Automation is slowly but steadily making its presence felt in every sphere of our lives. And when it comes to software development, automation is the way to develop and test a complex software build. Robotic Process Automation, or RPA, is an extension of automation wherein repetitive and voluminous operations are performed by leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning skills. An RPA framework allows businesses to develop quality software quickly and deploy it to the market. According to the market research firm, Gartner, global spending on RPA is expected to reach $2.9 billion in 2022. This represents an increase of 19.5 percent over the previous year. This would mean a spiralling demand for developers with RPA expertise. Let us understand what makes an RPA developer a hot career choice and much sought after for businesses.
- Fast growing global enterprise technology
- The growing complexity of systems and processes
- Low learning curve
- Better customer engagement and business outcomes
- Minimize risks and costs
- Reduction in data entry errors
- Better quality of data
- Reduced IT workload
- More focus on IT innovation
- Minimal exposure to sensitive data
- Better maintenance of an audit trail
The blog discusses the top 6 RPA skills any developer would need to build robust RPA solutions for businesses.
The Top 6 RPA Skills Every Developer Should Have
Before we get into RPA skills, it's important to understand the role of an RPA developer in software development. The person creates RPA bots to automate manual workflows that are repetitive and voluminous. However, to do so, the developer must identify the manual processes that need to be prioritized for automation. To have the right RPA expertise, a developer should have the below-mentioned skills:
Strategic planning: The first task associated with any RPA project is planning. It involves setting design goals and mapping the workflow to make RPA implementation a smooth affair. All the advantages of implementing RPA will come to nought if the team does not have a proper strategy and roadmap. Also, setting a project timeline and establishing a clear line of communication are important facets of planning, for these will help other members of the workforce accept the changes.
Analytics: Since RPA is about automating processes, it is important to identify, evaluate, and prioritize such processes. It is not necessary to drive RPA automation for every process and end up creating issues for others in the value chain. Analytics should involve identifying common jobs that are performed differently across processes and disciplines. The developer should create a template for the standardization of such jobs to optimize the workflow.
Problem solving: Any digital process automation can have built-in errors, which need to be identified and mitigated before they derail the exercise. The developer should possess problem-solving skills to first identify and then understand the impact of specific errors and debug them. Problem-solving skills can come in handy when the person is in charge of testing and fixing bugs in the build. This can save both time and effort later on.
Knowledge of programming languages: Although RPA is all about the use of low-code or no-code, any developer would need to investigate the underlying processes. He or she should be able to understand the underlying programming languages of the RPA framework to maintain them. Languages such as Python, C/C++, Java, and Ruby, among others, can help developers write custom code to enable the bots to conduct more complicated tasks.
Basic workflow design: Basic workflow design skills are important for any developer to design and develop bot workflows. These may include having RPA expertise in decision trees and tables, UML diagrams, state machines, decision diamonds, and BPMN, or Business Process Modelling Notation. The workflow design should be created accurately, with all possible infinite loops identified and remedied, and test cases created.
Knowledge of Document Object Model (DOM): It is not easy for any developer to search for a specific web element in the recorder. It is important to understand the Document Object Model, or DOM, to analyze the source code of any webpage. A DOM is a language-independent and cross-platform programming interface that represents a webpage in the form of a tree structure. It allows programs to change the style, structure, and content of a web document.
Conclusion
RPA services are going to be much sought after as businesses in diverse domains, such as inventory management, healthcare, retail, manufacturing, and others, leverage them. As an evolving technology, RPA needs developers who understand its nitty-gritty and are able to achieve its objectives. The above-mentioned skills can help any RPA services provider transform the business workflow and deliver optimal outcomes.