Keep a Brag List of the Wins you Achieved, Thank me Later

🎁 Notion Template: List of Achievements included!

Jan 21, 2024

∙ Paid

Intro

It’s really important to work and focus on things that are impactful and try to provide as much value as possible to the organization, but it’s also very important to note down what you achieved and have it ready whenever someone asks you for your achievements.

But not just that, keeping a list of all your achievements is also very good for yourself and your motivation! Let’s get more into the “why” next.

Why keeping a brag list of wins is such a great idea?

No matter if you are an engineer or a manager, this is what you should be doing. There are two very important aspects of “why” you should do that.

You will be able to present your results and achievements much better

When the time comes to talk about the promotion, you have all of the reasons to be promoted within your notes. Have you successfully onboarded a new engineer? You are mentoring others? You played a key role in the project. Definitely note all of this down!

Also when anytime someone asks you about your achievements, you have all of the achievements noted down. That ensures you are prepared for any situation! A meeting with your manager, your peer, an interview for another role or speaking with a client/customer. You are ready.

Your personal motivation and sense of success will increase

Imposter syndrome is unfortunately quite common in our industry and keeping a list of the wins that you have achieved is a great way to battle against that. It reminds you how far you have come and that you deserve to be here.

Also whenever you have a bad day, it’s a good reminder that a bad day doesn’t mean a bad month/year. We all have ups and downs. Let’s make sure that the “downs” don’t get to us and that we are still moving in the right direction!

If only I would have known this at the start of my career

As I mentioned in some of my articles before, I am a self-taught engineer and at the beginning of my career I thought that people from university have this amazing programming skills and that I would never be able to get to their level.

I was focusing too much on what I “might not” achieve instead of what I have achieved.

I was learning for whole days and enjoyed it. Which helped me to progress very fast → that’s actually what I should be focusing on. Focusing on what you achieved and where you wish to go is the way to go. Comparing and trying to “compete” with others is not.

You can read my story of how I started my career and how I progressed + top 3 learnings here: Starting my career again as a junior engineer (paid article).

I would progress faster in my career if I would be doing this

As I grew as an engineer and especially when I reached the senior level, I found myself in a strange time where I didn’t know exactly what is the next step for me. And again, I wasn’t noting down all of the wins that I achieved, instead, I focused on not knowing what is the next step going to be.

And little did I know, the next step for me was right there clearly visible in my wins! What was clear to me is that I am good at collaborating and communicating + managing expectations especially when it comes to projects and functionalities.

That was also the reason why I thought that management was the right path for me. It turned out that I was right!

You can read my story of how I progressed from IC to manager here: From IC to manager (paid article).