We sat down with UiPath training course graduate Dan Howles from SSCL, who previously had minimal IT experience, to ask him about his experience since attending our classroom training. Dan attended classroom training in July 2019, and has already automated four RPA processes at SSCL, and is confidently continuing to assess more for future improvement.
Dan, what’s your role within SSCL?
“I’d been working in HR administration and now am focused on RPA development to automate HR processes, looking at everything from recruitment to processing holiday requests. I’ve been looking at manual and repetitive tasks, where perhaps data is moved between systems or updates are processed, to see how the bots can help.”
Prior to your UiPath training, what experience did you have of IT and process automation?
Did you expect to be asked to take part in the RPA training?
“Not exactly. About a year ago, I made myself known to those running the project. Despite having minimal IT experience, I was keen to get involved as I was very interested in the potential that something like this could offer the business and thought it would be a good opportunity to expand my skill set“
How did you get on during your UiPath Advanced Developer training?
“I thoroughly enjoyed it. Having already gone through the UiPath online academy, it was good to have the theory backed up with hands-on experience. I prefer a hands-on approach to things, and the classroom environment helped me visualise it rather than purely relying on theory. I would certainly recommend classroom training to anyone – IT fluent or not. It’s incredibly valuable to have someone training you that’s worked on real projects and has experienced the challenges involved.”
How did the Morpheus team help you with the training?
Give examples of processes that were automated, and the outcome of automating them.
What support have you received from your employer and/or Morpheus since doing the training?
“Since the training, I have really latched on to RPA and continue to be inspired by how it can help us make things more efficient and give the staff the opportunity to focus on other tasks. I have received ongoing support in terms of my employer allowing me to spend more time focusing on RPA, an expansion from my previous role, and Morpheus are on hand to answer further questions, which has made things a lot easier.”
What would you say to other people who are asked to take part in an RPA project?
“I’ve already recommended others to do what I did. For me, it felt like a natural extension of my job. It can open up different paths and opportunities, free you to look at challenges differently, and help drive change. It’s certainly a new toolbox that can answer certain business challenges. It opens up technology to non-technical people, which is exciting and any company would benefit from this approach.”
What outcome of your RPA projects are you most proud to have been a part of?
“I’m proud of finishing my accreditation and the fast turnaround that followed. SSCL was also put forward for the most disruptive business award and I was asked to go to London to represent them, which was an honour for me and not something I’d ever done before.”
Investing in training your employees, who may believe they are not technologically literate enough or perhaps insufficiently qualified to be a part of cross-business RPA modernisation programs, has the added benefit of helping them overcome this fear and will make them feel more empowered in their job role.
By sharing their experience, employees like Dan can help build a stronger future for your business. Accelerate the return on your Automation program by placing your team on one of our UiPath Accredited RPA Developer Academies. Find out more here.
