Career Tips from a PM (7/30) – Manage your career with JIRA.
A few years back, I worked with a few SWEs and UX/UI folk that used JIRA for personal tracking. Projects, goals, to-dos, you name it. And frankly, it was one of the most effective (and comically entertaining) ways I’ve seen people get stuff done.
And you know what? Why wouldn’t you want to do the same with your career?
Think about it, perhaps your dream job is your North Star, your epics your goals, and your tickets your actions. What you’re currently working on is your active sprint, what’s on deck is prioritized in your backlog, and you have an icebox for things that sound interesting but aren’t quite sure if they fit into life just yet.
And you’d have reporting to track progress and momentum, too. And you could link Confluence in parallel to document things like contact information, interview notes, company research, etc.
“Using those for personal use is kind of overkill, isn’t it?”
Perhaps, but it undeniably helps keep you organized. Chances are, if you’re reading this, you’re in tech and already familiar tools like JIRA and Confluence. What benefit do you have to gain to learn and use something new when you’ve been using these tools for years? Or, if you’re new to the space, why not grow accustomed to these before you need it for work?
Fine, if I haven’t sold you on JIRA and Confluence, my point still stands: use a project management tool to track priorities and progress for your personal initiatives. The organization and visibility it’ll provide you are invaluable if you’re serious about reaching your goals. Whichever tool you choose matters not; either way, I’ll stand by the one close to my heart:
Manage your career with JIRA.