Platform Developer II Resource Guide

The Salesforce Architect exams each come with a resource guide, which includes helpful links for each section of the exam. I have found those incredibly useful in my study. Resource guides don’t currently exist for the standard exams, so I have compiled content into a series of resource guides. This is the Platform Developer II resource guide.

The Platform Developer II certification focuses on your ability to design, develop, test, and deploy programmatic solutions that are maintainable and re-usable and follow design patterns and object-oriented programming best practices. This certification comes in two parts; a multiple choice exam, and a series of Trailhead superbadges.

Due to the combination of a test with real world coding, this is one of my favorite exams. It requires much more time to achieve, but is a good indicator of your capabilities. This post covers the multiple choice exam.

Understanding the Tests

As I mentioned in a previous post, understanding the intention and structure of the exams is key to passing. Salesforce provides a study guide for every certification test. In those guides, they provide a breakdown of the different sections and their relative weight. Take note of those while studying.

Breakdown

For this exam, I recommend tackling the Trailhead badges first. I will be reviewing those in a later article. Once you have completed those badges, take a few hours to study through the resources on this page to ensure you understand all of the topics that will be covered.

Resources

• Official Certification Guide
• Official Trailhead Trailmix

LOGIC AND PROCESS AUTOMATION – 33%

• Given a scenario, describe the implications of the order of execution of a record save.
  • Triggers and Order of Execution
• Describe the interactions between Visualforce/Apex with Flow/Process Builder.
• Given a scenario, identify the optimal programmatic or declarative solution.
  • When to use Declarative vs. Programmatic Tools
• Given a scenario, debug unexpected behavior due to save execution order.
  • Triggers and Order of Execution
• Describe the Apex features available for error handling and maintaining transactional integrity.
  • An Introduction to Exception Handling
  • Error Handling Best Practices for Lightning and Apex
• Identify potential issues with inefficient code and mitigation techniques to avoid exceeding governor limits.
  • Apex Code Best Practices
• Describe the data return types for SOQL and SOSL queries and their impact on variable assignment.
  • Working with SOQL and SOSL Query Results
• Describe the options, best practices, and use cases for asynchronous execution.
  • Asynchronous Apex
• Given a scenario, identify the appropriate dynamic Apex feature.
  • Dynamic Apex
• Given a scenario, describe when and how to use Apex managed sharing.
  • Understanding Apex Managed Sharing
• Describe the use cases for the various authentication techniques.
  • Understanding Authentication

USER INTERFACE – 20%

• Given a scenario, describe how to use a standard set controller.
  • Standard Controllers
• Describe the considerations when creating custom controllers and controller extensions.
  • Considerations for Creating Custom Controllers and Controller Extensions
• Describe the techniques for using Visualforce to perform actions and partial page refresh.
  • Implementing Partial Page Updates with Command Links and Buttons
• Describe the messaging techniques and best practices when displaying errors in user interfaces.
  • Displaying the Error Message on Visualforce Pages
• Describe techniques to maximize code re-use with Visualforce.
  • Custom Components
• Describe use cases for JavaScript in a Visualforce page.
  • Using JavaScript in Visualforce Pages
• Given a set of requirements, describe the process for designing Lightning components.
  • Lightning Component Basics (Trailhead)

TESTING – 12%

• Describe the best practices for unit testing in Apex.
  • Apex Testing Best Practices
  • Code Coverage Best Practices
• Describe how to apply different techniques to create test data and responses.
  • Run Unit Test Methods
  • Understanding Test Data
• Describe the implications of testing Visualforce controllers and controller extensions.
  • Testing Controllers and Controller Extensions
• Describe various ways to execute tests and specify test execution options.
  • Understanding Testing in Apex

INTEGRATION – 11%

• Describe how to expose Apex classes as SOAP and REST web services.
  • Exposing Apex Classes as REST Web Services
  • Exposing Apex Methods as SOAP Web Services
• Describe how to use system classes to integrate with SOAP- or REST- based web services.
• Describe when and how to use metadata, streaming, and Analytics API to enhance Apex and Visualforce solutions.
  • Metadata API
  • Streaming API
  • Analytics API

DATA MODELING AND MANAGEMENT – 7%

• Describe how to design code that accommodates multi-language, multi-currency, multi-locale considerations.
  • Support Users in Multiple Languages
  • Querying Fields in Multi-currency Org
• Describe the implications of compound data types in Apex programming.
  • Compound Field Types Considerations
• Describe the use cases for and benefits of external IDs.
  • Using and External ID
• Identify use cases for different types of custom metadata and custom settings, and describe how to implement solutions for those use cases.
  • Custom Metadata (Trailhead)
  • Custom Settings

PERFORMANCE – 7%

• Describe the common performance issues for user interfaces and the techniques to mitigate them.
  • Developer Best Practices Checklist
    • This is a really helpful development item. I recommend everyone read through and download this, as it has benefits far beyond this exam.
• Describe the considerations for query performance.
  • Improve SOQL Query Performance

SALESFORCE FUNDAMENTALS – 5%

• Describe the capabilities of base-system objects such as sharing objects, history objects, metadata objects, multi-currency, and Chatter objects.
  • Sharing Objects
  • EntityHistory
  • Multicurrency Considerations
  • Chatter Objects (Diagram)
• Describe the different capabilities of and use cases for the various Salesforce development platforms (Heroku, Fuel, Lightning Platform).
  • Heroku
  • Fuel SDKs (Marketing Cloud)
  • Lightning

DEBUG AND DEPLOYMENT TOOLS – 5%

• Given a scenario, identify the appropriate tool to analyze application performance profiles and troubleshoot data and performance issues.
  • Force.com Tools and Toolkits
• Given a scenario, identify the appropriate deployment tool.
  • Salesforce Development Tools
    • For this section, read the tool descriptions to understand their intentions and strengths. (ANT Migration tool vs. Data Loader, which use cases for which tools?)

Ready for the Exam?

Book your exam now, even before you start studying. There’s no better way to drive you to study than booking your exam.

For the Platform Developer II exam, I highly recommend beginning with the Trailhead superbadges. The prerequisite modules will give you hands-on experience and are the best way to learn. I completed the first three superbadges before I took my multiple choice exam. I took the exam before the final superbadge, so you could do the same.

If you have questions during your exam preparation, please feel free to reach out. I’ll do my best to respond with some help and guidance.