6.8Setting Yourself Up for a Strong First Performance Review

Your first performance review will likely happen at 3-6 months. Start preparing for it on day 1.

What Reviewers Look For

Dimension	Evidence to Collect
Technical competence	Tests you wrote, bugs you found, framework improvements
Collaboration	Feedback from developers and product owners, contributions to ceremonies
Initiative	Quick wins you delivered, improvements you proposed, problems you identified
Communication	Bug reports, status updates, documentation you created
Growth	Skills you learned, feedback you incorporated, areas you improved

Keeping a Brag Document

Start a private document on day 1 and update it weekly:

Week of [date]:
- Completed: [what you delivered]
- Impact: [measurable result]
- Feedback received: [positive or constructive]
- Skills developed: [what you learned]
- Relationships built: [who you connected with]

When review time comes, you will have 12+ weeks of documented impact instead of trying to remember what you did.

The Pre-Review Conversation

Two weeks before your review, have a conversation with your manager:

"My review is coming up in two weeks. I have been tracking my contributions and I want to make sure we are aligned on how things are going. Can we spend 15 minutes reviewing my progress against the goals we set at the start?"

This gives your manager time to prepare thoughtful feedback and signals that you take your growth seriously.