Salesforce Administrator

Background

The BIT Academy offers a fully remote, 20-week course designed to prepare students to sit for the Salesforce Administrator certification exam. Our goal is for everyone to become a certified Salesforce Administrator, which is the first step into the vast world of Salesforce. Classes begin in January and July of each year. The course is run primarily as independent study with group learning sessions led by certified Salesforce admins with real, on-the-job experience. While most work is done on students’ own time and schedule through reading and hands-on exercises, class times are used for introducing new concepts and reviewing concepts studied during the week. Students are expected to dedicate a minimum of 20 hours per week to hands-on activities, reading, and study, plus three hours in class and any time spent as part of a study group or attending office hours and one-on-one sessions with our instructors.

What is Salesforce?

Salesforce is the world’s largest Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform, used extensively by over 150,000 employers worldwide from small nonprofits like BIT to Fortune 500 giants. With this widespread use, Salesforce Administrators are in high demand with over 9,000 open job listings on LinkedIn at any given time. The average salary for a Salesforce Administrator in the US is approximately $89,000 annually, and entry-level salaries for Junior Admins average $65,000 annually. A Salesforce Admin certification opens up the possibility for numerous careers within the Salesforce ecosystem. And our favorite part – Salesforce is incredibly accessible!

The BIT/Salesforce Advantage 

  • Salesforce’s Office of Accessibility partners with BIT to unlock opportunities for our students! We frequently have guest speakers from Salesforce, and our students are eligible for mentoring by Salesforce employees
  • Salesforce provides Certification vouchers for the ADM-201 Salesforce Administrator certification exam and we work closely with Trailhead Accessibility to make certain students’ accommodation needs are met when they sit for the exam

Who Should Take this Course?

Candidates who are best suited for this course will possess the following:

  • A desire to begin a new career in IT
  • A basic understanding of and aptitude for IT concepts
  • Analytical thinking and the ability to innovate and find new solutions to problems
  • Determined, methodical, patient mindset, a determination to overcome obstacles, and independent problem solving skills
  • A minimum of 20 hours per week outside of class time to apply themselves to the course. Our most successful students spend even more time than this on the course.
  • The desire to explore a new platform and experiment with new concepts rather than simply following directions
  • Intermediate to advanced knowledge of accessibility solutions applicable to a student’s disability

Why this course?

What makes the Salesforce Admin course from BIT different from others or from studying independently?

  • The course is 100% remote, with class sessions held on the Google Meet platform
  • We schedule multiple classes per week so that students can attend at a time that fits their schedules and offer flexibility for attendance when possible.
  • Like all of BIT’s candidate services, the course is offered at no cost to students. The BIT Academy is fully funded by corporate sponsors, foundations, and individual donors who all believe in the BIT mission, as well as Voc Rehab funding, if available.
  • We are the only Salesforce Authorized Training Provider with a focus on people with disabilities who serves students globally
  • The course is taught by Certified Salesforce Admins with expertise in accessibility solutions such as screen readers, magnification software, etc.
  • The course is designed both by and specifically for people with disabilities, including sensory, neurodevelopmental, and other conditions
  • We focus on inclusion. True accessibility isn’t just accommodations for a disability, it’s including students in a way that they feel comfortable in their learning environment. If an accommodation is needed, it is likely available or can be made so with enough advance notice to put something in place
  • Our instructors have years of on-the-job experience and share their insights, providing not only certification prep, but also “first day on the job” prep. We want students to be fully prepared for becoming certified admins themselves.
  • We go beyond Trailhead to provide supplemental materials such as discussion posts, quizzes, and in-house produced written materials for our students. We aim to fully prepare those who participate in the course to sit for the Salesforce Administrator certification exam
  • We offer opportunities to collaborate with other students, including student-organized study groups, “office hours” provided by instructional staff, and one-on-one sessions with instructional staff, when requested.

What happens after the course?

BIT is a registered apprenticeship provider with the US Department of Labor. We offer paid, competency-based apprenticeships to students who complete the course and meet qualifying benchmarks. Apprentices work on real client projects, gaining valuable experience for up to 20 hours per week. International students are considered interns for legal reasons, but receive an identical experience. We work with our employer partners to place our apprentices in contract and direct hire positions as Salesforce admins or consultants.

Informational links

Email us for questions about this course or for general Academy info

Upcoming Salesforce Admin Classes

The course is held twice a year. Important dates for 2023 are listed below. Please note that there is a preregistration period that allows us to set a class schedule according to interest. Registration is separate and students must complete prerequisites prior to registration. That list is published as part of the preregistration process. Once preregistration opens, a link can be found on this page.

  • First Quarter 2023
    • September 19-October 31, 2022: Preregistration
    • November 1-November 28, 2022: Registration
    • Week of January 9, 2023: Classes begin
    • Week of May 22, 2023: Classes end
  • Third Quarter 2023
    • March 13-April 24, 2023: Preregistration
    • April 25-May 22: Registration
    • Week of July 3, 2023: Classes begin
    • Week of November 14, 2023: Classes end
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The BIT Academy Logo, which is a black background with the BIT logo to the left and the word Academy on the right.