“We are driving the digitalization that everyone else only talks about” – ServiceNow expert Atte Uppala develops customers’ business with the world’s most innovative tool
Many companies like to discuss the opportunities digitalization offers, but only a few have harnessed its tools to grow their business or develop services. Chosen as the world’s most innovative company, ServiceNow is part of Sofigate’s technology portfolio, and there is a growing need for experts in it. In five years, Atte Uppala has grown into a ServiceNow expert who uses technology to solve customers’ demanding business challenges.
Five years ago, Atte Uppala was studying industrial engineering and management at Metropolia. He was looking for an IT job to combine with his studies, and his friend advised him to contact Sofigate. Atte had a meeting with Sofigate’s people from which Atte made rapid progress to employment contract negotiations. He has not looked back since.
“I first began working in the Support team. I had been working here for a while when one day our ServiceNow expert grabbed me with him in a taxi. On the taxi drive to the customer, he told me that we would be starting a portal project, and I would be responsible for the implementation. I was a bit confused – and scared – because I had no previous coder experience,” Atte says.
Even though Atte was thrown in the deep end rather suddenly, he was not left alone. Atte got an experienced developer as a mentor for the project, who helped him along the way and made sure everything went according to plan.
“I learned a huge amount during the project. It was amazing how much responsibility I was given right from the start. It says a lot about the employer that they immediately trust even the new employees.”
Today, Atte’s role focuses more on solving business challenges than IT solutions.
“The trend is that we are doing less and less traditional IT. The last few years I have been involved mainly in non-IT projects. We have done development work with a wide range of businesses – it is extremely instructive and rewarding.”
Low-code development frees up time to grow business understanding
Many planning a career in IT fear that their coding skills will not be sufficient for the requirements of the industry. From the beginning, Sofigate has aimed to operate at the intersection of IT and business. This means that the desire to develop and focus on solving business challenges for customers is more important than the technical background of the job seekers. For Atte, it is important that the work combines business understanding and technology.
“In this job, you get to drive the digitalisation that other companies only talk about. Our work is not coding in a traditional sense. We configure the tool based on what the customer’s business needs require.”
The work includes some JavaScript coding, but only so-called low-code development. This means that solutions are produced by configuration instead of coding. Low-code development is an integral part of ServiceNow’s operating logic.
Customer understanding grows through doing and training
A couple of times a year ServiceNow gets new features, some of which are intended to simplify existing processes.
“So far only a fraction of all the neat new stuff has been utilized. It’s always a great moment when you get to test new functionalities and add value to customers.”
Because the pace of development is fast, continuous training is essential – no one is born a master. ServiceNow has a wide range of courses that experts can participate in.
“When I started at Sofigate, I had some challenges with coding. My boss then suggested that I attend ServiceNow’s Scripting training, which gave an impetus to understand the basics of coding. At Sofigate, training is always tailored according to your needs.”
Atte also emphasizes the importance of sparring partners. Although these exceptional times have physically separated co-workers, instant messages and calls maintain close communication between colleagues. The managers are also always ready to develop the job description together.
“No one is tied to their role. If a recent graduate is for example recruited as a developer, it does not mean that the final role will be a developer. The house is full of opportunities and a lot is invested in the professional development of experts!”
Expert market for ServiceNow
Atte often sees ServiceNow job advertisements which list several years of experience in coding languages and knowledge of product modules as requirements.
“It is absurd to shoot for the moon. There are not a lot of ServiceNow experts out there, and massive lists of requirements can scare away some potential applicants. I would encourage to search for someone who genuinely wants to learn something new and get to the heart of business technology development. One’s technical background is not the most important thing.”
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