I worked on the Trailhead for this certification shortly after it came out. It was pretty easy to get through and I think I did it all in just a couple of weeks, working on it as I had time. And then I didn’t do anything else with it!
However, in March I needed to take a break from studying Sales Cloud, so I grabbed the Focus on Force material and went through all of the study guides in about four days. Depending on your background, you may be able to use just the study guides and skip the practice exams for this one.
The format for this exam is different than others. Instead of having to choose from four possible answers, you are only given three answers. This exam also recently dropped the requirement to be a certified admin before signing up. I’m neutral on whether I think that is a good decision or not.
My experience working for a software company over the years in various roles prepared me more for this exam than I would have anticipated going into it. There’s a lot of overlap between being a tech support rep and working in quality assurance and being a business analyst. I’ve spent years refining how I ask questions of end-users to find out what their issues are. I’ve honed my skills of presenting complex processes into easy-to-follow guides. And I’ve told a lot of people “no”!
There’s a lot that goes into being a great business analyst, whether that’s your title or not. Technical skills like diagramming and writing user stories are really important, but I think the most valuable BA skill is knowing how to ask a question, then refine the question, then refine it again.
If you are in a position as a Salesforce admin where you are required to ask questions and gather requirements for features, then this is a cert worth taking. If you work as a Salesforce consultant, then I think this is a must-have cert. Even if your title and job description doesn’t list being a BA, you’re still going to benefit from what’s covered in this certification.
