The 15 most asked questions in a Salesforce interview
Whether you're a seasoned professional or a fresh graduate just entering the job market, we've got you covered. In this blog, we'll explore the most common Salesforce interview questions. The demand for Salesforce expertise is growing, making the job market competitive. Employers seek skilled developers with a deep understanding of the Salesforce platform. By studying these top interview questions, you can learn to code with confidence and impress potential employers.
Our goal is to provide you with detailed insights and practical answers. So, let's embark on this exciting journey to interview success!
Arrays
One topic that holds immense importance for your preparation is arrays. Developers need arrays to perform complex data manipulations. These analyses yield useful insights from Salesforce data. You can also use arrays to map and transform data between systems. This results in smooth integration and customization.
Apply your knowledge of arrays to these problems:
Determine if the sum of two integers is equal to the given value
Problem Statement
Given an array of integers and a value, determine if there are any two integers in the array whose sum is equal to the given value.
Set columns and rows as zeros
Problem Statement
Given a two-dimensional array, if any element within is zero, make its whole row and column zero.
Linked Lists
Linked lists often feature in technical interview questions and coding challenges. Salesforce is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) company that often needs to optimize these two functions:
- Data storage
- Data retrieval
As a developer, you must know how to use this data structure for effective data management. Now test yourself and solve these problems using linked lists:
Add two integers
Problem Statement
Given the head pointers of two linked lists where each linked list represents an integer number (each node is a digit), add them and return the resulting linked list.
Copy linked list with arbitrary pointer
Problem Statement
You are given a linked list where the node has two pointers. The first is the regular ‘next’ pointer. The second pointer is called ‘arbitrary_pointer’ and it can point to any node in the linked list.
Your job is to write code to make a deep copy of the given linked list. Here, deep copy means that any operations on the original list (inserting, modifying and removing) should not affect the copied list.
Trees
Developers use trees to represent hierarchical relationships between elements. Salesforce uses SOQL (Salesforce Object Query Language) to retrieve and manipulate data. Trees are useful for querying data based on parent-child relationships. You can design and put in place custom workflows if you understand the concept of trees. An example of these workflows is account hierarchies. Solving the following problems will help you refresh your knowledge of trees:
Level order traversal of a binary tree
Problem Statement
Given the root of a binary tree, display the node values at each level.
Connect all siblings
Problem Statement
Connect the sibling pointer to the next node in the same level. The last node in each level should point to the first node of the next level in the tree.
Strings
Understanding string operations allows Salesforce developers to manipulate and format data as required. Salesforce also uses Visualforce and Lightning to build user interfaces. These frameworks use strings to generate HTML, CSS, JavaScript, or Apex code. Because the Salesforce system makes extensive use of textual data, it's important to understand this topic well.
Now solve these problems to test yourself:
Reverse words in a sentence
Problem Statement
Reverse the order of words in a given sentence(an array of characters).
Find all palindrome substrings
Problem Statement
Given a string find all non-single letter substrings that are palindromes.
Dynamic Programming
Dynamic programming is helpful for Salesforce developer interview questions in the following ways:
- It breaks down a problem into smaller subproblems. The solutions to these subproblems are then stored to leverage later. This enhances performance and resource use.
- It promotes modular and scalable code structures by simplifying complex problems.
Test yourself with this coding problem:
Find maximum single sell profit
Problem Statement
Given a list of daily stock prices (integers for simplicity), return the buy and sell prices for making the maximum profit. You need to maximize the single buy/sell profit. If you can't make any profit, try to minimize the loss.
Math and Stats
The Salesforce ecosystem needs developers with a strong foundation in math and statistics. This is important because it shows your problem-solving skills. You should brush up on all the essentials, especially the following:
- Logarithms
- Probability
- Combinatorics
With these concepts at your fingertips, you can efficiently solve problems like the ones below:
Find the missing number in the array
Problem Statement
You are given an array of positive numbers from 1 to n, such that all numbers from 1 to n are present except one number 'x'. We have to find 'x'. The input array is not sorted.
Find all sum combinations
Problem Statement
Given a positive integer, target, print all possible combinations of positive integers that sum up to the target number.
Backtracking
You can use the backtracking technique while coding to handle complex scenarios. It helps in ensuring an accurate workflow execution and achieving the desired outcome. You can also use it to explore alternative paths within the recursion of data structures.
Apply backtracking to the following challenge:
Regular expression matching
Problem Statement
Given a text and a pattern, determine if the pattern matches with the text completely or not at all by using regular expression matching. For simplicity, assume that the pattern may contain only two operators: '.' and '*'. Operator '*' in the pattern means that the character preceding '*' may not appear or may appear any number of times in the text. Operator '.' matches with any character in the text exactly once.
Graphs
In Salesforce, developers use graphs to represent the relationships between objects, such as accounts, contacts, and their connections. You can apply graphs to model and query these relationships. Graph-related algorithmic challenges (e.g. depth-first search or breadth-first search) are common in coding challenges.
Now try the following question to test your knowledge:
Clone a directed graph
Problem Statement
Given the root node of a directed graph, clone this graph by creating its deep copy so that the cloned graph has the same vertices and edges as the original graph.
Sorting and Searching
Sorting and searching algorithms play a vital role in Salesforce applications. Additionally, efficient sorting and searching functionality enhances the user experience with Salesforce applications.
Use your knowledge of sorting and searching to solve these questions:
Closest meeting point
Problem Statement
Given N people on an MxM grid, find the point that requires the least total distance covered by all people to meet at that point.
Search for the given key in a 2D matrix
Problem Statement
We are given a 2D array where all elements in any individual row or column are sorted. In such a matrix, we have to search or find the position of a given key.
