Like many after college, I hadn’t landed on what career I wanted to pursue. I loved English Literature, so studied that for enjoyment rather than long-term aspirations.
Post university, I discovered technology as a profession, somewhat by chance. I was invited to an IT course by a friend. They insisted the course had been designed for people without formal IT training or education. Well, that would be me.
The course was based on software robotics and creating them for clients. This was the first time I heard the terms ‘Robotic Process Automation’ (RPA) and ‘Citizen Developer’. I felt immediately out of my depth. But it was that feeling that lit a fire in me.
For the next week, I learned the basics of using Automation Anywhere (IFs, Loops, variables, UI interactions etc.) whilst simultaneously studying and attempting to create my own automations at home. This is also where I learnt what an excellent learning resource YouTube can be. Thousands of people, all posting videos on Guides, common exceptions, hierarchy, security, architecture, and best practices. I became intent on learning as much as I could as quickly as I could.
On day three of the training course, we were introduced to the Automation Anywhere University. This is a resource that offers training and accreditations for free. I began investing as much time into this resource as I possibly could. One accreditation after another, I eventually gained my Advanced Developer, Master Developer, Train the Trainer, and more.
I had started the course as a novice; the only member of my class intake without any IT experience, but by the end of the course, I received full marks and a job offer. I was the only student to do so.
Fast forward six months, I became the person who taught the course to both national and international corporate clients.
Whilst I had downtime from the course demands, I was also developing automations on client projects including IQ Bot implementations as well as mastery and accreditation of multiple versions of Automation Anywhere (v10, v11 A2019 & A360).
When the pandemic hit the UK in early 2020, I decided to diversify my expertise. I was intrigued that UiPath was dominating the European RPA market. I wanted to learn why and build further expertise aligned to this business that clearly had much to offer.
I utilised UiPath’s free training resource. Again, this was a deep and detailed resource offering large amounts of free accreditations and certifications. I decided to complete as many of the training courses as possible.
I began implementing UiPath automations via a community license for my own business startup. Who doesn’t have a side hustle, right? I used these automations in lieu of paying for premium costs such as stock inventory, email receipting and sticker printing of addresses.
Shortly after starting that business, I was offered a chance to utilise and expand my UiPath skills at Embracent – a UiPath partner – and have now been a UiPath specialist at Embracent for over two years. What I have really enjoyed is that, accreditations aside, working day-in day-out with clients – beyond the theory – one can see first-hand the real-life challenges businesses face, and the tangible difference a well-architected RPA solution can bring. In my experience, study is essential but there’s nothing like real client experience to bring understanding of these solutions to life.
For those who may wish to become Citizen or Professional developers, here are my top five tips from my own career journey;
- Self-development can’t be optional.
You must strive to be the best in the room at all times, whereas people may have natural advantages such as Computer Science degrees, you must makeup what you don’t possess with niche skills, curiosity, charisma and willingness to go the extra mile. - Learn as much as you can from other people.
YouTube, training courses, online resources, uDemy and forums are great ways to help you solve developmental problems as well as learn. - Stay up to date.
RPA Software vendors are constantly updating their software. You must stay up to date on all the new features, betas and marketing they release as this is what clients will want to know. - Practise by yourself.
People learn in very different ways: for me, I found the most effective to be hands-on learning. The majority of RPA software is free for personal use. Both Automation Anywhere and UiPath have free community versions that can be downloaded, installed and setup in less than thirty minutes. - If you find it interesting – learn it!
Whilst RPA is a skill in its own, it leverages several other technologies that can broaden your horizons when attempting to become a professional developer. Databases, APIs, Excel and Python are just some of the technologies that RPA can leverage. If you find anything interesting about these sub-topics: playing around, learning and perhaps getting accredited in these technologies can boost your skillset as well as your CV.
