The article is based on events that have taken place, nothing has changed.

When I first heard from my workplace manager that I should join the RPA business, I knew nothing about what it was, I first heard this acronym. At first reading, I thought it was going to be some kind of programming task, we’re just going to program some sort of robots here, and I found that very exciting. We chose the most dynamic, cutting-edge solution for RPA, which is none other than UiPath. Well, the strength of this solution is exactly what is more disadvantageous for developers, or less attractive, let alone programming.

What is the UiPath solution really about?

In a well-thought-out development tool, we can put together the process we want to automate by fitting and setting up the activities we have already created one after the other. Of course, minimal programming knowledge is required because we can use quite a few callable functions or procedures. It is important to note here that the UiPath solution is “understood” only in Visual Basic, the leading programming language of .NET, C #, unfortunately, cannot be used “due to the specifics of the framework”. So UiPath is a great solution, because with minimal programming knowledge, at the cost of very little actual programming, we can achieve spectacular results, but at the same time, this approach can provoke resentment from a classic professional so far, because for them "secretarial work", "legos". may give the impression.

The good news for those interested in the topic is that UiPath professionals have developed a complete training and certification system for teaching their product, many elements of which are available for free after registration. The training is extremely versatile, after the general descriptions there is separate training for business analysts, architects, developers, all of which are labeled “Technical” and “Non-technical”.

It can be said about each training that it presents qualitative, concise, necessary information well, it supports the practical acquisition properly. Continuing the video training, we can solve practical tasks after each larger group. PDF files will help us solve the tasks if we get stuck. The solution of the practice tasks is optional, the actual solution of these is not checked by the system, we can continue the study material even if we have downloaded the files related to the tasks.

At the end of each training session, apart from a few cases, we can give an account of our acquired knowledge by solving single-choice or multiple-choice quizzes of the same structure. Solutions can be considered successful from 70%, unlimited for smaller training, with 3 retries for larger, developer training. If these options run out, the entire relevant training should be restarted.

It should be noted here that, unfortunately, the quiz questions leave something to be desired from a testing technology point of view: in several cases, I have found that the questions cannot be answered correctly, or if we have given a definite good answer, it is still considered bad. There are also cases where they are asked about something that does not occur either during the training or during the solution of the practical tasks, not even at the level of mention.

Regardless, if someone is doing the training honestly, that is, taking the time to complete the practice tasks, and not just skipping them, its UiPath Academy training series provides a great foundation for passing the Certified Developer certification exam.

I will present to those who are interested in a possible course along which the training can be carried out:

• Level 1 - Foundation Training
• RPA Developer - SAP Automation Training
• Level 2 - Orchestrator 2016.2 Training
• Level 3 - Advanced Training
• Level 2 - Orchestrator 2018.1 Training
• Level 2 - Orchestrator 2017.1 Training
• UiPath - Solution Architect Training
• Level 1 - Foundation Training - revamped - 2018.2
• Level 2 - Orchestrator 2018.2 Training
• Business Analyst Training
• RPA Implementation Methodology Training
• RPA Awareness Training
• UiPath Security Training
• Level 1 - Foundation Training - 2018.3
• Level 2 - Orchestrator 2018.3 Training
• AI Computer Vision

It is important to know that the individual training is updated from time to time together with the software versions, new training appears, and the proposed training collections and learning plans belonging to each field are also available as a novelty. I emphasize that completing the training is not a condition for obtaining the qualification, but it is highly recommended.

“Level 3 advanced training” is a bit different from the rest because here we have to give assignments, i.e. this is the first point in the training series where our practical knowledge is tested. It is worth reading the description and solution attached to the tasks, but of course, the two tasks can be solved in your way. My experience is that the system does not check the uploaded files themselves, but the correctness of the data in the test system after the task is completed. This is why we ask that we do not reset the test data after completing the task, because in this case, we will achieve an extremely impressive 0% result.

If we have already accumulated enough strength, determination, and knowledge for ourselves to be able to qualify after or without training, but we have to apply for it separately. The qualifying exam consists of two parts: a theoretical quiz, which is similar in structure, and, unfortunately, in its operational quality to the usual quizzes of the training. 40 questions have to be answered in the given time, but unfortunately, sometimes the system crashes, so in my case, 3 questions were simply missed, which of course counts as a point of error. No need to be scared, it’s “just” annoying, but the theoretical part can be accomplished for the first time.

After the theoretical part, we get a practical task, in which we will have to solve a slightly more complex automation task, we have 4 hours to do this, we have to upload all the files we created and the file created during the solution in the form of a compressed file. Here, too, we have 3 attempts, after an unsuccessful completion we do not get the same task, only a very similar one, and in the case of the qualification, we get a 10-10% deduction from the result of the next attempt. My experience is that the tasks can be solved in the given 4 hours, the practical part can be completed first. With some follow-up, we can also find type tasks and solutions on the internet that we will come across very similar to in the exam. Upon successful certification, we will receive a one-year Certified Developer electronic certificate.

Overall, the UiPath platform is truly at the forefront of RPA implementation, however, as with all new technologies, there are still pediatric diseases here, often causing a very strong headache about why individual activities are not working properly.

In short, therefore, it is also true here that "Only he who can bear may come." But anyone who can stand it can gain proficiency in innovative technology, evolving along with the technology itself. And ultimately what else could be the XXI. is it the job of 21st century IT professionals to take the world forward to meet such challenges?