How Best to Prepare for UiPath Certification, and Why?

Era of Automation | Issue 07 | 15-Sep-2020

Today, from where you stand, if you turn back and look at your career path, you will be able to answer some of the following questions:

• What different domains you have worked on
• The growth of your career
• Achievements you have made throughout your career life
• Are you happy with your current position?
• Are you happy with your current salary?

Tomorrow’s world is throttling towards a new era of hyper-automation. Irrespective of the domain you are in, irrespective of whether it is technical or non-technical, you will be experiencing the use of automation in your subject area very soon. Some of you might have already seen how highly repetitive, routine, and highly manual activities get automated across different industries.

Many years back, during the years the computers were first introduced, many people believed that they would lose their jobs because of computers. However, people adapted to the new way of working with computers. Today, computer literacy is mandatory for any job. Similarly, tomorrow, automation would be another mandatory requirement.

With the answers you found from your past career experience, are you ready for a world where experience in automation is a mandatory requirement?

Irrespective of whether you are coming from a technical or non-technical background, Robotic Process Automation is a technology that can be learned and understood easily.

Real-life example:

I am originally coming from a technical background. I completed my degree in specialized software engineering. But, when I started my career, I deviated from Software Engineering to the Business Intelligence domain. I used to work as a Business Intelligence Engineer for quite a long time. However, when I stumbled upon RPA a couple of years back, my life started changing since day one. I began to feel that this is the kind of job that I have been waiting to do, and rather than doing the same routine task every day, doing something more exciting and innovative is what satisfies me the most. I slowly started changing my career path to RPA. Once I started my journey with RPA, I realized that this is the dream job that I have been waiting to do, and I am highly satisfied with what I have achieved.

What made this change?

The biggest strength I had is the UiPath Developer Certification.

Since the day I got certified, new avenues opened up with tremendous potential and more significant opportunities that I can grab.

One of my friends once asked, “You mentioned that you were coming from a Business Intelligence domain. Were you qualified enough to grab these RPA opportunities that you are talking about?”

Answer: Yes, though I’m coming from a different domain, since the day I started learning UiPath, I started practicing a lot. Every single topic I know, I kept on practicing. I came up with my scenarios to build simple solutions to automate them. I used the UiPath community forum to apply what I learned on different problems that people face, trying my best to solve them. This practice, backed by the UiPath certification, gave me the winning edge in moving into RPA and to grabbing these fantastic opportunities that revealed in front of me.

What is UiPath Certification?

UiPath certification is not just another certification. Participating in the UiPath certification program enables you to join a global community powered by highly qualified RPA professionals that encourage, mentor, motivate, and direct the community members towards greater heights in their career. UiPath certification is one of the highest achievements a one can obtain in the RPA world.

The certification also includes two different streams that you can select depending on your background.

UiPath Certified RPA Associate:

This certification exam is the best if you are starting up your career in RPA, or else if you are coming from a non-technical background. For example, if you a junior RPA developer, a solution architect (any technology), a college graduate, the Associate certification program will suit you the most. The Associate exam will cost you around $150.

Uipath Certified Advanced RPA Developer:

This certification program is best suitable for anyone who has been in the RPA industry for some time. If you have a solid technical background or hands-on experience with the UiPath platform, this certification program will provide more value to your profile. For example, if you are a senior RPA developer, an RPA solution architect, this is the best certification to choose from the two. The Advanced RPA Developer certification will cost you around $200.

Why become a UiPath certified professional?

As explained above, based on real-life experience, obtaining the certification will boost your career in many different ways. You will also be able to enjoy some of the benefits, such as:

• Brings more credibility to your profile
• Provides you with greater self-confidence when facing automation-related challenges
• Helps build a more assertive profile among your network
• If you are already into RPA, certification will provide you greater chances of getting into your dream job.
• Increased efficiency and job satisfaction
• Greater exposure to the latest technologies in a rapidly growing industry

How to prepare for the certification?

What comes to your mind when we talk about exams and courses?

“The Academy.”

UiPath Academy is your best friend to get help from to pass the certification. The Academy consists of multiple free of charge courses that you can follow starting from the foundation level. As you progress through the academy courses, refer to the UiPath Community Forum for any questions that arise. The community forum is an excellent platform to understand what sorts of problems people face, what types of projects people are working on, and you can also try to apply your knowledge to get some experience by helping others to solve problems.

Wondering what you gain for the certification by answering questions?

Learning is only a part of the process. To practice and apply what you have learned, you need to put it into action. Give it a try, and you will start seeing areas that you need to improve. I have tried this, and I have learned quite a lot from the forum.

Do not rush. Take your time, and go through all possible courses needed for the certification that you are trying to obtain. You can always refer to the UiPath Certification Platform to get more information about what courses to follow based on the certification program.

As the initial step, you should always know what you are going to step into before you step into it. Refer to the exam details, and get an understanding of what you can expect during the exam, and how you should prepare for it. These links in the Certification Platform will direct you to all the information you need on the courses that you should follow.

The exam consists of 60 multiple-choice questions with a minimum passing score of 70. For the Associate exam, you will have 90 minutes to complete, and for Advanced certification, you will have 120 minutes. Having multiple choice questions doesn’t mean that the exam is easy. You require a lot of practice to achieve the passing score as you will be tested based on different criteria, such as your experience, ability to solve various problems, and the knowledge you have gained from the Academy. Keep practicing, practicing and application of what you learned is what makes you stronger.

Once you have completed all the required academy training programs, sign up your self for a practice exam to test your knowledge and get the feel of the battleground. Once you complete the practice exam, I suggest you take a look at the questions that you answered wrong. It is an essential step in your certification journey. Check the items you got wrong, and refer back to the Academy for related tutorials. Explore in the community forum, community tutorials, and videos if you still feel you need to know more and apply the knowledge you gained on a practical example to test what you learned. This step helps you remember what you learned, as well as to get the practical hands-on experience.

Once you are ready, retake the practice exam and repeat the same set of steps as you did in your first try until you reach a mark of at least 90 or above. One important point to remember here is that having the highest marks in the practice exam doesn’t mean that you can easily pass the certification exam. So, keep on practicing, revise, and keep exploring every detail around the topics needed for the certification.

Sometimes the smallest detail that we ignore most of the time matters alot

Few things to keep in mind

The UiPath certification is a proctored exam. Hence, you will not be able to go through your notes or sample workflows during the exam. Therefore, on the exam day, spend a couple of hours and revisit the courses you covered, and do the final preparation. The exam scheduling platform allows you to schedule the exam to be done at an exam center or in a quiet place of your choice. I would suggest finding the best suitable and comfortable place for you. Sometimes, being into exam centers may make you nervous. Hence, find the most convenient place for you and get your self prepared.

On the exam day, prepare your environment as per the guidelines before the scheduled time, and join to the exam session at least half an hour before the scheduled time. It will give you enough time to do the initial configurations in the exam portal and be ready for the exam on time. It also helps you to set your mind into the exam mode and to allow your self to calm down and keep the focus. Do not rush at the last minute as it will disrupt your thinking, and you may end up failing. So, join early, settle down, and keep your focus. The proctor on the other side will guide you through setting up the environment and finally move you to the exam platform.

During the exam

If you come across questions that you think you need to spend more time on to find the best answer, mark the items for later review as you did in the practice exam, and continue with the next questions. Please do not take too much time on one question as it will limit the time you can spend on other items that you can score better. Once you have answered all the questions, based on the remaining time, revisit the questions you marked for review, and spend some time trying to find the best suitable answer.

The most important thing is: answer all the questions before the time runs out!

Useful Resources:

Associate Certification

• Recommended Training List — List of materials that help you get prepared
• Online Practice Test — Practice yourself here and feel the ground.

Advanced Certification

• Recommended Training List — List of materials that help you get prepared
• Online Practice Test

Common Links

• UiPath Certified Professional Page
• Schedule your exams — Platform that enables you to find the best suitable date, time, and venue for the exam
• UiPath Academy — Learn and upskill yourself with all the free courses available
• UiPath Community Forum — Research for problems, solutions, apply what you learned, and practice yourself by helping others
• Want to know more on your RPA developer career, visit the session done at UiPath Developer Conference
• Six steps to Pass the Uipath Advanced Certification — A blog post from UiPath blog
• How to Pass UiPath RPA Certification- A blog post from UiPath blog

Wishing you Good Luck on your exams!

Excellence is achieved through constant challenging and breaking off from your limitations. It isn’t taught or given; it begins within you. — Lahiru Fernando