I've been told in the past that I need to raise my profile within the QA community, not just in work but outside of work as well. I need to be more vocal and speak out more in work, and get people to know me, which I have started to do and am quite enjoying it.
In light of this I want to offer advice to other people about how they can raise their profile within the QA community outside of their workplace, as well as in their workplace, as raising one will hopefully raise the other.
Firstly, I never thought I would get into this blogging malarkey but I can definitely say it has helped make me a better QA. Someone once said to me that blogging is useful as it might help someone learn something, and if not, then it can help you and is a good point of reference if you ever need to look back on anything. I also find it quite therapeutic by writing out about how I feel about certain aspects of my job. This will help raise your profile inside and outside of work, share your blog on twitter, google+ and facebook, share it within your work place, and share it with communities that you are a part of..
So I mentioned about communities, I have recently joined up to the Software Testing Club, and can say my initial thoughts are that it's a very good community to be a part of. There's links to an abundance of blog posts, links to testing meetups and a very active discussion forum. Hopefully I can contribute there and become an active member.
I've decided that I also need to try and attend testing meetups, which is hard for me, as I do value time at home with my son, and find that these testing meetups happen on evenings etc. However, I am going to try and attend meetups once a month going forward, I think the hardest thing will be attending the first meetup, hopefully once I've attended one, it'll become a lot easier....
The 2 I mentioned above, will probably mainly help your standing within the outside world of QA, in order to increase your standing within the QA team, you need to be vocal in meetings, you need to be opinionated and drive to improve processes. People will start listening to you, and at least asking for your opinion on things.
You can also follow QA professionals on twitter, they'll often post links to blogs that they've written or read, and can be a good point of reference if you have any questions around your role, and more often than not they'd be happy to help (I know I would :) ).
Also, if you find anything interesting that will help you do your job, share it around, be it on twitter, in a blog post, or emailing the QA team in your IT department, it doesn't even have to be restricted to your QA team, send it to anyone you think would benefit from it.
Finally, you should read and comment on other peoples blogs, this will benefit you in 2 ways, it will improve your knowledge of the QA field and hopefully people will start looking back at your blog and notice you.
Can anyone think of any other ways that you can improve your profile within the QA community both inside and outside of your work place? It's a long process though, so don't expect results overnight.
In light of this I want to offer advice to other people about how they can raise their profile within the QA community outside of their workplace, as well as in their workplace, as raising one will hopefully raise the other.
Firstly, I never thought I would get into this blogging malarkey but I can definitely say it has helped make me a better QA. Someone once said to me that blogging is useful as it might help someone learn something, and if not, then it can help you and is a good point of reference if you ever need to look back on anything. I also find it quite therapeutic by writing out about how I feel about certain aspects of my job. This will help raise your profile inside and outside of work, share your blog on twitter, google+ and facebook, share it within your work place, and share it with communities that you are a part of..
So I mentioned about communities, I have recently joined up to the Software Testing Club, and can say my initial thoughts are that it's a very good community to be a part of. There's links to an abundance of blog posts, links to testing meetups and a very active discussion forum. Hopefully I can contribute there and become an active member.
I've decided that I also need to try and attend testing meetups, which is hard for me, as I do value time at home with my son, and find that these testing meetups happen on evenings etc. However, I am going to try and attend meetups once a month going forward, I think the hardest thing will be attending the first meetup, hopefully once I've attended one, it'll become a lot easier....
The 2 I mentioned above, will probably mainly help your standing within the outside world of QA, in order to increase your standing within the QA team, you need to be vocal in meetings, you need to be opinionated and drive to improve processes. People will start listening to you, and at least asking for your opinion on things.
You can also follow QA professionals on twitter, they'll often post links to blogs that they've written or read, and can be a good point of reference if you have any questions around your role, and more often than not they'd be happy to help (I know I would :) ).
Also, if you find anything interesting that will help you do your job, share it around, be it on twitter, in a blog post, or emailing the QA team in your IT department, it doesn't even have to be restricted to your QA team, send it to anyone you think would benefit from it.
Finally, you should read and comment on other peoples blogs, this will benefit you in 2 ways, it will improve your knowledge of the QA field and hopefully people will start looking back at your blog and notice you.
Can anyone think of any other ways that you can improve your profile within the QA community both inside and outside of your work place? It's a long process though, so don't expect results overnight.
Glad to see you becoming part of the community - it's pretty much the route I followed
ReplyDeleteLurking on forums then asking questions then helping answer questions
Commented on blogs then started my own blog
Active on Twitter
Helped start and run Tester Meetups - I understand your point about wanting family time but meetups are usually just once a month
As you note at the end, it's a long process so keep it going
It's also something that *you* want to be doing, if you're trying to do it because you've been told to or because you think it's something you should be doing then it will show. So, why are you trying to raise your profile ?
:)
To be honest, it's making me better at my job, I'm also really enjoying it, the blogging, the learning new things and just getting involved in something outside of my work. If I have 5 minutes spare I'll have a look at a blog or add something to my blog, whereas before I'd probably just browse the net! I've also realised that I have a lot to share! :)
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