Written by: Jane
Tue Dec 20 2022
Correspondingly to the significance of life's stage, career is one huge part. We are all spending almost 1/3 of our time sharpening our knowledge just to get to a 9-5 job. Although some people choose to run businesses, most of us settle for being employees. Either one of the options is just a choice and none is better than the other. The majority of us spend at least eight hours per day at work which more or less makes our job defines who we are. Therefore, in my opinion, it is worth spending an extra bit of time to jot down what is going on and what was happening during those times. Most importantly, as part of career advancement, it is crucial that we, individually, hold a record of our achievements. In fact, the idea was brought to me by my manager while we were working on my promotion proposal. I recall it was my first-ever promotion from an associate software engineer to a software engineer. I knew nothing about promotion back then. I was only focusing on getting my job/tasks done. That was okay but the drawback was that it challenged my manager to come up with any of my accomplishments to debate for my promotion. The point is no matter how much you did/contributed to the team, you forget things. Imagine your manager who might have several people reporting to him/her, he/she might not know it all. Having your own record not only helps your own traceability but also will be a huge help for your manager when it comes to crucial times like promotions and so on and so forth.
Okay, so what the career milestone record is like? Some people call it a brag list but hey we are qualified to be recognized for the things we have done (good and bad). Let me share with everyone my very humble points that I am regularly recording/updating as part of my career milestone. I started by dividing the milestone into 4 time-frames each year. It will be four quarters per year.
For each quarter, I have a list of my achievement corresponding to their type. I have, for your example, the following:
1. Technical project
This refers to any technical project I was working on during the quarter. I could list down any major performance/finance... improvement. I could also note down any important bugs I resolved or even any initiative I started that brought benefit and efficiency to the team and company. Because I am a software engineer, this part is very important. It reflects my competence which will be used to evaluate my performance.
2. Design & documentation
Working on features, solving technical problems, or enhancing is not the full-stop for software engineers. The ability to design software architecture/framework indicates a person's ability to see the full picture of a particular project. Documentation is very essential in a fast-moving technical project. It's always best practice to keep the rest of the team and the new coming members informed on what was/is happening. I have always tried to develop my problem-solving by engaging myself in the architecture design discussion as well as trying to write some piece of technical flow in the project's blog. It's very beneficial to bring them up later in the time of performance evaluation as well.
3. Collaboration & mentoring
By explaining or passing information to others, we can verify our understanding and also remember things for a longer period of time. Helping your team to complete certain tasks is one of the best things one can and should do as frequently as possible. We are not only helping others but we are also doing our own favor. Again, a good deed should be recognized and set as an example. The purpose is to go forward together. On that note, it is not only limited to helping/mentoring others but it can also be in a form of being mentored. Never stop learning ~
4. What I have learned throughout the quarter
In addition to all the contributions, highlighting new skills I was learning during the quarter is also useful. It helps me reflect on my accomplishment through the new skill set I have learned. With that information, my team will also be informed about resources in an event where resource with such a skill set exists.
5. Volunteering
I like volunteering; I started doing it when I was in college. I am still looking for volunteering opportunities from time to time. Being a volunteer makes me feel good about myself and it also defines me as a person in one way out of my work life. Such a curricular activity really helps us refresh our minds and creativity.
Alright, the list could go on and on but I am stopping here because this is my starting point. I have been working in my current company for almost 2 years. Time passes by very quickly and it is hard to measure my progress. Sometimes I feel like I am not progressing and am very anxious about it. Journal-ling helps me not only with tracking my progress but also comforting me. It makes it easier for me to plan for the next step.