How can you ensure you are meeting your company's expectations for a Quality Assurance promotion?

1 Assess your current performance

The first step to getting a promotion is to evaluate your current performance and identify your strengths and weaknesses. You can use various tools and methods to measure your performance, such as feedback from your peers, managers, and customers, key performance indicators (KPIs), quality metrics, and self-assessment. You should also review your job description and expectations, and compare them with your actual achievements and contributions. This will help you to understand where you stand, what you are doing well, and what you need to improve.

2 Set SMART goals

The next step is to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for your professional development and career growth. SMART goals will help you to focus on the areas that matter most for your promotion, and to track your progress and results. For example, you may set goals such as improving your test automation skills, obtaining a certification, leading a project, or mentoring a junior colleague. You should also communicate your goals and aspirations to your manager, and ask for their support and guidance.

3 Expand your skills and knowledge

To get a promotion, you need to show that you are constantly learning and updating your skills and knowledge in QA. You can do this by taking online courses, reading books and blogs, attending webinars and workshops, joining communities and forums, and participating in events and conferences. You should also seek opportunities to apply your new skills and knowledge in your projects, and to share them with your team and your manager. This will demonstrate your initiative, curiosity, and value as a QA professional.

4 Take on more responsibilities and challenges

Another way to ensure you are meeting your company's expectations for a QA promotion is to take on more responsibilities and challenges that go beyond your current role. You can volunteer to lead a task force, solve a complex problem, implement a new process, or collaborate with other departments. You can also ask for more feedback, coaching, and mentoring from your manager and senior colleagues, and learn from their experience and expertise. By taking on more responsibilities and challenges, you will show your leadership, creativity, and problem-solving skills, as well as your commitment and enthusiasm for QA.

5 Showcase your achievements and impact

Finally, you need to showcase your achievements and impact as a QA professional to your company. You can do this by creating a portfolio of your work, documenting your results and outcomes, highlighting your best practices and lessons learned, and presenting your success stories and testimonials. You should also quantify your impact by using numbers, percentages, and metrics that show how you improved the quality, efficiency, and customer satisfaction of the products. By showcasing your achievements and impact, you will prove your worth and credibility as a QA professional, and increase your chances of getting a promotion.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?