Write a Brag Document and Get Your Work Recognized

You already know me if you have visited the About page of this blog.

I decided to write this article today because I've been in a rather frustrating situation recently. During a quarterly performance review (year 2022), my client unintentionally forgot to list all the essential tasks I had completed over the last 3 months.

As a result, my work deserved recognition.

Although I am a somewhat stoic person, my ego was hurt!

So I decided that for the subsequent evaluations, things had to change, and I decided to take responsibility for promoting my work.

Your manager won't remember everything you did

Your manager or boss will not remember your achievements better than you. Despite his or her willingness to work with you and his or her interest in the project being successful.

I also realized that if he has omitted tasks from his report, it is not bad faith, but he probably has much more important things to do than monitor the tasks of his colleagues.

You won't remember everything you did

I'm terrible at remembering all the tasks I have done. So when it comes to quarterly evaluation by the clients I work with, I always have the same boring feeling coming back

Wait! what did I do in the last 3 months?

Usually, this feeling is quite heavy, as I realize that I've forgotten almost everything I've done.

And yet in reality, I have to spend a lot of time reviewing my merge requests, tickets, launch emails, Teams messages, and more. I always end up finding  things that I completely forgot I did, like:

• Updating database version for UAT env
• Refactoring some CI-CD scripts
• Helping x devs with their tasks
• Adding this important feature
• I have done pair or mob programming sessions
• etcetera!

What to do in this case

I can't describe the steps or process better than @AngieJones. I recommend that you read his entire thread on how to sell your work and get recognition for it.

2. Be your biggest advocate. Do not depend on others to notice you're doing a good job. You show then TELL them you're killing it! Unfortunately, modesty and humility work against us. Don't be arrogant, but do be confident.

— Angie Jones (@techgirl1908) August 26, 2022

4. Manage your own career (goes hand in hand with #2). You drive the initiation of raises, promotions, etc. Do not wait on others to start this conversation because many times they won't.

— Angie Jones (@techgirl1908) August 26, 2022

5b. If you can't resist doing the glue work, figure out how to lead the effort in getting all the devs to do the work as opposed to you doing it all.

— Angie Jones (@techgirl1908) August 26, 2022

7. (optional) Become an authority outside of the company you work for. Speak at a meetup, write a blog post, make a YouTube video. Show your employer that you're bigger than your immediate role.

— Angie Jones (@techgirl1908) August 26, 2022

Writing schedule

To maintain a Brag Document, writing schedules will have to be set up. I update mine every two weeks. But you can maintain yours every week or at the end of each task, depending on how you organize your project.

Awesome Brag Document Tool

I recently discovered a fantastic tool that allows you to rate your accomplishments and share a link (read-only). It will be beneficial for you and easy enough to share the link with your manager before your evaluation meeting.

I hope you find this article useful.