Anais Gaschet
How to Grow Your Skills as a Salesforce Commerce Cloud Developer
As an experienced professional in the SFCC space, Maxime gave us some great insights into how candidates can stand out in an increasingly saturated market, the benefits of working with specialist recruiters, and a personal perspective on his success in the world of freelancing.
Maxime started his career as a backend PHP developer before making the transition to Salesforce Commerce Cloud (SFCC). Since then, he has worked as a freelancer for high-end fashion brands like Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen among others. Drawing from his experience, he outlined how new developers can best grow their skills.
Gain Hands-On Experience to Excel as a Developer
- Maxime recommends new developers join existing projects to learn SFCC hands-on: While certifications can help get you through the initial stages of interview, he believes real-world experience is more important. With SFCC experience scarce, getting on a team is the ideal training ground.
- Implementing on a live site is better than just learning theory from online courses as you can see the changes you are making have a real-time effect.
- Maxime thinks that the architect certification is the most valuable among all the certifications that hiring managers seek. It covers the full system and should be the top priority for aspiring developers.
What It Means to Work as a Salesforce Freelancer
In the competitive world of SFCC, candidates can often find it difficult to leverage their skills to get the best employment terms for themselves. Hiring managers will always be on the hunt for those willing to work on a permanent basis where possible which can make moving into the freelance world somewhat challenging.
Maxime explored what it meant to be a freelancer in the world of SFCC, and how developers can best navigate their way into the ecosystem.
Below are his top tips for how to maximise your chances of success in the freelance space.
Top tips for success as an SFCC freelancer
- Network at every opportunity. Maxime attends SFCC events primarily for networking, even if the content isn't very technical - connecting in person always pays dividends down the line. The communal, tight-knit nature of the SFCC world makes networking invaluable.
- Maxime researches a company's culture and reaches out to former employees before committing. Make sure that you are going to the right place to properly develop your career – you need to earn or learn, ideally both!
- Develop soft skills like communication, collaboration and problem-solving. Technical expertise alone isn't enough - the most successful freelancers are the ones who can communicate their value to their employers.
The Benefits of Working with Specialist SFCC Recruiters
Of course, the best way to grow your career as an SFCC professional is to work with specialist recruiters. An agency like Empiric can provide you with more opportunity and shoulder a lot of the pain points that usually push developers away from freelance working. After outlining what he looks for in a specialist recruiter, Maxime went on to explore what It was that he values about working with Empiric:
A recruiter takes the pressure off you
- A good recruiter clearly communicates your expectations and ideal projects. They can then find opportunities that are a good fit.
- They save you time independently searching and applying for roles, allowing you to concentrate fully on any projects you are involved in at the time.
- Working with a recruiter can enable you to wait for the right project rather than accept anything available.
How Can Companies Attract the Best SFCC Talent?
Maxime also briefly spoke about what companies can do to better appeal to the best SFCC talent throughout their interview process.
He suggested that there should be a move away from technical tests, and that a personalised recruiting approach makes candidates more enthusiastic. He also stressed the importance of a strong and appealing company culture.
Final Takeaways
Moving into the freelance world of SFCC can present several challenges, from finding the right opportunities to grow your skills, to simply dealing with all the added administrative challenges of multiple interview processes, going it alone can be tricky.
Our dedicated SFCC team specialises in full-time and contract hiring, partnering with companies globally to fill even the most niche and advanced roles. We are well placed and available to advise and help here, whatever your goal and growth ambition is. Through our many years of experience, we’re more than familiar with the importance of cultural as well as technical fit.
If you are an experienced professional looking for more insight into the current Salesforce environment, some of our recent SFCC blogs include a write-up on Salesforce and Whatsapp's recent integration, as well as how AI/GPT integration will change the Salesforce landscape.
To learn more about Empiric's Salesforce capabilities head to our dedicated Salesforce page and be sure to subscribe to our newsletter below.
