Are Salesforce Admins Tired of the Job? A Reddit Deep Dive

I came across a Salesforce Reddit post talking about whether people are tired of being an admin. The person responsible for posting it asked: "Is anyone else tired of being an admin? I can't keep doing this, but I have no idea what else to do. Any ideas?"

I think what that post captures is an anxiety around not having — or the feeling that they don't have — an additional transferable skill set. Some of that anxiety might come from paying attention to what's going on in the greater cultural zeitgeist and seeing AI taking front and center in the news cycles. That might contribute to their anxiety because they feel that it's a skill they don't have, don't have the desire to pick up, or don't have the time to learn. They may also worry that their Salesforce skill set is atrophying, or that the work they do is incredibly monotonous, and that they don't really see a path to growing within the industry.

What I'm going to do is read through some of the comments, articulate some of the feelings people are expressing, and share my thoughts on the common threads.

"I'm Never Tired of Being an Admin Because I Like Being Able to Afford Food and Shelter"

This was said in a sarcastic tone. It's a common sentiment shared by a lot of people who work in any industry. They're willing to put up with a lot of the frustrations in their day-to-day job because they're getting a paycheck every two weeks — and that paycheck provides the life they want to lead. This is especially common with people who have families to provide for.

If you're single and don't have anyone to worry about, you might be more willing to take risks and leave a job. But if you have a family to provide for, you'll take the punches at work a little more because you don't want to deal with the negative consequences of not being able to provide for the people you care about.

"I Like Being an Admin, But I Don't Like Being a Helpdesk Monkey"

I really identify with this comment because I know a lot of admins who got into the Salesforce ecosystem because they're able to solve fun problems. They could build flows, process builders, workflow rules, or configurations that felt like fun puzzles to them. It just happens to be on an enterprise business CRM platform. That's why they got into it.

But the reality of their job is that they're not really doing that. They're more focused on being the first line of defense when it comes to support issues — someone can't log in, someone is locked out of their account, someone needs to onboard new users, someone can't renew a quote, or someone can't close out an opportunity. They're focused on fixing these types of issues, and it doesn't really involve building anything new.

Couple that type of work with the kind of stakeholders asking for it, and what you find are stakeholders coming in frazzled, wanting everything done immediately. That adds a sense of additional pressure on the people working these tickets. They're disillusioned with the gap between what they thought the job would be and what the reality actually is. On top of that, the stakeholders asking for things are often operating on unrealistic timelines.

Then there's the management layer — a team that may not be supporting you, but is trying to save face so they don't get fired. They add pressure on you to get work done so they look good to their own stakeholders. Sometimes people have to take on the helpdesk monkey persona in the hopes that they can eventually progress in their career and focus more on the strategic parts of maintaining Salesforce as a product within the business.

"I Love Being an Admin... But These Days I'm Just Happy to Have a Job"

This goes back to a sentiment I touched on earlier: we are seeing rounds of layoffs happen seemingly every few weeks. Large organizations are laying people off, describing the reason as wanting to "hire and fire low performers" — but it's really a way to make themselves look good and pump their company stock on Wall Street.

These layoffs send shockwaves throughout the labor market. People are scared. The idea of a full-time job being a stable position is sometimes seen as a fantasy, just because of what they've seen in the news. The idea of clinging to a stable job is something that placates them. Yeah, they're tired of the same monotonous work they do day in and day out, but they're honestly just happy to be getting a paycheck because it pays the bills, puts a roof over their head, and puts food on the table. The downside of having a boring job does not outweigh the downside of not having any money coming in.

On the Pressure, the Exhaustion, and the Coping Mechanisms

Another commenter said: "It's definitely more exhausting than your typical career. It's a very high pressure job and you're always learning. You're working with end users, which makes this career unique. I have my seasons where I'm over it too, but you just have to keep pushing. I've successfully tricked myself into thinking I like the job, and it's made it much more pleasant. Except for the helpdesk monkey part — I absolutely hate that. You could look into getting into management. I swear all my managers did nothing besides relay information and motivate the team, but they made significantly more than most of my team did."

I personally cannot speak to whether this career is more exhausting than a typical one, because the Salesforce industry has been all I have known since entering the white-collar working world. I have nothing to compare it to. I will say there are definitely times when it can be a very high pressure job. When you hear phrases like fast-paced or dynamic in a job description, those are essentially code words for being understaffed and not wanting to pay enough people to fix the problems. That is where the high pressure comes from.

The point about working with end users making this career unique is a good one. Every industry has stakeholders, but these stakeholders are directly tied to generating revenue. Salespeople who can't close out an opportunity or convert a lead because something is broken in Salesforce are going to let you know about it — loudly — because you're messing with their compensation. It's not life or death, but when you interfere with someone's pay, it can get very serious very quickly.

As for the comment about tricking yourself into liking the job — that's some sort of psychological coping, honestly. It's a coping mechanism. I don't know if that's healthy or not, but I'm just calling it out.

A Side Note: Managers and Salesforce Knowledge

A lot of the managers I've seen in my experience don't actually have deep Salesforce knowledge. They may have knowledge from other systems and just happen to inherit Salesforce as a product because they've done a good job schmoozing with leadership at a particular organization. The person responsible for the entire department will hand this manager Salesforce as an additional tool to maintain, not realizing it's quite different from all the other business systems — like NetSuite, Workday, and others.

That said, managing these systems is worth something. Managers are supposed to keep the engine of all the business systems running. When things are going well, individual contributors might say managers don't do anything. And honestly, sometimes that's true. But when the system isn't working well, those managers are working overtime trying to get things going.

"I Love Being an Admin, But I Hate Being Paid Like One"

One commenter said: "I love being an admin, but I hate being paid like one when I'm expected to do the work of a BA, a PM, and an architect." In spirit, I completely agree. This goes back to the idea of companies underpaying and overworking the skeleton crew they've assembled, because they've slashed budgets for CRM, IT, and all that.

But frankly, the reality is that a company is never going to come to one person and say, "You're doing the job of four people, so we're going to pay you like four people." That's just not going to happen — especially not as a W-2 employee delivering that message directly.

The way you could realistically command that kind of compensation is to move into fractional work, or — more importantly — position yourself as a Salesforce Architect who can build everything from soup to nuts. If you're currently making around $100,000 as an admin and you position yourself as an architect who can also handle admin-level work, you can command significantly more. With the right positioning, a $300,000 Salesforce Architect role is within reach if you play your cards right.

The key is being strategic about how you message your skill set. Saying "pay me the compensation of four people" isn't going to land anywhere. But messaging yourself as an architect who can also do the work of an admin — that slight nuance will absolutely get you higher compensation than what you're currently earning. You have to show how you move the needle for the business in a positive direction.