What Actually Happens at Salesforce
I interviewed at Salesforce twice – once for a backend role in 2023, and again for a platform team in 2024. Both times, they emphasized their “customer success” culture more than any other company I’ve interviewed with.
The Recruiter Screen (30 minutes)
They’ll ask about your interest in their products (be ready to discuss Salesforce CRM or their platform). My recruiter spent 10 minutes explaining the “Ohana” culture – family values, giving back, equality. It’s not lip service; they really care about cultural fit here.
Technical Phone Screen (1 hour)
Expect one coding problem and some system design discussion. My first interview was: “Design a meeting scheduler.” Not rocket science, but they want to see how you think about user experience and edge cases.
The interviewer was friendly and gave hints when I got stuck. Salesforce interviews feel less combative than FAANG – more collaborative.
Virtual Onsite (4-5 rounds)
- Coding Round 1 (45 min): Arrays, strings, hash maps. Medium LeetCode level. I got a rate limiter design question.
- Coding Round 2 (45 min): More algorithm work. Mine was graph-based (find connected components).
- System Design (1 hour): Design something at scale. I got “Design a notification system.” They care about reliability and customer impact.
- Behavioral (45 min): Heavy focus on their values: Trust, Customer Success, Innovation, Equality. Prepare STAR stories for each.
- Hiring Manager (30 min): More casual. Questions about team fit and long-term goals.
What’s Different About Salesforce
They’re less interested in algorithm wizardry and more interested in: Can you build reliable systems? Do you care about customers? Will you fit the culture?
In my system design round, the interviewer kept asking “How does this help the customer?” That’s not a question I got at Google or Meta.
Common Question Topics
- API Design: REST, rate limiting, versioning
- Scalability: Handling millions of users, multi-tenancy
- Reliability: Error handling, monitoring, alerting
- Data Structures: Hash maps, trees, graphs (nothing exotic)
- Real-World Systems: CRM features, notification systems, data sync
Preparation Tips
- Use Their Products: Sign up for a free Salesforce account. Click around. Understand CRM basics. They’ll notice if you haven’t.
- Focus on Medium Problems: 100-120 LeetCode mediums is plenty. They rarely ask hard problems.
- Study Multi-Tenancy: Salesforce’s architecture is multi-tenant. Know what that means and the trade-offs.
- Prepare Values Stories: Have 2-3 examples for each of their core values. This isn’t optional.
- Think Customer-First: In every answer, tie it back to customer impact. “This approach gives customers faster response times…”
My Honest Take
Salesforce is easier to get into than FAANG but harder than you’d expect. The bar is solid – you need real skills. But if you’re decent at coding and genuinely interested in building products that help businesses, you’ll do well here.
The culture is real. My team had “Ohana time” every Friday for team bonding. Some people love it, some find it too corporate-feel-good. Know yourself.
Comp: Base is competitive (mid-tier for big tech), but RSUs vest over 4 years and the stock has been… volatile. Total comp is 10-20% below FAANG.
Last Updated: February 2026