If you are a current certified Salesforce admin looking to take the next step, or someone looking to start earning Salesforce certifications, you will need to pick what path you want to focus on after reaching the admin level. Let’s go over what your primary options are and how Salesforce has changed their certificate paths this last year.
Previous to 2016, your next certificate was an easy choice as the next test offered was Force.com Developer and contained many of the same topics that are covered in the certified admin course. However, this certification was deceiving by name as there was no coding involved. All development was click to code. With this setup you could be a “certified developer” and not know a single line of APEX.
After this certification you then could take the Advanced Developer test which included the standard multiple choice questions as well as programming problems. Changes were made to this path at the end of 2015 so that the the “developer” title is not attainable with basic click to code knowledge.
Today, you now take the Platform App Builder certification after becoming an admin. This is the most similar certificate to the old developer one and does not require writing code.
The old Advanced Developer course has also been split into two certifications, Salesforce Platform Developer I and Salesforce Platform Developer II. It is now more work to reach the same level of certification but each certification is now a clearer indication on a person’s level of development knowledge, and there are no longer “developer” certifications that do not require coding skills.
After taking these changes into account you must choose what certification will be most helpful to your current position or one that most closely fits a position you want to be in. You can either pick the above described developer path or continue on the admin path by taking the advanced administrator certification test.
If you know you are only going to focus on administration and have no need for developing custom solutions the developer path might not be right for you, however if you want a well rounded skill set in Salesforce I recommend at least starting with app builder before going to advanced admin.