Good technologists stress the importance of capturing information in written form. Examples are myriad and diverse: design decisions, code comments, commit messages, operational runbooks, and performance feedback, all of which benefit from being documented for future reference. In this post I want to suggest another data set worth capturing: your work history and professional accomplishments.

Sometimes referred to as a brag document, and much more than just a résumé, a complete log of your work can serve you in several ways. It’s useful to provide to your manager and other leaders during performance reviews season, or to make a case for a promotion. When it comes time to search for a new job, you’ll be prepared to recount your experiences in detail, and provide concrete examples to questions (a post for another day, but good interviewers love specifics). And when you’re discouraged about your future or feel like an imposter in your present, you can review your past successes and remember that you belong.

No amount of detail in your brag document is too much. Start with the what and where, and be specific about your role in the work. Add artifacts wherever possible, such as public links to code, articles, blogs, press releases, or anything else you can think of. Don’t have public artifacts? Make some if your situation allows. I even collect screenshots/photos if they’re not proprietary, or if they help me remember the people that contributed to successes.

Speaking of which, including information on who, when, and why are also critical (and easy to overlook). No one cares about technical minutia if the work didn’t make a difference. Write down the difference you made! Metrics are best (e.g. increased sales, more users, faster response times, people helped), but anecdotes work too. Capturing timeframe is useful to understand context when relating to other work. And documenting who you worked with is useful for multiple reasons: one, it ensures you remember a network of folks who can vouch for your work should you need it. And secondly, it provides context on the level that you were operating at within your organization. This was one of the tricks we Amazon Bar Raisers used to suss out a job seeker’s influence: were they talking regularly with customers and other stakeholders outside their immediate team? How far outside? And were they peers, managers, directors, executives? This context was directly applied to leveling decisions.

Capture your work log in situ. The longer you wait, the less likely you are to remember correctly (“the strongest memory is weaker than the weakest ink” as my childhood pastor used to say). Having a regular cadence can work well. Friday afternoons especially so, as that’s a great time to reflect on your weekly accomplishments.

It’s not just you that’s likely to forget if you wait too long, but so will others who can provide feedback on your work. Few things are more powerful in a brag document than actual quotes from project stakeholders. It can feel awkward to ask, but get over yourself and do it. Ask for both the good and the bad, accept it gratefully, and save it away alongside the rest of the details about a project.

“the strongest memory is weaker than the weakest ink”

If you’re just starting out, don’t overthink the arrangement of info in your brag document. Pick a tool and get started. Especially don’t wait for a manager to do this documentation work for you; career development is your responsibility first, and besides, they probably don’t see nearly as much as you do (doubly true in the age of remote work).

Eventually your document is going to need some organization. The objective is to tell a coherent story that captures the reader’s interest. Chronological order is probably the easiest, and can work if well if you have a mostly linear career progression. Clustering activities by industry or domain packs the most punch if you’re trying to make a case for your expertise in a specific area. Ordering accomplishments by impact, with most impactful first, is a great way to highlight the value you can bring. If you’re building a case for a promotion, you should consider aligning your document to the next-level role guidelines provided by your organization (and if you don’t have such guidelines, ask for demand them).

Finally, I suggest keeping two versions of your work accomplishments. One internal to your current employer that has maximal detail, and one you keep personally, edited down to comply with any non-disclosure or confidentiality requirements you might have. The latter is the perfect source for résumé material when needed.

Happy documenting my friends!