As an individual contributor, what strategies have you used when delivering quality work and creating business value did not naturally translate into recognition, influence, or career growth?
I don’t have a good answer for this question, but I commend you for asking it. I regret that I did not ask it myself. I learned the hard way that it’s very important to be proactive about your career.
There was a time early in my career that if I had put a lot of effort into a good outcome and I didn’t get the recognition for it, I’d be standing up and shouting “hey, that was my work!”. The trouble is with that, is its a lose/lose mentality. You feel unseen which makes you bitter and you undermine those that took your work or guidance and turned it into a positive outcome.
So for me now, I understand that influence is recognition. Just because my name isn’t on the change or outcome, I helped make it happen and thats enough for me. Its a fact I know that I helped make that outcome a success and thats how I’ll right it down. This may be controversial, but I don’t see my career and my recognition within it as related. I have faith that if I focus on influencing great outcomes but not seeking recognition at each step of the way, the recognition will come in a different way…people will need your guidance and seek it out, which in time will be recognised anyway.
My answer is it depends on why its not translating.
Is it a case that you’re doing a good job and the lack of issues occurring makes you invisible? The common saying that QA’s only noticed when things are going wrong?
Are you an automation engineer sat behind the scenes so not really in many meetings?
If it’s something like those then making sure your manager knows can be a simple first step. Another is to get involved earlier. You don’t have to be super vocal, but joining planning meetings and helping spot issues earlier does double duty (makes sure people remember you’re there and lets you do your job better).
In a worse case is it that people are ignoring the value, especially senior staff/leadership. If you work closely with the Dev and do a great job with them, are they letting management know? It’s not always malicious (generally it’s not), but when people are busy then it’s easy to forget to pass along praise.
In these cases actively showing gratitude yourself can help. Make sure to pass along thanks and to foster a culture that celebrates the whole teams success.
If you think it is that you’re being ignored and overlooked then keep doing the good work but find other people to champion the work you do with you. If Engineering sees QA as a checkbox, then work with UX and Product more closely.
Callum Akhurst-Ryan and Katja Obring have both done a lot of talks and posts around selling your success as a QA/QE and their stuff is worth checking out.
Hey @ujjwal.singh, I feel this deeply. I really appreciated @nithinss series on this topic: Nithin | Substack
Here’s one of his posts: You Do the Work. You Just Can't Describe It. - by Nithin
And, I’ll take some time to consider a more personal answer.