How One Boring Task Sparked My Journey Into Automation

During the final semester of my engineering journey, I interned at a US-based product company. One of my core responsibilities was to test various modules on a staging site, a web application filled with many cases to test. That was a very boring task!

Then one day, during a casual conversation with my manager, he suggested exploring automation testing. That just clicked. I began researching and stumbled upon tools like Selenium and TestNG, powerful frameworks that could turn repetitive tasks into smooth, automated flows. I dove into YouTube tutorials, and within a week, I automated my first module. It felt like magic! I thanked the people who developed this.

Over the next three months, I wrote 150+ test scripts covering various scenarios. What once felt boring became exciting, even addictive. I wasn’t just testing anymore; I was building systems that worked on their own.

Fast forward to today, as I pursue my MBA in Digital Transformation, we’re studying a subject called Business Process Transformation and Intelligent Automation. It covers concepts like:

• Business Process Management (BPM)

• Business Process Reengineering (BPR)

• Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

• Intelligent Process Automation (IPA)

That’s when the realization hit me back then, without even knowing these terms, I was automating a process as a closest part of RPA. I wasn’t thinking about frameworks, impact, or digital maturity. I just wanted to save time.

The workflow I built was simple:

Open a browser → Go to WebApp → Sign up with a unique email → Perform actions in a module → Generate a report → Send an email.

But now I see it clearly, it wasn’t just a script. It was my first real automation workflow and my unintentional first step into the world of automation.

Here’s the flow I followed:

Connecting the Dots:

At the surface level, I used Selenium WebDriver to automate browser actions:

• Sign up with a unique email

• Perform a task in a module

• Generate a report/dashboard

• Log the actions

• Email the results

But when I took a step back and learned about BPT and frameworks, I could easily understand what was going on and was able to interpret things in a better way.

• Recognizing a recurring process

• Removing manual involvement

• Implementing data traceability and reporting

• Facilitating scalability without additional human effort

Business Implications? It Wasn’t Just Tech.

The real value wasn’t in the automation itself; it was in what it enabled:

• Time Saved: Faster feedback cycles for developers and managers

• Operational Efficiency: One intern could now do the work of three

This is exactly what we study in MBA:

Using technology to enhance processes, reduce friction, and improve outcomes.

In our subject, we differentiate between basic RPA and Intelligent Automation (IA), where tools combine automation with cognitive capabilities like:

Traditional RPA	Intelligent Automation
Rule-based bots	AI/ML decision-making
Simple scripting	NLP, OCR, analytics
Dev-heavy tools (Selenium)	Platforms like UiPath, Power Automate

While Selenium is a developer-heavy tool for application testing, other than this, modern IA platforms like:

• UiPath

• Power Automate

• Automation Anywhere

…allow business users to automate with drag-and-drop simplicity, integrate with email/ERP systems, and even create end-to-end workflows across teams.

What excites me now is how I’m able to connect my technical background with my MBA learnings.

As someone studying Digital Transformation, I see an immense opportunity at the intersection of:

• Automation Tools (UiPath, Power Automate)

• Business Strategy (Value stream mapping, process redesign)

• Data Analytics (Dashboards, insights from automation logs)

I no longer just think, “Can I automate this?”

Now I ask, “Should I? What’s the strategic impact? What impact would it create?”

Final Thought

If you're in tech and haven’t explored how your work fits into Business Process Transformation, now’s the time.

If you're in business and feel automation is "just a coding thing", think again; it's your next efficiency unlock.

Whether you're clicking buttons in a browser or building flows in Power Automate, you’re not just doing tasks, you’re transforming how work gets done.

I'm working on some personal automation projects and will share them here soon. Keep reading...