What Does an RPA Developer Do?

Let's imagine a world without repetitive, routine work tasks. Filling out forms, entering data, placing sales orders, completing payroll processes…

Different studies show that a significant portion of the tasks employees spend time on during the day are “repetitive” tasks.

Many businesses are turning to Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to automate the tasks mentioned above. As a result, the demand for RPA developers is steadily increasing.

In this article, we discuss not only the duties and responsibilities of this role but also the various skills required to become an RPA developer.

But first, let's take a look at what RPA is and how it works. 👀

What is RPA?

RPA is an optimization method that uses virtual bots to perform repetitive tasks that humans would normally handle.

According to Gartner, RPA means “Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a productivity tool that allows users to configure one or more scripts to automatically activate specific tasks.” 

Just like humans, software robots can perform tasks such as understanding what’s happening on the screen, completing correct keystrokes, navigating systems, identifying and extracting data. However, software robots can do this faster and more consistently than humans without needing to stand up, stretch, or take a coffee break.

The popularity of RPA has been steadily increasing since 2017. 📈

The use of software robots, which we never imagined a decade ago, amazed us. However, it has now changed the way tasks are completed.

RPA developer, software developers. An RPA developer utilizes the skills of a software developer, a business analyst, and a project manager.

They use RPA tools to create, deploy, and integrate software robots or “bots”. These bots automatically perform repetitive tasks without human labor. 

But how do they do this? 🤔 These bots mimic human actions while interacting with various applications and websites to perform predefined tasks.

Of course, the proportion of management and architectural responsibilities here depends on the company's priorities and the size of the RPA team.

So, what are the responsibilities of an RPA developer? Let's take a detailed look in the next section. 👀

What are the Responsibilities of an RPA Developer?

It would be more accurate to explain an RPA developer's responsibilities by categorizing them. 

The first phase involves analyzing a problem and designing automation solutions. 

The second phase encompasses coding, testing, and maintaining both the RPA bots and the entire ecosystem. 

Now, let's examine each phase in detail.

Business Analysis

An RPA developer must first analyze the manual process offered by the company to identify automation opportunities. 

Process improvement tools such as process mining or process mapping and strategies like creating process workflows can help visualize and document how manual processes are conducted in real life. This way, areas that can benefit from automation are identified. 

The responsibilities of an RPA developer in this phase are as follows:

• Problem Identification. One of the goals of an RPA developer is to identify and implement processes that can be automated. Therefore, it is their responsibility to uncover business processes that can be partially or fully automated with software to eliminate manual burdens and increase productivity.
• Requirements Gathering. While learning about the features of automation, an RPA developer must understand the needs of end users. They conduct interviews with employees to uncover pain points and steps involved.
• Exploring RPA Systems. The RPA industry has developed significantly and now encompasses thousands of business processes. In some cases, there may be no need to develop custom software to automate tasks.

The second part is more technical. 👇 

Now let’s look at their other tasks. 

RPA Development 

After the analysis phase above, the RPA developer is tasked with designing a bot that specifically reduces the problems encountered in the company. For example, a company may complain that the invoice processing phase of e-commerce orders takes too long. 

In this case, the developer should create a bot that automates the steps employees take to create an invoice. 

Moreover, the client may also want the bot to include features such as a help center for employees to resolve problems internally…

• Process Mining. Process mining is the practice of tracking corporate processes using data. This technique was developed to optimize the implementation of RPA (Robotic Process Automation) because business processes are often interconnected and can complement each other. RPA developers frequently use process mining to create automation strategies and discover the most suitable implementation tactics.
• Data Management. Data management is also a complementary part of process mining. Since most business processes involve data extraction, cleaning, and formatting, an RPA developer needs to understand how the data changes.
• Process Flow Control . Simply put, every automation follows a precise sequence of actions that each bot must execute. 🛤️ Process flow automation is a general term for tools that help RPA developers create these flows and provide if/else statements. For example, a process flow could be something like “If File is in format X, convert it to format Y.”. Of course, the process is not that simple. In fact, action sequences usually have a complex structure. Therefore, RPA developers need a control panel to create logical flows. This is one of the primary tasks in a general automation design.
• RPA Bot Development. This section covers the designing and coding process to automate the documented work tasks.
  Some RPA tools offer visual scripting features, allowing users without technical knowledge to create RPA bots.
  The user interface facilitates this process by offering built-in commands along with drag-and-drop features.
• Testing and Troubleshooting. After the bot is developed, it should be tested and integrated into the company's legacy systems via API.
  If there are issues such as incorrect code, integration errors, or low efficiency, the developer should revisit the design to resolve these problems.
• Designing the RPA Ecosystem. An RPA developer is typically tasked with designing the tool ecosystem, which will generally include the following components:

• User Interface: It is designed as a desktop or web-based application and provides business users with functions such as starting or stopping the bot, changing workflows, training, and adding new rules.

• Orchestration: Includes a management dashboard to control multiple bots and monitor performance and metrics. Orchestrators allow for scaling bot workflows and assigning different tasks to different bot groups.
• Training Interface: It is an interface designed for RPA bots to perform specific work tasks. It is usually offered as an integrated module within an editor or user interface.
• Physical or Virtual Servers: It includes the infrastructure used to deploy and run RPA software.

• Deploying RPA Components. The RPA developer is responsible for ensuring the deployment of automation software regardless of the application type.

Skills of an RPA Developer

As can be understood from the overall article, RPA developers are versatile experts. 🫡
In addition to programming knowledge, they must be aware of the company's business needs and processes.
By examining our partners' job postings, we have identified the skills they expect an RPA developer to have.

1. Analysis and Problem Solving

Since a significant part of the job involves analyzing internal processes and identifying automation opportunities, an RPA developer is generally expected to have a strong background in business analysis. Candidates with experience in business development and RPA are especially sought after in this regard.

2. Effective Communication 

Effective communication skills are important here as they are in every field. RPA developers must be able to communicate effectively with end users, development teams, and other stakeholders to successfully integrate automation into workflows. 

3. Programming Languages and Technical Skills

The most in-demand scripting language for RPA is Python'; this is followed by Visual Basic, which is used by some major RPA and hyper-automation vendors.
C/C# is commonly used to create desktop RPA software, while .NET/ASP.NET are popular frameworks that can be used to create both web and desktop cross-platform applications.
JavaScript is often required for web-based RPA development and is also used alongside Visual Basic in the automation ecosystem.
To retrieve historical data, it's recommended to use SQL queries because automation bots can easily understand them. By using SQL servers, the data retrieval process becomes more efficient and facilitates smoother data analysis. Therefore, having a comprehensive understanding of SQL querying is essential for RPA developers. 

4. Experience with RPA Tools

It is essential to have a comprehensive understanding of these tools to effectively implement and maintain RPA tools. 

5. Cloud Technologies

In addition to RPA-specific skills, knowledge of cloud technologies is becoming increasingly important. Most software businesses use cloud infrastructure, and although this is not an RPA-specific skill, having experience with AWS or Azure is required for deploying bots in the cloud.

6. Machine Learning Expertise

Another increasingly valuable skill is expertise in machine learning expertise. While RPA automates simple processes, it has evolved into a new technological branch called Cognitive Automation.
Machine learning, the combination of artificial intelligence and RPA, extends the capabilities of traditional bots.
Of course, machine learning is a complex field that requires specialized professionals to carry out activities related to model training. It is rare for a single person to have a background in software development, RPA, and machine learning.

Does an RPA Developer Need to Know Programming? 

While programming skills are necessary to become an RPA specialist, even those without programming knowledge can learn various tools and techniques used in the industry.
Technology has advanced so far today that you can find RPA tools on the market that can perform many advanced automation tasks without requiring any programming knowledge.
Most companies adopting RPA have standard solutions. Here, many ready-made options present themselves:

• UiPath
• Automation Anywhere
• Blue Prism 
• NICE 
• WorkFusion

These tools are not code-focused; they are more rule-based systems that assist in capturing workflows.
All you need to do is use simple business logic that uses if-else conditions. The good thing is, you can set these conditions with just a few clicks. 💆
If you are not a developer and want to enter the automation industry, learning tools like UiPath should be your priority.
Additionally, these RPA solutions provide certifications and training for general RPA knowledge and fundamental experience with RPA infrastructure. These certifications can also open the doors to a career in the field of robotic process automation.

RPA Certifications

UiPath Certification
It would not be wrong to say that UiPath is the most famous RPA learning platform in the RPA field.
The trainings on the platform cover every aspect of RPA. They also touch on business analysis aspects.
UiPath offers a community forum, RPA Academy, and training videos. RPA training programs typically focus on RPA developers. Recently, UiPath has also launched RPA training programs for RPA-related roles beyond RPA developers.

Automation Anywhere Certification
Unlike UiPath, Automation Anywhere has divided its training programs into role-specific skills such as Citizen Developer, Bot Developer, and Business Analyst.
The certification process is also divided into three categories:

• Basic RPA Certification for Students. It is a free course and certification program focused on the basics of RPA and RPA business applications for students and instructors.
• Automation Anywhere Certified Advanced RPA Specialist. This certification program covers in-depth topics such as automation case identification, using Automation Anywhere software to create bots, monitoring, and orchestration.
• Automation Anywhere Certified Master RPA Professional. This certification focuses on general knowledge about Automation Anywhere Enterprise solutions, how to develop bots, and how to build RPA infrastructure.

The Future of RPA

Currently, there are more than 80 RPA vendors globally, and most of the Fortune 500 are using RPA software. For example, UiPath claims that 8 out of the Fortune 10 companies use their software.
The market is quite concentrated. We looked at how many times each RPA company's brand name is searched on Google. More than 75% of search engine users are only searching for the names of the top 3 players: UiPath, Automation Anywhere and BluePrism.
Despite its popularity, the field of robotic process automation is still expected to grow.
The Robotic Process Automation (RPA) market was valued at $5.4 billion in 2024. Looking at the graph above, we can see a significant increase from 2022 to 2024. ↗️
The market size is expected to reach $81.8 billion by the year 2032.