Key learnings from the AI Associate Developer Series 2024
Introduction
Nowadays, as the automation world is making a shift towards agentic automation, companies are looking for more and more ways to innovate and improve their processes using artificial intelligence.
In that direction, the UiPath Community has created a workforce readiness-intensive training program for people who want to upskill in the rapidly evolving automation landscape, called AI Associate Developer Series 2024. The series covers all the essentials of AI-powered automation development and encourages the new AI Automation Developer as a standard in the industry, offering the participants the capabilities that fit the growing demand from organizations.
AI Associate Developer Series deep-dive
For the AI Associate Developer Series, there are three cascading objectives, set on a 3-month timeline.
The first part of the program consisted of a series of live intensive training sessions that, during this edition, took place twice every week for the whole month of October. There were eight sessions in total, and each approached different topics in the realm of the newest automation technologies, showcasing UiPath products. Deep-dive into each session presented so you can get a sense of what the content pillar for this program consists of.
In the opening session there was presented the core automation processes with UiPath Studio, and other important essential product features from the Academy learning plan.
Essential Studio Automation Features
Comprehensive exploration of UiPath Orchestrator and its functionalities (automations, automation assets, robots), and best practices for managing and scaling automation workflows. Afterwards came an overview of UiPath Integration Service, explaining how it enables seamless connections between the UiPath Platform and 3rd party application systems, along with ways of integrating API automation and UI automation within the same design environment.
Orchestrator Deep-Dive and UiPath Integration Service Overview
Introduction to UiPath AI Center and its role as a centralized platform for managing, deploying, and monitoring AI models within the UiPath ecosystem. This session also covered a demonstration of the key features and capabilities of AI Center and the way it integrates AI into automation workflows, facilitates model lifecycle management, and enhances the overall efficiency of AI-driven processes.
AI Powered Automation through specialized AI. Spotlight on AI Center
Diving into UiPath Document Understanding™, its technology, and how it uses specialized AI and machine learning to extract and process information from various document types, and how it handles unstructured data more efficiently with real-life scenario examples. This overview was followed by an in-depth presentation of the latest features and updates of Document Understanding™.
Introduction to UiPath Communications Mining™, explaining how it uses AI and natural language processing to extract valuable insights from various communication channels, like emails, chats, and documents, along with a demonstration on how it can automate the analysis of unstructured communication data to improve business processes, customer service, and decision making.
Our speakers throughout the series were 13 members of the UiPath Most Valuable Professional program, all of them being experienced professionals in their field and having used UiPath for a long time. Among them are also the ones who obtained the first AI Professional certifications.
The next goal of the program is the UiPath Academy learning plan, which the participants had one month and a half to complete, since the launch of the series. Following the completion of the Academy learning plan, a verification test took place and, depending on the score that they received, the professionals won vouchers to take the UiPath Certified Professional specialized AI Associate exam, which represents the last step of the program. A UiPath Forum thread was also created, for participants to have a place where they can freely discuss their ideas and ask questions regarding anything related to the series.
Shared experiences
The best way to understand the experience of an event is to hear directly from those who were part of it. Each session of the AI Associate Developer series gathered around 3 thousand registrations, with a high attendance rate. For the certification – UiPath Certified Professional specialized AI Associate, 1095 people have enrolled. All people involved in the program have different roles in the UiPath infrastructure of customers and partners, such as solution architects, RPA developers, and technical leads.
From the attendees’ point of view, we have gathered a few testimonials obtained via a survey. They mentioned that this series was a great chance to broaden their knowledge in the sphere of artificial intelligence and that they would like to see such events in the future, as well. Participants also appreciated the structure of the events, especially the hands-on and live demo. It is very helpful as a refresher after going through the actual course in UiPath Academy, along with the fact that it has been a great way to combine self-paced learning with virtual training. The speakers were also praised for their ways of presenting the information and for answering all questions from the participants.
"The specialized AI Associate Training was a fantastic experience. The content was well-structured, and the mentors were incredibly helpful. I learned a lot and am excited to apply these skills to real-world projects."
We also talked with a few of our speakers, who shared their experience of how the sessions went. We felt a sense of gratitude for their involvement and for the seamless and engaging way the sessions were conducted. Marcelo Cruz, UiPath MVP and RPA Teacher and Consultant, who spoke at some of the series’ sessions, shared his point of view about the program:
"It was a great honor to contribute as a speaker for UiPath AI Series. Sharing knowledge on UiPath’s cutting-edge AI technology stack, witnessing the community’s engagement and interest, and seeing participants subsequently earn their UiPath specialized AI certification was truly rewarding. Mission accomplished!"
We have also asked Lovely Sinha, UiPath MVP and Manager of the Automation Centre of Excellence at Dubai Holding, what the AI Series was like for her:
"Being a speaker in the AI Associate Developer Series was an incredible experience. Sharing insights on AI-powered automation through specialized AI, with a spotlight on AI Center, allowed me to connect with a highly motivated audience eager to dive into the future of intelligent automation. (...) This series stands as a fantastic initiative to upskill developers and automation enthusiasts, and I’m grateful to have been part of it, contributing to the growing knowledge and innovation in this space."
Last but not least, Cristina Vidu, Senior Manager of the UiPath Community, also shared her experience as the organizer of the program: "AI Associate Developer Series 2024' has been one of the most ambitious projects I have embarked on to start, design and manage. Also, one of the most challenging. We started on a completely different project draft and had to pivot in between to align with updated resources in our community platforms. I felt confident from the beginning since I had a powerful group of advisors in our community mentors, and this is a work that I could never have achieved without their precious guidance, or the support from my team. It was also extremely rewarding for all of us to be able to touch on so many people's professional paths, over 3000 of them. Our main goal was to set a new industry standard for the AI Automation Developer persona, as we move fast-forward into the agentic automation era. We all look to the next stage of the project and see as many of them achieving UiPath Certified Professional specialized AI Associate status."
Conclusion
The UiPath Community AI Associate Developer Series 2024 has been a rewarding journey, bringing together a vibrant community of learners, experts, and enthusiasts. As we reflect on the experiences shared by our speakers, participants, and organizers, we can confidently say that it was a great opportunity to strengthen the collective knowledge base of the UiPath Community and to enrich individual skills. Even though the 2024 edition of the series is now coming to an end, we invite everyone to follow up on the recordings and gain the newest information about AI-powered automation.
Looking ahead, we encourage all professionals to continue exploring, learning, and applying the newly gained skills. The UiPath community is here to support you every step of the way. 🧡
Community Intern, UiPath
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