Have you ever wondered if the “Certified UiPath Developer” title is an actual guarantee of knowledge and professional expertise (especially when you are on the hiring side?). In many instances – yes, it is. But in this article, I want to focus on the “certified” part a bit, to better understand what meaning lies behind it…
Who are Certified Senior UiPath developers?
First, some broader context: in my opinion UiPath has the best learning resources out of any RPA platform. They have enough material to keep anyone busy for weeks, if not months. The courses are well structured and they bring a lot of value and knowledge, especially if you are a fresh RPA dev.
Academy.UiPath is a great place for learning all the features of UiPath if you aren’t familiar with them, but… that’s it. The hard truth is that in no way it is practical nor does this give you any real coding experience.
After completing even one of the learning paths, a diploma of completion is issued. And here is where the problems start.
The classes are super easy to finish (not to master the material! Just to finish an actual course). It is just clicking through information to go further with short multiple-choice tests at the end of sections that can be taken an infinite number of times. I can easily imagine a situation when someone clicks through, does not learn anything, and ends up with a diploma.
And that’s the core of the issue with “certified UiPath developers”. These documents aren’t really certificates; they are diplomas of completion. They don’t show the actual expertise, they only show that a person has finished a given course.
Regardless of that, plenty of devs will put “UiPath Certified” on their resumes and on their LinkedIn anyway and, in some instances, create a false impression about their actual skills. At this point, someone looking for an RPA developer who doesn’t know anything about the subject matter will be impressed with their resume (just consider the example from the next chapter).
VERY IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:
There are some exceptions to this. There is a group of UiPath developers who have completed the actual, paid certification courses from UiPath: UiPath Certified RPA Associate (UiRPA) and UiPath Certified Advanced RPA Developer (UiARD). These certifications are more reliable and can be perceived as indicators of the dev’s skillset. But, as you can see in the example below, they are often being replaced by less valuable “certificates”.
Certified Senior UiPath developer – a real-life example
Consider this excerpt from a real-life “Certified Senior UiPath developer” resume we have received not that long ago.
Certificates Completed:
- RPA Developer Foundation
- RPA Developer Continuous Learning
- RPA solution Architect Foundation
- RPA Infrastructure Engineer Foundation
- RPA Business Analyst Foundation
- RPA Implementation Manager Foundation
First reaction? “Holy shit… This guy must be a pro! He also has one year of being a senior RPA developer on his resume… Let’s hire him!”
What is the reality?
This is a person with no technical know-how whatsoever who was sick of doing manual reports all day so he automated some of his simple tasks at work using UiPath. Once this person’s manager found out, he was promoted and received a title of a senior UiPath developer on the spot.
One year later he wants to ride the wave and make a developer’s salary so he is looking for a new job. Now as a Senior UiPath Developer with the resume to back it.
But, in reality, he was still junior level, without almost any proper knowledge of software development, ready to be defeated by the first, more complex problem (that will arise, sooner or later).
Conclusion – what REALLY matters?
Courses and certifications don’t mean anything if you don’t have experience and a technical mindset. In my opinion, four things are needed if you want to be a PROPER Robotic Process Automation developer:
- Technical mindset: to understand how automation works in the first place and being able to analyze the technical environment that will be automated;
- RPA platform knowledge: to correctly implement the automation;
- Project experience: to actually know how automation corresponds with real businesses and real products;
- Passion for automation: to always pursue the best solution available.
If a developer’s eyes don’t light up while talking about automation then well, she/he probably isn’t your perfect pick.
If they mostly were in charge of manual reports and then right after they became a senior RPA developer within the same company then probably something is not quite right.
Certification only makes sense if it is a supplement to one’s existing knowledge and expertise. It’s a great indicator of one’s professional attitude and a good summary of potential areas where your future dev can support your business and improve your processes.
But it cannot replace good ol’ coding experience.
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