Be it any profession, if you are not satisfied with your job profile and the kind of work you do, it’s very hard to stay motivated. You should be able to challenge yourself, you should want to learn more. This not only helps you in your career growth but is also essential for your growth as a person.
The hunger for new knowledge and the desire to be better than the best is something very common in the software development industry. New technologies are coming up every other day, codes are changing and the entire software development paradigm is dynamic. Under such circumstances, all individuals working in this field must be motivated to give their best shot. But many a time, people just find it hard to do it.
In that light, here are a few methods you can use to stay motivated in the software industry:
On The Job Training
There are some workplaces where the employer throws challenging roles at the employee every now and then, and the employee has to be geared up to meet those challenging demands. Any company which aims to help their employees grow does this sort of activities and keeps its employees on their toes.
Though this might seem like a great deal, meeting challenges on an everyday basis can become taxing for many. In such times, it’s important to remember the benefits that you can attain while training yourself for the given job.
Get More From Your Employer:
If you are gaining access to training and challenges at work do not be satisfied with it. Always remember that it’s a requirement and not a benefit being offered to you.
In many organizations, employees learn new skills and tools to get the job done. Then after a year of working in that organization, their growth seems to slow done and then finally stops. Under such circumstances, the employee would either want to change the designation or position within the company or just leave.
Though there can be many reasons why people do such things, it’s important that an employee keeps himself challenged so as to grow in any organization.
Growth and Change:
It is often seen that software testers move very often in their career from one organization to another. They explain multiple job responsibilities while creating resumes while switching their organization. However, if this move is done correctly, a person working as a software tester can gather a lot of valuable experience.
Just because you are working as a software tester, there is no need to think that your job role is limited to your post solely. In order to keep yourself motivated, you have to willingly take up other complementary job roles. In fact, many organizations will offer you other responsibilities in addition to your primary job as a tester. While you stay open to this process of change you will notice that while some job roles would seem similar between the different organizations, other job roles will not be so similar. This difference often gives an individual perspective and keeps them motivated
Focus on Yourself:
It is important that you keep yourself as the priority, that is, find time to invest in your own development. Since you are your best resource you have to pave your own path of success. In that light, if the organization you work in is failing to keep you updated with the challenges and development in your field of expertise, you have to find out what they are and increase your own knowledge base.
Look for job postings periodically even if you do not have any plans of quitting soon. With these, you will be able to find out the current demands in the market and then spend some time outside your 9 to 5 job hours to develop these skills.
Research For Development:
Even after all this, you might still want to change your job. But before doing that try to talk to your employer about a new tool that you wish to learn, you could also do a bit of research yourself to stay motivated.
After you have gathered enough data and reasons on why this particular tool or language can be important to you, pitch it to the manager or your immediate supervisor. If they do consider teaching you that new software testing tool or language then you have bought yourself some time to stay motivated, if not then it might be time to move into another job.
With all these points handy, keeping yourself motivated as a software tester will not be a problem. All the best
