20 Comments

Keeping a work log aka a brag list is a great addition when it comes time for performance reviews and promotions. It makes the difference.

It makes it easier for your manager to scream for you since he has a proven track record of your achievements.

Inspiring story, Jordan ! 🙌

Expand full comment

100%. Exactly, Petar. Thanks so much for reading, always appreciate your feedback

Expand full comment

Awesome write up on how to grow into a senior role Jordan. It’s so true that hard work + mentorship + documenting wins + feedback iteration cycles is a great promotion path.

These are the exact steps I followed for my first promotion beyond senior. They work. 👏🏼

Huge congrats to your mentee for all the hard work they put in, and their new role! 🙌🏻

Expand full comment

Always so nice to hear how our stories are related, Caleb, and the similar paths we took to get to our destinations.

Thanks for your kind words. Hope you have a great rest of the weekend!

Expand full comment

Thanks Jordan, appreciate you!

Expand full comment

Great tips Jordan. I loved how you explained what, impact and how. Also loved the R2-D2 framework :)

Expand full comment

Haha, thank you, Nishaz!

Expand full comment

Hi Jordan! Thanks for sharing this wonderful journey of your mentee. And congrats to your mentee. I would like to know if you have a template for the "brag document"? I am not sure if you've already shared it with your subscribers. Just wanted to ask. Thanks again! :)

Expand full comment

Thanks so much, Sriram and great question.

As a mentor to my mentee, I generally recommend using the level criteria as a brag doc. That way you can see how much of the work you are doing is showing toward behaviors and work at the next level, and track that over time.

There are plenty of other formats though like this one: https://jvns.ca/blog/brag-documents/

I also say, do what works best for you

Expand full comment

Thanks, Jordan! :)

Expand full comment

Thank you Jordan for this article

It gives a good framework for career growth and I will try this.

Do you recommend telling your manager that you have a mentor?

What if the manager prefer a growth plan that doesn’t go in the same direction as the one you created with your mentee.

For example, the manager might want you to grow your technical skills in a domain for the team’s needs, but you are already working on another skill.

Expand full comment

Thanks, Achille. So glad you found it valuable and great question.

I would recommend telling your manager you have a mentor if its a mentor at work. In this case, I was a mentor outside of their work when I was working at my previous company.

As the mentor, I made sure that any direction we were moving was always in alignment with the manager's expectations. In this case, we didn't need to adjust the growth plan because I think my mentee already had a good sense of the manager's expectations, but if the manager was to change that, then we would change on our end.

For example, there was one recommendation I had for how to structure bullets in the brag doc he showed to his manager. I was pushing for more conciseness and less nitty gritty detail. But after showing it, his manager said he WANTED the detail, which I thought was a bit uncommon, but it's more important to adjust to the manager than fight it in that case. If they want detail, just give it to them

Expand full comment

Thank you Jordan for the reply.

So it is more important to align with your manager than following the initial plan.

Expand full comment

Exactly!

Expand full comment

Very relevant for me, Jordan! 🙌

I've tried different templates and journaling prompts, but for my own career and when working with my mentee we end up going more on free-form text with whatever seems relevant from the past couple of weeks.

I've picked the ideas and will experiment with them to see what sticks and what doesn't

Expand full comment

That makes sense, Fran.

Agreed, it's hard to say that 1 particular format will work for everyone. Hopefully the ideas are what sticks and format can be tweaked as you go!

Let me know how it goes :)

Expand full comment

Thanks for the write up Jordan. I would like to know what this looks like for engineers that are currently not working and don't have a mentor? I fall into both brackets and I want to improve as an engineer over the next 6 months.

Expand full comment

Great question.

I'd recommend the growth plan setup from this article: https://read.highgrowthengineer.com/i/141338756/setting-up-a-growth-plan

Step 0: Gather inputs such as existing feedback & guidelines on promotion.

Step 1: Assess your current and desired states.

Step 2: Prioritize 3-5 skills/competencies to focus on.

Step 3: Set a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) goal for each focus area.

Step 4: Identify dependencies and support. What or who might be key to achieving your goals? Write down any resources, tools, or individuals you might need:

Expand full comment

Awesome writeup here Jordan! This insight is definitely helpful for someone who is trying to get to the next level. I also found that consistently keeping a brag doc and sharing it with my manager helps alleviate so much stress when the time comes. Plus, it does feel good to recount the stories where you delivered impact no matter how big nor small

Expand full comment

Great advice! I love that part about leveraging a weekly brain dump in order to build a promotion packet overtime. I've never heard that before.

Expand full comment
Error