Meet Community MVP...
Elijah Aromola
Hello Elijah! So tell us a little on how you got started in your career and when was ServiceNow introduced to you?
What do you do now? What is your favorite part of using the ServiceNow?
I'm a ServiceNow Developer at CloudPires in Cincinnati, Ohio. I love seeing how ServiceNow can help businesses become more efficient. It's amazing to help implement solutions that you can directly see the benefit of inside an organization.
How did your career evolve?
I studied programming and web development as part of my CIT degree in college while working with ServiceNow as part of a Helpdesk position I had on the weekends. Throughout this time, I was teaching myself web development on the side and built out an app that enabled students to sell and trade textbooks on campus. Ultimately, this app didn’t go anywhere, but it was one of my first real experiences identifying a problem and working to build a solution for it. This is something I’ve carried into my career at CloudPires as a ServiceNow Developer. Every day we help solve for the needs that large organizations face and implement solutions on the platform that help businesses be more effective and efficient.
When I started out doing development on the ServiceNow platform, using the community was a great way to get help with questions. After learning the platform, I figured it was time to start helping other people with the problems they faced while using ServiceNow.
You're very generous with your time. What inspired you to start answering in addition to asking?
I really wanted to help other people. Even before I started using the ServiceNow community, I spent time helping out on other forums with people who were having general programming issues. I loved diving into their issues, getting a sense of their perspective and helping them solve the problem.
How do you work the community into your day?
I check community throughout the day helping where I can. I usually check community as much as my schedule permits.
Where do you spend your time in the community?
I don't spend my time in specific forums on community. I really like to challenge myself with new areas and problems, so I try to visit all the forums to make sure I don’t miss out.
How else do you participate?
I mostly stick to answering questions on community, but I do have a few ideas for some blog posts and videos that I’d like to share as my schedule allows.
What would you say to encourage your peers to participate more?
There are a lot of developers who use community that have a lot of platform knowledge and experience. All users have things to offer, but some truly have unique experiences that would be very valuable to share on community, so please do!
What advice would you give to someone who wanted a nudge to start contributing?
I would say use this platform to gain as much knowledge as you can because there are many individuals who have created great content for you to learn. Apart from that, use this community as a basket of real-time use cases which you can try to develop in your own environment to get familiar with the concepts just as I DID.
Any other advice to share with those just starting on their journey with ServiceNow?
Sign up for a personal developer instance and don't be discouraged by the number of resources available online. There are a lot of different videos, guides and documentation to parse through when you first get introduced to the platform. Dive in and start messing around with things, it's definitely the best way to learn.
Do you have any stand-out / memorable experiences with ServiceNow?
I participated in the 2020 Hackathon with a few of my coworkers. We attempted to use Field Service Management as a way to dispatch people to pick up groceries for users who couldn’t leave their house due to Covid 19. It was a unique implementation and I really enjoyed collaborating with the other developers.
Is there a specific product and/or feature that you just can't believe you ever lived without?
The On-Call module in ServiceNow is an amazing automation tool. As someone who has had to reach out personally to on-call contacts, follow escalation paths and wake people up at 2 A.M., On-Call provides a really easy and customizable way to achieve this that doesn’t involve an after-hours staff.
Do you have a favorite piece of content on the community?
It’s not a piece of content, but Chuck Tomasi is probably my summary of “Community”. He is everywhere and so are his answers, blog posts, tutorials and videos. He truly has helped the community out in such a large way.
What motivates you to participate? Why do you do it?
I love helping people solve problems. I really like helping to identify issues, come up with solutions and implement them. Community is a really great way to do this while helping other people.
Any other interesting tidbits, stories, hobbies you'd like to share?
I have two small poodles, Ruby and Charlie that I spend most of my time with when I’m not programming, playing video games or spending time with my girlfriend Emily and family.
Thank you, Elijah!
