Section 1: Your Journey to Becoming a CTA
This section will focus on foundational architectural skills that every Salesforce Certified Technical Architect (CTA) should master.
First, we'll start by introducing some general information about the Salesforce CTA credential, why it is so prestigious, and how it is related to a Salesforce architect's day-to-day activities. We'll learn why learning to think as a CTA is essential even for senior architects who do not target the CTA credential.
Then, we'll focus on the data life cycle architectural concepts. We'll start with a historical view to understand the principles behind today's modern technology and governance. Then, we'll tackle a set of data-related concepts such as data governance, security, and compliance. We'll also learn how these concepts are relevant to the enterprise. We will explore other key components of today's modern organizations, such as data warehouses and databases.
After that, we'll move on to explore two other crucial architectural domains: integration and cryptography. We'll start by understanding the nature of modern enterprises and why both domains are critical for success. We'll then explore a set of integration styles, tools, and approaches that form the heart of today's modern integration technologies. We'll then take a turn to learn more about cryptography and its importance to secure the digital world.
Finally, we'll tackle the crucial architectural domain of Identity and Access Management (IAM). We'll learn vital general concepts that any modern architect should be familiar with. Then, we'll explore common IAM standards and understand why they are essential for architects, particularly in the cloud era. We'll then explore the main authentication flows in detail and understand exactly what is happening behind the scenes.
This section has the following topics:
- Chapter 1, Starting Your Journey as a CTA
- Chapter 2, Core Architectural Concepts – Data
- Chapter 3, Core Architectural Concepts – Integration and Cryptography
- Chapter 4, Core Architectural Concepts – Identity and Access Management
Chapter 1: Starting Your Journey as a CTA
This chapter will get you started by providing general information about this book and the Salesforce Certified Technical Architect (CTA) credential. This chapter will help you get some answers to questions such as what the typical profile of a CTA looks like, how the exam is related to the day-to-day activities of a Salesforce Architect, and why understanding the way CTAs think is important even for senior architects who are not necessarily targeting the CTA credential. This chapter also provides general details about the review board exam's structure and setup (whether that is physical or virtual) and the main artifacts needed to document an end-to-end solution.
In this chapter, we're going to cover the following main topics:
- Understanding the profile of a Salesforce Certified Technical Architect
- The CTA review board's structure and format
- From exam to real life – how to train to become a CTA
- The nature of the exam – a point collection exercise
- What kind of artifacts you need to generate and why
- Let's get started!
Understanding the profile of a Salesforce Certified Technical Architect
As the Salesforce economy continues to grow rapidly, there's never been a better time to build a Salesforce-based career. Architects and architect-related skills are in higher demand than ever.
The Salesforce Certified Technical Architect credential is ranked as one of the Top Enterprise Architect Certifications in the industry. Just run a quick search on the web for job postings and you'll have no doubt about the value of this prestigious certificate. The very limited number of CTAs around the world gives an even more satisfying feeling of joining the club to the newly certified CTAs.
With such rapid growth of the Salesforce ecosystem, the borders between traditional roles in some workplaces are blurring. And with that, the value of having people with that special talent to link between the different teams becomes vital. Technical architects are not afraid to dig deep into business challenges, asking tough questions to reveal the real business value behind a particular requirement. They like to get to the bottom of things, and roll up their sleeves when necessary to try things out in order to select the right solution approach that serves the current and future potential requirements. They do not hesitate to jump into conversations with the development teams to give guidance and best practices, and then work with the project management team to prepare that cutting-edge presentation for the stakeholders.
As a CTA, you are expected to rely on your broad knowledge across multiple technologies and your deep expertise of the Salesforce Platform to design secure, high-performance systems that maximize the potential of the Salesforce Platform. You must then combine this with an excellent set of soft skills to help you socialize and defend the proposed solution.
The candidate should be able to demonstrate deep knowledge and experience in the following areas:
- 5+ years of implementation experience, including development, across the full software development life cycle. Although having hands-on development skills is not mandatory, those who had the chance to code would normally develop a sense of what would normally work for a software solution, which can help with logically selecting and justifying a particular solution.
- 3+ years of experience in an architect role, which includes experience across the entire spectrum of architecture activities. This includes, but is not limited to, designing data models, integration interfaces, and end-to-end solutions; communicating and socializing a solution; and having deep hands-on experience with the platform's capabilities and potential solution trade-offs.
- 2+ years of experience on the Lightning Platform, with at least one of those in a lead architect role, implementing Salesforce applications and technologies.
- Has held a technical architect role on multiple complex deployments, or has gained equivalent knowledge through participation and exposure to these types of projects.
- Experience guiding a development team on the appropriate use of platform technology.
- The ability to identify and mitigate technical risks across the architecture, which normally comes with experience.
- Exposure to globalization considerations on a project. Projects with globalization requirements come with a particular set of challenges. Having a practical understanding of the platform's capabilities is key.
- Experience with object-oriented design patterns. Although a CTA is not necessarily expected to write code, understanding object-oriented design patterns and principles creates a more rounded architect who is more capable of explaining how a particular module would work.
- Awareness of platform-specific design patterns and limits. In order to pass the CTA review board, it is strongly recommended that they have hands-on experience with the different platform functionalities.
- Experience developing code on the Force.com platform, as well as an understanding of limitations and associated challenges, even if they're not necessarily doing hands-on coding.
- Ability to identify development-related risks, considerations, and limits for the platform.
- Experience with multiple development languages (for example, .NET, Java, or Ruby) and design frameworks. This would largely help when designing an integrated solution. Understanding what is possible and what is likely not is the key.
- Experience with common integration patterns; experience with integration on the Salesforce Platform. Any hands-on experience here is a massive plus.
- An understanding of and the ability to architect a solution to address security complexities, mechanisms, and capabilities on the Lightning Platform as part of a functional security model.
- An understanding of and the ability to design an identity and access management strategy as part of an end-to-end solution.
- An understanding of data migration considerations, design trade-offs, and common ETL tools.
- Awareness of large data volume (LDV) considerations, risks, and mitigation strategies.
- Awareness of general mobile solutions and architectures and an understanding of on-platform mobile solutions and considerations.
- Experience with project and development life cycle methodologies.
Now that we know what the CTA profile is, let's get to know the review board.
The CTA review board's structure and format
This section is mainly meant for those who are targeting the CTA exam. In order to pass the exam, you would need to set a review board with three CTA judges. You will receive a hypothetical scenario and have a limited amount of time to solve it and craft an end-to-end presentation, explaining the different elements of your solution and how you would solve the identified requirements in your scenario. The judges will then ask questions about your solution and challenge it. You are expected to justify, defend, and – if needed – change your solution accordingly.
The following are some more details about the exam:
- Exam prerequisites: The Salesforce Certified Application Architect credential and Salesforce Certified System Architect credential.
- Format: The candidate will review and solve a hypothetical scenario and then present this to a panel of three CTA judges. The presentation is followed by a question and answer session with the judges.
- Time allotted to complete the exam:
180 minutes for scenario review and solution preparation
45 minutes for scenario presentation
40 minutes for scenario Q&A session
An exam facilitator and proctor will be onsite during the exam (or will join virtually if the exam is being executed virtually).
The following materials are provided to the candidate at the review board (onsite). No other materials are allowed. If the exam is onsite, you will need the following:
- A computer with PowerPoint, Word, and Excel (or Keynote, Pages, and Numbers for Mac)
- Flipchart paper
- Blank paper – for candidate notes only
- Pens, highlighters, and markers
- A timer
If the exam is virtual, you will need the following: A computer with PowerPoint, Word, and Excel (or Keynote, Pages, and N...
