When we decide to change our careers, it is not easy to start. First, we don’t know what we want to change, then we don’t know how to change it, what are our goals, and how to achieve them 🎯
In this article, I’ll cover 5 tips to make your QA career take off in 2022, and also present some goal ideas that you can set for yourself.
Tips to Make Your QA Career Take Off In 2022 – Table of content
- Tip 1: Set the goals for your career
- Tip 2: List the activities and set a deadline for each one
- Tip 3: Execute each activity
- Tip 4: Review activities, deadlines, and your accomplishments weekly
- Tip 5: Celebrate
- Go faster with a mentor
- 2022 goals ideas to your QA career
- Conclusion
Tip 1: Set the goals for your career
The most important part is to set a goal. What are your career goals for 2022? Maybe you want a promotion? Or a job in another company? Maybe in another country? Maybe you want to start learning how to automate tests?
A goal must be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Temporal:
- Specific: Lists exactly what you want.
- Measurable: Allows you to measure your success during the process and know when you have reached it.
- Achievable: Your goal should be realistic, something that it is possible to achieve, even if you need a lot of effort and dedication.
- Relevant: A goal should have a fundamental. You should know why you want to do this, and why it matters for you. When you know the reason, you will be motivated to achieve it.
- Temporal: Define when you want to achieve it.
These are the first steps. Now ask yourself, what are the goals that will make a difference to your career? Which one will get you closer to where you want to go? 🤔
Tip 2: List the activities and set a deadline for each one
After defining your SMART goals that are now clear in your mind (and on a paper, of course), you can define an action plan. Your action plan for the year will contain:
- A list of the activities you must do in each of the goals you set in the previous step.
- Set a deadline for each activity.
You might think “why do I need a list of activities if I have already set a goal?”. So yes, you set a goal, but if you just think about it you might get stuck without moving.
So, it is easier if you define the list of activities you must do to achieve your goal. Then you just pick one and do it. Then pick the next one and do this one, without having to think about what to do next.
In order to not linger, you should define a deadline for each activity. This will help you focus and finish the goal in the required time ⏲ Now you can follow your action plan and deliver more energy in the activities!
Tip 3: Execute each activity
It may seem simple, but most people set goals, and some even create an action plan for them, but never do it. It only remains in a piece of paper inside a drawer, and at the end of the year, when cleaning that drawer, you discover that none of your goals were achieved.
So, the most important thing is to accomplish your activities. Start the beginning of each week by defining the activities you will execute that week and keep track of them. Make it happen.
Tip 4: Review activities, deadlines, and your accomplishments weekly
At the end of each week, it is time to review the activities you planned to do that week, and the following ones. It is also good to review your deadlines, maybe you can anticipate a deadline, or maybe due to some problems you need to postpone it.
The most important thing here is to constantly have a view of the steps to achieve your goals, have an updated plan, and view your accomplishments every week, in order to feel more confident that you will achieve the goals.
Tip 5: Celebrate
To finish, it is important to celebrate when you achieve a goal ✅ Don’t make it just a routine, make it in a happy way, celebrating and rewarding yourself.
Know that you did a good job! Know that you achieved a planned goal! Know that you are developing your QA career and getting closer to the professional you want to be!
Go faster with a mentor
You can do it by yourself, but you can go faster and be more effective if you have a mentor. With a mentor, you will have the support of a person that:
- Has already achieved those goals.
- Can give you the directions they followed to achieve that goal.
- Will not let you give up on your goals and will be side by side, encouraging you to achieve them.
- Will help you reach your goals much faster than if you try alone.
2022 goals ideas for your QA career
In this section, you will get access to a list of goal ideas for 2022. It is a quick-access resource that you can use to inspire yourself. Get the ones that are more important for your main professional goal of the year. Use it as it is presented or adapt it. It is just a guide that I created to inspire you! 💫
Conclusion
In this article, I suggested 5 tips to make your QA career take off in 2022.
In addition, 10 goal ideas you can set for yourself were presented, to inspire some plans. Do not allow 2022 to be any less than 2021. Control your future and make 2022 the best year of your QA career! 💥