If you’re still relying only on standard reports, you’re missing one of Salesforce’s most powerful data tools: Joined Reports.
I use them whenever I need to compare or summarize related datasets in a single view—like open vs closed cases per consultant, or service request metrics across member types. Once you understand how they work, they become your go-to for high-level insight.
This year I started exploring Salesforce APIs—specifically the REST API—and it opened a whole new world of integration possibilities.
Even if you’re not writing full-scale integrations yet, understanding the basics helps you:
Test endpoints with tools like Postman
Support third-party vendors connecting to your org
Build smarter automation using Named Credentials and External Services
One of the things that sets Salesforce development apart is the concept of governor limits—and once you understand them, you start to see the platform differently.
These limits aren’t there to punish you—they’re there to ensure the multi-tenant platform stays stable and fair. So now, instead of fighting the limits, I write code with them in mind from the beginning.
As I write more Apex, I’ve started building utility classes to keep logic reusable and easy to manage.
These classes don’t represent data—they represent functionality. For example:
DateUtils for date formatting or calculations
EmailUtils for sending templated messages
ValidationUtils for checking business rules
By now, I don’t just write Apex that works—I write Apex that scales. That means one thing above all: bulkification.
Salesforce doesn’t like it when you loop through records and perform DML (like insert, update, etc.) inside the loop. So I always structure code to:
Collect data in a List<> or Map<>
Perform logic in bulk outside the loop
Use Set<Id>s to query efficiently
One of the cleanest ways to make automation more flexible is by leveraging Custom Metadata Types.
I use them to store config-driven logic that would otherwise live in a Flow or Apex class. For example:
Routing rules based on Record Type
Default values by user role
Display text for emails or UI components
Writing test classes used to intimidate me—until I realized they’re not about perfection, they’re about protection.
Now I see test methods as the gatekeepers that keep bugs out of production. For any class I write, I immediately create a test method that:
Inserts test data
Calls my method with known inputs
Asserts the expected output
