I remember asking my ServiceNow Admin, a few years ago now, “Why can’t I just add a field to this table to let me track things? It’s just a small change. Or change the attributes on this field over here. Or what about….” I still remember the looks he gave me and walking back to my desk not understanding his answer. So much has changed since I embarked on my ServiceNow journey and I am excited to see Citizen Development ramping up in the ecosystem, making it easier for individuals with big ideas, but no development experience, to change their businesses.
But how do you get started and learn more, do more, and then showcase your experience? How do we bring together low- and no-code developers and balance their contributions within the team? Well, I am not going to pretend I know it all, but I am happy to give you some advice and help you get started on your own ServiceNow journey!
The desire to transform our work, coupled with the different skill level of developers to do so, leads us to the concept of the “Citizen Developer.” Individuals who understand process, end-to-end, and want to personally improve the overall practice within the business, “making the world of work, work better.” We see how small wins can make big differences in the lives of our teams and customers, but where do we begin the journey?
Now Creators is a great entry point for problem solvers and innovators to change their world of work. Learn new skills to transform the business (and careers) through on demand courses, online training, and instructor led training (ILT), and then showcase these skills to your company and the larger ServiceNow ecosystem through various certifications. Check out the short video on Now Creators homepage.
After reviewing Now Creators, check out this course on the ServiceNow Developer site: Citizen Developer. This 10-module course takes you through basic navigation, getting a sandbox ServiceNow instance, and touching on some new development skills. Then, continue your education with courses in Now Learning!
Now Learning is the platform on which most of our on demand courses (and corresponding micro-certifications) live. Now Learning has a wide array of supplemental education, which can be used to upskill or answer how-to questions right when you need it most. You can even create a learning path (developer, admin, process owner, etc.) and choose courses that align with you and your business goals.
Another on the list of courses to take is ServiceNow Fundamentals, which provides a foundational understanding of the platform. ServiceNow Fundamentals is offered via multiple training modalities, so choose the one that best fits your learning style. Supplement your education with the associated fundamentals courses within a particular Business Unit (ITSM, CSM, etc.) and other courses on Now Learning which support your business outcomes.
At this point, you will have a solid foundation of the ServiceNow Platform and the fundamentals within your process, and you should feel comfortable with the “art of the possible” within your process. Approach your ServiceNow admin team to determine what level of contribution (or coding) you can look to accomplish:
- No-code developers have some experience with the platform but don’t have formal training or experience with coding, typically. There are even new features in the ServiceNow Platform that support this Citizen Developer, such as the wizard-driven Guided App Creator. Check out the No-Code Application Development course on Now Learning.
- Low-code developers have an idea of what they want to do, and can describe it, but may not understand the nuances of how to write and where to include script. They are ready to take their new ideas and transform the business.
- Pro-code developers tend to be within IT and leverage the full suite of tools such as Studio IDE and more. Foundational understanding of the platform, and how your processes align, allow you to engage with this group to help you complete parts of your plan that might be just too technical, for now.
To take this a step further, the ServiceNow admin team may discuss leveraging concepts from the Application Development Fundamentals course to better manage and assist these (and all their) developers, coupled with having built-in platform features like the Delegated Development process.
Obviously, there are many layers of communication, complexity, planning, and decision making within this development cycle. A starting point for these conversations is to review the Learning Paths by Persona. This document details implementation and development paths which coincide with the Now Learning paths and can be leveraged by new and experienced learners alike.
I wish you well and hope the information provided supports a great foundation for your journey. Please leave a comment (or question) to update our team on your progress. Happy developing!!
----------
Additional Citizen Developer Resources:
How should Citizen Developers enhance their learning? (Two-page reference)
Citizen Development Program: Enabling Citizen Developers (article by
----------
The Ask a Training Expert blog is published monthly by members of the ServiceNow Training Solution Consulting team. For more information about ServiceNow Training and Certification, visit our website. Please comment on this article to see your question featured in upcoming blogs.
