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What is a Salesforce Developer Org?

 

A Salesforce Developer Edition org is a special Salesforce edition that gives you a full-featured Salesforce environment to develop and test existing or new features and test your own custom applications. It's free, and it's yours to keep forever. Plus, you get a powerful set of developer tools to help build custom applications.

 

A Developer Org Is For Everyone, not just Developers!

 

That's right. Because you can use a Developer Org to practice your Salesforce skills. You can even use a Developer org to start building your own custom apps and thus gain Salesforce experience to showcase with recruiters and future employers.

 

Did you know that Trailhead Playgrounds are in essence Developer Edition Orgs? Now you know. 

 

The main difference is that Playgrounds are used and set up for training purposes. They contain sample data specifically prepared for your Trailhead modules and projects so you don't have to create everything from scratch. Playgrounds should not be used for anything else than practice on Trailhead, otherwise, verification processes to earn points and badges can be skewed.

 

Stand-alone Developer Edition Orgs also contains some sample data for you as a starting point and are primarily used to test the latest Salesforce features, build new apps on the Salesforce platform and test out functionality before making a purchase. 

 

This means, that Developer Orgs are usually used by Developers or Platform App Builders but can be used by everyone who wants to enhance their skills and demonstrate their Salesforce talent.

 

Developer Orgs Do Not Expire, Unless…

 

Just like Trailhead Playgrounds, Developer Orgs are free to use and don’t expire unless you haven't been using them for a while. Typically, if you haven't used a Playground or Developer Org in at least six months, you will receive a notification email from Salesforce. They are letting you know that the affected org is about to expire. However, they will give you ample time to decide whether or not you want to keep using it. If so, just log in and play around.

 

Connect your Developer Org To Your Trailhead Account

 

You can even use a Developer Org to complete certain Trailhead modules and projects. In fact, there are a few Trailhead challenges where you are actually being asked to use your own Developer org. However, in most cases, you will be using a Trailhead Playground to complete your challenges.

What you may notice though, when you create a new Developer Edition org, you will be prompted and asked whether you want to connect your new org to Trailhead for the hands-on challenges.

🌶 HOT TIP: You can disconnect your Developer org from Trailhead any time! Just make sure you remember the URL, username and password! 🤓 And don't worry, you won't loose any of your hard-earned points and badges.

Watch The Video Tutorial

 

How about we take a look together at where you need to go to set up a Developer Edition Org and how you can connect it to your Trailhead Account if you would like to do so?

 

Let's go then. Scroll back up and press play!

 

 

Related Articles and Videos

How To Get Started With Trailhead

Set Up Your Trailhead Hands-On Org (= Trailhead Playground)