On Mon, 11 Nov 2013 21:58:21 +0000, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:

> I'm still trying to wrap my brain around this...
> 
> As some of you may know, I worked for my last employer for ten years,
> and managed to miss the "annual" staff appraisal every single year.
> Which is just fine with me! (And in ten years, nobody actually *noticed*
> this...)
> 
> Think about it - what would my appraisal have looked like?
> 
>    What is your job?
>      I'm supposed to keep the computers running.
> 
>    What did you achieve last year?
>      I successfully kept the computers running.
> 
>    What are your goals for this year?
>      I hope to keep the computers running.

I used to do reviews like this all the time when I worked in IT.  There's 
much more involved than that - but this explains why you had trouble 
writing your CV - performance reviews and objectives/goals documentation 
is really helpful for maintaining a CV.

> 
> At this point, I have to wonder - why am I filling this form out again?
> What "goals" or "achievements" can I invent to put in these boxes? How
> can I pretend these are related to the company mission?

In IT, pretty much everything you do relates to the company mission.  IT 
enables companies to achieve their mission in an efficient manner 
(ideally).  So every system you manage, implement, update, or fix 
directly affects the bottom line.

> My new employer - heh, "new". I've been there over a year! Oh yes, which
> is why I apparently need to fill out an appraisal form. Any ideas for
> creative ways to say "last year I wrote code, this year I will write
> code"? ;-)

Write more than "I wrote code."  Write about what the code does, what 
it's used for, and what it's a part of.  For goals, look forward at what 
the company's doing, where it's headed, and how the code you've already 
written is helping them meet their goals, and then extrapolate how your 
existing code might evolve - things you want to implement that you didn't 
get to, that sort of thing.  Goals and objectives are set in concert with 
your manager, so if you have a goal, objective, or desire that doesn't 
fit, your manager should help you align your goals to the organizational 
goals.

Jim

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