Hacks To Make the Life of An RPA Developer Easier

A developer’s life can be stressful in general. Developers are frequently faced with deadlines, complexities, and testing challenges, all of which can have an impact on code quality. Writing error-free code may be impossible under these conditions.
Similarly, RPA developers face a slew of responsibilities and are frequently required to perform multiple tasks from project to project (or even day-to-day). Among these responsibilities are:

  • Developing process design.
  • Creating a process design.
  • Workflow design, development, and automation.
  • Creating documentation for the process.
  • Automation quality assurance.
  • Bots, RPA components, and development tools are being deployed.
  • Assisting with the implementation of RPA projects.

Keeping foregoing in mind, whether you are a beginner or an experienced RPA developer, following these helpful professional tips will save you time and significantly improve the quality of your code.

Process design document helps scales automation delivery.

A process design document (PDD) contains the necessary details about the process flow that will be developed within robotic process automation, as well as the standard step sequences of the manual and automated (to-be) processes.
A clear, consistent, and detailed PDD serves as a platform for developers to use to create/design an automated solution in an organized and consistent manner. A PDD provides a comprehensive view (high-level visibility) of the process to be automated and serves as the foundation for how a bot will handle it. From there, an RPA developer will delve deeper into the specifics of each business process. The PDD is part of the larger picture of an RPA project implementation, it must include precise details of all processes and components (down to the keystroke level) for organized and consistent automation.

Communicate Effectively

Engage with your team. Discuss your ideas, whatever they may be. Sharing ideas can help you overcome any obstacles that may arise. It is also useful in determining the best course of action. Keep communications as clear and precise as possible to avoid confusion. Once the team has decided on a course of action, ensure that everyone follows it in order for the project to be completed successfully.

Set realistic timeline!

We will not provide you with a complicated formula to calculate the time it will take to build a feature.

We agree that having too much time can lead to procrastination and unnecessary budget spending, whereas having too little time puts pressure on the developer and can affect the quality of the code. Isn’t it complicated? Experienced developers can benefit from previous experience, but here are some pointers for new developers:

Divide your task into smaller parts and estimate how long it will take to complete each one. Improve your understanding of all requirements and ensure you are not missing any important information. You will have an idea of how long it will take to complete the task.

Have faith in your abilities; if you’ve worked on a similar project before, you’ll be able to make more accurate estimates.

Set a maximum limit for a single task. Estimate team interactions/meetings, testing, initial deployment, amendments, bug fixing, and other factors.

External settings should not be hardcoded (when necessary)

Hard coding, which is the process of embedding configuration data directly into source code, is a software development process that can convey inflexibility in software design and implementation. Process owners should be able to change automation values/variables without the need for developer assistance. RPA developers should instead strive to avoid duplicated knowledge in their systems. If you need to change something, such as an error message, there should be a single place (code/configuration) where you can do so.
Put yourself in the shoes of the other person and consider how much time it would take to change the logic if changes were required. As a result, RPA developers should avoid hard coding and instead allow process owners to easily modify the settings by storing them in a configurable file.

Make your RPA process simple to understand.

A seamless transition from one developer to the next is critical for any automation project. As an RPA developer, you are not only writing code for yourself; we encourage the ease of RPA development and deployment for new developers who join the environment. So, prioritize code clarity.

Test your process thoroughly.

Testing is one of the most important goals of software development because it speeds up the process. Testing should be preferred by RPA developers for a smooth life cycle, reduced processing time, easy adaptability, and improved product quality. As a result, test-driven development gives RPA developers more confidence in the quality of their code. However, some inexperienced developers may fail to test their code at all. Testing allows RPA developers to ensure that the bot is functioning properly. As a result, they should run their code as frequently as possible.

To solve frustrating problems, enlist the assistance of Forums and communities.

During the development stage, RPA developers, particularly newcomers, face several challenges. If you come across one, try Googling your problem. Other developers are more likely to have encountered the problem and found a solution. One useful resource is the UiPath forum and starscancode forum, where developers share their experiences and solutions.

Modular design gives development structure.

Splitting complex business processes, including various tasks with different steps, into clearly defined modular components is referred to here. Consider actual business processes that are complex and include multiple tasks, each with its own set of steps.
We recommend that RPA developers do not dive right into development without first considering the tasks within a process. It is preferable to divide the solution into modular components with distinct input and output parameters. As a result, changes to one module will have no effect on other modules. Modularity not only adds structure to the bot development stage, but it also makes your solution more adaptable to change.

Make a repository of reusable framework.

To accelerate development efforts and reduce implementation time and errors, you can add reusable RPA framework (connectors/integrators, process solutions, workflow, skill, component, activity, and so on) to a common library.
Create these once and reuse them to handle a specific task, such as manipulating spreadsheets, sending emails, and sharing logins between automation.
RPA bot development is a time-consuming component of RPA implementation, and such libraries will drastically reduce development time.

 

Although some of these tips may appear tedious or time consuming at first, once you incorporate them into your daily coding routine, you will notice improved work performance and efficiency throughout your daily tasks.

Are you ready to begin your career in RPA development?

Without a doubt, RPA technologies provide tremendous opportunities for increased productivity, scalability, predictability, quality, reliability, suitability, and both customer and employee satisfaction levels.

If you want to start a career in RPA development, you should choose an RPA platform like UiPath to help you hone your skills. Contact us today to get started.

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