The 2020 US Emerging Jobs Report on LinkedIn provides interesting news in the robotics field. “Robotics engineering careers are highly dependent on software and hardware roles. Our data shows an increasing number of engineers working on both virtual and physical bots.”
Hardware robots remain the realm of capital-intensive manufacturing, but with the advent of robotic process automation (RPA), software robots are becoming more commonplace in office work. As one of the fastest growing industries, RPA is leading to the emergence of new professions, according to Gartner. One of them is his RPA developer.
Let's take a look at the role of RPA developers as interest in automation technology grows. This article analyzes the duties, responsibilities, and skills typical of this role. We also discuss the qualifications required to hire or hire an RPA developer.
What is Robotic Process Automation in a nutshell
To understand the role of an RPA developer, let's first explain what RPA is. Robotic process automation is the practice of using software bots designed to perform routine business tasks. Data transfer or transaction approval are some of the most typical cases of RPA automation.
If the sequence of actions is as simple as "download document >> change format >> upload to destination folder", RPA bots can be applied to this process. The program memorizes the steps of the process and repeats them again and again. And in most cases, these bots are designed for business users, so they don't require any programming language to operate.
This is an overview of RPA. For more information, see articles on various aspects of this technology.
What is RPA Developer
An RPA developer is a software team role focused on designing these automated bots. Although the name includes the word "developer", RPA developers leverage the skills of software engineers, business her analysts, and project managers, so their typical tasks are typical software development routines. Not suitable for
RPA bots can be deployed at scale, automating thousands of processes at once. So once you get past 10 bots, the technology starts scaling with its own servers, monitoring tools, and operational dashboards.
Depending on their level of experience, RPA developers are responsible for programming the actual bots or designing an ecosystem of automation tools. The level of management and architectural responsibility will vary depending on company priorities and the size of her RPA team.
Now let's look at the main roles of RPA developers to understand the full scope of their duties.
RPA developer responsibilities
Responsibilities can be divided into phases of RPA development. The first phase involves business analysis of the problem and design of the automation solution. The second task includes coding, testing, and maintaining both the RPA bot and the ecosystem as a whole. Let's take a closer look at each phase.
Business analysis duties
Problem detection. RPA developers are responsible for exploring automation possibilities. Your job is to identify business processes that can be partially or fully automated with software to eliminate manual labor and improve productivity. So, this involves analyzing your company's business domain, finding the key points of your business, and knowing which parts of your processes can be automated.
Collect requirements. The RPA developer gathers end-her user requirements while learning more about potential automation cases. This is typically done by interviewing employees to uncover pain points and procedures in completing tasks.
Explore commercial RPA systems. The RPA industry is sophisticated and already covers thousands of business processes at once. As such, you may not need to develop custom software to handle your business tasks. In this case, the RPA developer is responsible for searching for RPA solutions and investigating whether this particular bot is suitable for the business task.
Document the business process steps. To automate the process, RPA developers learn the logic of tasks and the actual steps a worker takes to complete a task. Document this information to enhance collaboration with your software development team to create your bot's design.
These roles are found in most RPA jobs. Most companies need help understanding the right RPA software solution and want to determine if there is a need for automation. Then proceed to the task of software development.
RPA development responsibilities
As mentioned earlier, RPA software is often deployed at scale. This requires RPA developers to develop the right ecosystem of tools for deploying bots, monitoring their performance, and integrating them with the company's other technologies. As a software developer, this role comes with several responsibilities.
Process mining. Process mining is the technique of using data to monitor business processes. This technique was developed to streamline his RPA implementations, as business processes are often interconnected and can complement each other. RPA developers often use process mining to develop automation strategies and explore the best implementation tactics.
Data management. Another part of process mining is data management. Most business processes deal with extracting, manipulating, and formatting data, so RPA developers need to understand how data changes. Each RPA system proposes its own method of extracting and labeling data from various sources. This aspect basically includes the following operations:
- data extraction methods,
- data cleaning,
- verification process,
- formatting, and
- data output configuration.
Process flow control. Simply put, all automations follow a strict set of actions that each bot must perform. Process flow automation is a collective term for tools that help RPA developers create these flows and provide if/then statements.
However, action sequences generally have a more complex structure, so RPA developers need a control panel to create the logical flow. This is one of the main tasks in general automation design.
RPA bot development. This part involves designing and coding automation software for documented business tasks. Some vendors have implemented visual scripting tools. This is basically how non-technical users can build RPA bots without any code knowledge. The UI provides a drag-and-drop interface with built-in commands for designing flowcharts for use by your bot.
Testing and troubleshooting. As part of quality control, RPA developers are responsible for maintaining bots and finding and fixing code issues.
Designing an RPA ecosystem. The RPA system includes various tools for users to control bots and manage their digital workforce through a dedicated interface. RPA developers are often responsible for designing an ecosystem of tools that includes the following components:
- User Interface – A desktop or web application that allows business users to start or stop bots, modify workflows, provide training, new rules, and other functionality.
- Orchestration – A management dashboard for controlling multiple bots and monitoring performance and metrics so that orchestrators can change bot workflows at scale and assign different tasks to different groups of bots .
- Training Interface – Software for building RPA bots that perform specific business tasks, mostly modules integrated into a user interface or orchestrator. and A physical or virtual server to host the RPA software.
Note that coding the actual software is usually a common task for software developers.
Deploy the RPA components. Regardless of implementation type, RPA developers can help deploy automation software to ensure reliability on any device.
Monitoring RPA development. If she has only one RPA specialist in the company, she is more likely to act as a technical leader or manager of the development process. This requires working closely with other software developers to communicate requirements and manage RPA implementations.
Given this combination of business analytics and software development, candidates for the RPA developer role need to acquire very specific skills. Now let's talk about them.
RPA developer skills
Knowledge of programming languages depends on company-specific tech stacks, but there are a few that are considered must-haves for RPA developers. When browsing company job postings, we can point out the following skills that are most commonly required:
Analytical ability. A business background is usually required as a significant part of the job involves handling internal processes. This is important to get the process flow right and show automation opportunities.
Problem solving. This is when solving a problem is more than just a bullet point on your resume. Because RPA is designed to solve business problems, streamline budgeting, and solve productivity problems. As such, you should look out for candidates who combine a business development background with his RPA experience.
Good communication skills. Soft skills are required to effectively communicate between end users, development teams, and other stakeholders. Because RPA developers act as both business analysts and software developers (or leaders), their work requires a great deal of communication and elaboration.
Understand UX principles. This skill applies to any development role and is highly required for RPA software. The primary user group is business, not technical, so the interface and bot training should be as intuitive as possible to ensure successful integration into your workflow.
Handle mining skills. As a specific part of RPA activities, most RPA-related roles require a deep understanding of process mining.
Experience with programming languages. Here we group programming languages and frameworks commonly needed to work with automation bots.
Python is the most in-demand scripting language for RPA, as various bots use scripts written in Python and some of its libraries.
Visual Basic itself is considered the popular language for RPA, but some major vendors like Automation Anywhere and UIPath use VB as their primary language.
C/C# is another popular language group for building desktop RPA software.
.NET/ASP.NET is a C language group and Visual Basic framework. .NET is a framework platform for building cross-platform web and desktop applications and is a popular choice for writing RPA software in C/C#.
JavaScript is often required to build web-based RPA. It is also required to use the Automation Anywhere ecosystem with Visual Basic.
Experience using RPA tools. The majority of companies adopting RPA use off-the-shelf solutions from RPA vendors. With so many out-of-the-box solutions, the RPA developer's position is limited to implementing and maintaining technology from the market. Nonetheless, experience with such tools is required even for senior positions, so we list the most popular technologies.
- UiPath
- Automation Anywhere
- Blue Prism
Now let's take a look at some non-RPA skills that are often highly valued when hiring RPA developers.
Knowledge of cloud technology. Most software companies use cloud infrastructure to implement their enterprise software. Server configuration on AWS or Azure is not RPA-specific knowledge, but deploying bots to the cloud often requires such experience.
Machine learning expertise. RPA is an enabling technology that helps automate simple processes. However, over the years, RPA has evolved into a new technology area called cognitive automation. It's a fusion of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and RPA that radically expands the capabilities of traditional bots.
Remember, machine learning is a complex field. Therefore, he rarely has a single person with a background in software development, RPA, and machine learning, so it makes more sense for him to hire a dedicated expert to perform the activities related to model training. I'm here.
One of the most mentioned things about RPA developers is the RPA certification offered by leading process automation platforms. Now let's talk about what it is and why it matters.
What is RPA certification
The RPA industry is growing in popularity as companies realize the power of automation. Advances in cognitive automation are further expanding the range of business processes that can be automated. This has led to increased interest in RPA technology and hiring of experts in the field.
Since the majority of automation systems are provided by RPA vendors, hiring often requires RPA certification. A certificate is an indicator that someone has completed free or paid training in working with a specific her RPA platform. He has three main companies that provide training and certification.
- UiPath,
- Blue Prism, and
- Automation Anywhere.
Let's take a closer look at the certification process and flesh out the type of training each provider offers.
UIPath certification
UiPath is the largest educator in the RPA space. The course covers all components of RPA software, but also touches on aspects of business analytics.
The UiPath Academy certification process encourages learning different parts of the platform, including UiPath Studio, Orchestrator tools, and data manipulation. These courses provide training on general RPA knowledge and basic RPA infrastructure experience.
UiPath certifications fall into two categories:
The UiPath Certified RPA Associate (UiRPA) is a learning program for junior RPA specialists in all roles. This includes RPA developers, RPA architects or solution architects, and business analysts. A certified staff member is more likely to solve simple automation tasks or be a member of an automation team led by a highly skilled RPA developer.
The UiPath Certified Advanced RPA Developer (UiARD) is a certification for experienced RPA professionals that builds on previous courses. Her advanced RPA developer can solve any automation task and lead automation initiatives within the company.
Course content includes working with RPA platforms, creating bots, and building the right infrastructure.
Automation Anywhere certification
Automation Anywhere divides courses into role-specific skills and suggests three types of training:
Citizen Developer. This course will familiarize you with the Automation Anywhere platform and the basics of RPA. This course provides theoretical knowledge of automated case detection and practical knowledge of building basic bots.
Bot developer. This is an in-depth course on RPA software development, training, deployment, and maintenance.
Business analyst. This course provides an in-depth look at RPA business analysis, automation case identification, RPA strategies, and process mining.
The Automation Anywhere Certification process is split into three categories:
Essentials RPA certification for students. Free courses and exams for students and educators on RPA Fundamentals, Automation Anywhere Platform Fundamentals, and RPA Business Applications.
Automation Anywhere Certified Advanced RPA Professional. This exam covers in-depth topics such as identifying automation cases, building bots using Automation Anywhere software, monitoring, and orchestration.
Automation Anywhere Certified Master RPA Professional. This exam is related to Automation Anywhere Enterprise solutions and general knowledge of developing bots and creating RPA infrastructure. This also includes a deep understanding of his RPA applications for business use cases.
BluePrism certification
Blue Prism University is an educational platform for RPA developers with a focus on intelligent (cognitive) automation. Courses in this program cover the fundamentals of RPA development and infrastructure management of the Blue Prism platform. However, specifically for this vendor, training in AI applications of RPA is included.
Blue Prism Certification includes six types of certificates:
Developer. Her Junior to Mid-level RPA Developer certification covering RPA development, data management, RPA debugging, and other aspects of Blue Prism RPA.
Professional developer. A certification for experienced developers that focuses on developer practices, automation details in various environments such as browsers, security practices, and more.
Solution designer. His RPA software solution design exam with a range of exams covering enterprise RPA solution design, scalability practices, data management software, web services, and orchestration techniques.
Technical architect. Backend developer exam on his RPA infrastructure using Blue Prism.
Robot Operating Model Architect. A Certificate of Business Operations/Business Analysis designed for the business aspects and strategic planning of his RPA implementation for an organization.
Installation architect. Database and Infrastructure Developer Exam for RPA Systems.
Why is RPA certification important?
Now, you might ask why RPA certification is important and who should be concerned with it?
Certification is another way for employers to verify an applicant's skill level. Such courses do not cover general software development skills, but provide a solid foundation for acquiring RPA-specific knowledge. In some cases, like UiPath, no coding is required to create a bot.
Another reason certifications are important to employers is their focus on specific RPA platforms. To summarize the idea, such training includes a large knowledge base on how to create RPA and how to design workflows on specific platforms. So if you plan to use Blue Prism as your main automation software, it makes sense to pay attention to its certification.
From an employee's perspective, certification may be required for certain companies, but it is not required to work in the industry.
However, this is the easiest way to get started as an RPA specialist. Before the exam, you'll learn more about her RPA as it applies to any business, not just your vendor's customers. Additionally, certification is one way to participate in the developer community. For example, UiPath courses offer mentoring and open communication channels with people in the industry. This proves the value of training and testing.
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