Your Salesforce UI is Slow and Clunky. That's Not a Platform Problem; It's a Vetting Problem.
The Salesforce Lightning Experience promised a modern, responsive, and component-based UI to replace the dated Visualforce pages of the past. At the heart of this promise is Lightning Web Components (LWC), a framework that embraces modern web standards like Web Components, JavaScript, and CSS. It allows developers to build fast, lightweight, and reusable components that feel native to the Salesforce platform.
But this modern approach requires a modern skillset. A developer who comes from a Visualforce or even an Aura components background—or a generic web developer who doesn't understand the unique constraints of the Salesforce platform—will fail to build performant and secure LWCs. They will struggle with component communication, write inefficient Apex callouts, and fail to leverage the Lightning Data Service, resulting in a UI that is slow, brittle, and a poor user experience.
An engineer who can create a basic "Hello World" component is not an LWC expert. An expert understands the component lifecycle, can communicate efficiently between components using events, knows how to write secure and performant Apex controllers, and leverages the Lightning Design System to create a seamless user experience. This playbook explains how Axiom Cortex finds developers who have this deep, platform-specific expertise.
Traditional Vetting and Vendor Limitations
A typical nearshore vendor sees "LWC" on a résumé and assumes proficiency. The interview process might involve asking a candidate to describe what a web component is. This superficial approach fails to test for the critical skills needed to build enterprise-grade UIs on the Salesforce platform.
The predictable and painful results of this flawed vetting are common across many Salesforce orgs:
- Chatty Components and Governor Limits: A component makes multiple, inefficient Apex calls in a loop, quickly hitting the "Too many SOQL queries" governor limit and causing the entire page to fail.
- "Prop Drilling" Hell: Instead of using events or a proper state management solution, data is passed down through many layers of nested components via properties, creating a maintenance nightmare.
- Ignoring Lightning Data Service (LDS): The team writes custom Apex controllers for simple CRUD operations, completely ignoring the built-in Lightning Data Service which provides a free, efficient, and cacheable way to interact with Salesforce data.
- Security Vulnerabilities: The developer fails to implement proper security checks in their Apex controllers, exposing the application to SOQL injection or insecure direct object reference vulnerabilities.
How Axiom Cortex Evaluates LWC Developers
Axiom Cortex is designed to find engineers who understand both modern web development practices and the unique constraints and opportunities of the Salesforce platform. We evaluate candidates across four critical dimensions.
Dimension 1: LWC Fundamentals and Component Architecture
This dimension tests a candidate's core understanding of the LWC framework and their ability to build well-structured, maintainable components.
We provide a UI requirement and evaluate their ability to:
- Use the Component Lifecycle: Can they explain the component lifecycle hooks (`constructor`, `connectedCallback`, `renderedCallback`, `disconnectedCallback`) and when to use each one?
- Manage Component Communication: Can they design a solution that uses custom events to communicate up the component hierarchy and public properties to communicate down?
- Design Reusable Components: Do they break down a complex UI into smaller, reusable, and single-purpose components?
Dimension 2: Data Integration and Apex
This is a critical skill for any LWC developer. It is the ability to fetch and modify data from Salesforce securely and efficiently.
We present a data-heavy component requirement and evaluate if they can:
- Leverage Lightning Data Service: A high-scoring candidate will immediately consider using LDS (`lightning-record-form`, `lightning-record-view-form`, etc.) for basic CRUD operations before resorting to custom Apex.
- Write Secure and Efficient Apex Controllers: When custom logic is needed, can they write an Apex controller that is both bulkified (to avoid governor limits) and secure (respecting sharing rules and performing CRUD/FLS checks)?
- Handle Apex Callouts: Do they know how to correctly call an Apex method from an LWC, handle the asynchronous response, and manage error states?
Dimension 3: Security
Building on the Salesforce platform requires a security-first mindset. This dimension tests a candidate's understanding of the LWC security model.
We evaluate their knowledge of:
- Lightning Locker Service: Can they explain what Locker Service is and how it enforces component isolation and security?
- Secure Apex: Do they understand how to write Apex code that correctly uses `with sharing` to enforce user permissions?
Dimension 4: Testing and Tooling
An elite LWC developer uses modern tooling to ensure the quality of their code.
Axiom Cortex assesses a candidate's familiarity with:
- Jest for LWC: Can they write unit tests for their Lightning Web Components using Jest?
- Salesforce DX (SFDX): Are they proficient in using the Salesforce CLI and SFDX project structure to manage their development and deployment lifecycle?
From Slow Visualforce to Performant Lightning Apps
When you staff your Salesforce team with LWC developers who have passed the Axiom Cortex assessment, you are investing in a team that can build the modern, high-performance user experiences that your users expect. They will build applications that are not only functional but also secure, scalable, and a pleasure to use, maximizing the value of your Salesforce investment.