page.

Automation? You’ll eventually push the limits of Flows, learn to read code, learn to write it, and next thing you know you’re deploying spaghetti to Prod 🍝.

Training? You design the training, create the content, and run the sessions.

Data cleanup? Guess who’s scrubbing spreadsheets on a Friday afternoon 🙂.

The GOOD

👍 Full control over the org. It’s YOUR org 🫵.

👍 Develop a broad skill set. You’re not just managing Salesforce, you’re influencing stakeholders, writing business summaries, and managing inbound and outbound integrations for other apps.

👍 High visibility. For better or worse - all Salesforce roads lead back to you. Whether you’re prepared or not. Whether you’ve been setup for success or not. But it’s a huge career opportunity.

The BAD

🙁 Overwhelming workload. This sums it perfectly.

🙁 No one to bounce ideas off of. Solo admin. Lone ranger.

🙁 Hard to specialize in any one area. Generalists survive the solo role.

How to Level Up in this Role

📈 Document everything. Future you (and any future teammates) will thank you.

📈 Build to Scale. This is as much about what NOT to build as it is what to build. Automation isn’t a requirement, despite the business’s perspective.

📈 Find a mentor or community. Tap into the Salesforce ecosystem (Trailblazer Community, Reddit, Slack) to stay supported and informed.

A COG ON THE GEAR IN THE MACHINE

Admin…on a Salesforce Team

You’re part of a team of Salesforce professionals - architects, admins, developers, product owners, business analysts and QA analysts. Maybe you focus on tickets and cases, or you’re the customer journey specialist, or you’re the flow builder extraordinaire. You likely report to a Senior Admin or CRM Manager who sets priorities while you handle execution.

Awesome

😀 Clear direction. Like swimming downstream! Someone else defines the strategy.

😀 Space to specialize. Find your niche and dive deep.

😀 Backup! Something rare in the Salesforce professional world - someone to cover you when you’re OOTO!

NOT Awesome

👎 Less control over big decisions. You’re just a cog on the gear in the machine.

👎 Can feel like you’re mindlessly “crushing the ticket queue.”

👎 Need to prove your value to stand out in a larger group.

How to Level Up in this Role

📈 Master your niche. Become the expert on something that makes you indispensable.

📈 Ask for exposure. Volunteer for cross-functional projects.

📈 Think beyond the queue. Understand the business goals behind the tickets, and learn to be proactive.

JACK OF ALL TRADES

The Hybrid Athlete

Bo Jackson. Deion Sanders. This guy.

These hybrid athletes cannot be defined by one sport. They’re just…athletes!

There is a Salesforce Admin role, sometimes known as Systems Analysts, who are responsible for SQL servers, BI, frontend apps…AND Salesforce. Hybrid technologists!

The Hotness

🔥 Diverse skill set. You touch multiple apps and platforms. You understand tech and where CRM fits in.

🔥 Valuable business exposure. You see how systems connect (and how they don’t 😉).

🔥 Higher potential for cross-functional leadership roles.

The Suck

😩 Hard to go deep in any one platform. You’ll never master them all.

😩 Competing priorities. If you own Sales, Marketing, and IT systems, then it will be tough to prioritize and focus things down.

😩 You may not be seen as a Salesforce expert compared to full-time admins…even by yourself! Why identify as a Salesforce pro when you’re also a pro of a stack of business apps 🦸.

How to Level Up in this Role

📈 Bridge the gaps. Be the person who connects the dots between teams and systems.

📈 Advocate for Salesforce. Where does the company revenue (that’s paying everyone’s salaries) come from? Yup - sales!

📈 Position your resourcefulness. Key chains are cool, they keep all your keys in once place. But a keychain with a bottle opener? Now that’s useful! A Salesforce admin who also manages the company’s SQL Server, aka the most popular database server on planet earth. You’re useful!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Know the “Salesforce Admin” Array

Whether you’re assessing your current role or looking for a new one - it’s important to understand not all Salesforce Admin jobs are the same.

When you’re cruising Linkedin, Indeed, or your recruiter’s opportunities, take the time to understand what kinda business you’d be working at, how the Salesforce team is structured, and what kinda “Salesforce Admin” role this is…

Because they are NOT all the same!

Poll

SOUL FOOD

Today’s Principle

and now....Your Salesforce Memes