My Experience With Automation Anywhere As A New Developer
Coming out of University with my Bachelor of Computing, I had no previous experience in professional development work. Finding a position was quite a daunting task but after a few months of searching I received a message from Greenlight Consulting. Before accepting the job, my first task was to research what RPA was, as I had never heard of it before. After a couple hours of research, I was interested and thought this would be a fun new tool to learn. After a couple of weeks, I joined Greenlight as a Junior RPA Developer.
My First Time Using Automation Anywhere
In my first few weeks, I was told that I would be learning about RPA and training with Automation Anywhere (AA) software. I started training through Automation Anywhere University, which gave me clear instructions on where to find various elements in the tool. This was my first look at our Automation Anywhere Control Room.
Automation Anywhere’s software is centralized around their Control Room. This is where you create bots, assign queues, add devices, and so on. After testing out some of the tools, I was able to wrap my head around AA’s robot builder. To me, it was an easy tool to learn, allowing me to quickly start creating my first robot. I found the tool to be very descriptive, providing the right information to me when needed (via AA’s product documentation). I began to understand where these concepts would be helpful and started to think of elements in my own life where I could apply these tools. I also realized that I could apply the skills I developed during my university career to my first Proof of Concept (PoC) at Greenlight. I was able to use my development cycle skills and my knowledge in Python, since it’s supported in AA’s software.
My first hands-on experience with Automation Anywhere showed me that automation doesn’t have to be complex. Coming into this field with no prior experience in RPA, Automation Anywhere made it simple.
After Taking A Deeper Dive
Next, I wanted to take a deeper dive into Automation Anywhere, to advance my knowledge and expand my toolkit.
Automation Anywhere has several centralized tools: RPA Workspace, Bot Insight, IQ Bot, Fortress IQ, and AARI. The two tools I’ve practiced with are IQ Bot and AARI. Before this job, I never thought about this form of automation but the more I learned and researched, the more I found how popular and necessary these tools are.
IQ Bot – Combining RPA and AI
I needed a little help from online resources but picked up on the tool rather quickly. IQ Bot is Automation Anywhere’s Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) tool. This tool is used to extract data from documents and store it as readable data for a robot to process. Mapping and teaching the robot became rather easy. I liked the process of teaching and learning how this tool interacted with my task robots. Since learning about IQ Bot, I’ve tried learning other Intelligent Document Processing tools. I might be a bit biased towards AA, since their software was the first that I learned, but I found that IQ Bot was easiest to learn.
Something that posed a challenge for me was IQ Bot’s dashboard. Understanding the different elements and data being displayed was difficult at first, but as I learn more, the more pleasant the journey has been.
AARI – Cloud RPA
AARI was a bit more of a struggle for me. AARI, Automation Anywhere’s Robotic Interface, is a tool used to build and display forms to an agent in the automation loop. I quickly learned how to build forms and processes with the tool by reviewing on-demand video tutorials.
AARI has made great improvements since its debut and I’m happy to see how much work AA’s team put towards this product in the newest update, Automation 360 v23. I plan to start utilizing AARI on projects and with each version update, I’d like to continue to push the limits and communicate my findings and suggestions to their team.
6 Months Into RPA
Being new to the professional development world, I’ve learned a lot from my experiences so far. Automation Anywhere has taught me many new skills and allowed me to apply prior knowledge to their easy-to-understand application. It has also allowed me to learn more about what the field of RPA has to offer. After seeing AA’s most recent updates, I’m excited to not only grow as a developer but grow with Automation Anywhere. Who knows? Maybe, my next suggestion will be included in a new update!
After completing my first Automation Anywhere project at Greenlight, I was happy to hear how glad the client was with the product and happy to see they appreciated some of my personal touches. I strongly recommend any new graduates who aren’t sure what they want to pursue to consider jumping into the world of RPA. 6 months ago, I didn’t know what to expect but I’m glad I took the leap into the unknown!
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