Topic: How to create Portfolio for a Testing Career

In this catchy IT sector, every tester whether a novice or an expert, needs some extra ammunition in his / her armory by which he / she can standout of the rest, especially when facing an interview.


Now let us try to know the unique identifier that can make you different?

That is a nicely organized portfolio. This becomes our flagship, and can improve our employability. Armed with a good portfolio loaded with sparkling personal information, one can compel any selection team to go in for a decision in his / her favor.

Next question arises is – What my personal portfolio should contain?

Following Fifteen hot tips on organizing vital personal information being a part of your portfolio can be:

Tip - 1: The beginning is made with a decent folder having provision of inserting many sleeves, which could last for couple of years.

Tip - 2: Keep few copies of your resume or curriculum vitae that must be powerfully portraying the first hand information about your career in testing. Remember that a good resume itself is able to answer several questions shot by interviewers.

Tip - 3: Keep a chronological history of your entire career neatly typed on a sheet.

Tip - 4: Keep copies of complimentary letters or e-mails received from time to time.

Tip - 5: Keep testimonials & detailed mark-sheets of various professional courses.

Tip - 6: Keep copies of non-confidential reports engineered by you. Remember that it must never contain any intellectual information or property of any of your client. Such information is viewed as espionage & is never liked by any interviewer.

Tip - 7: You must preserve documentary evidence of lectures or presentations delivered by you at your client or an employer or at some other knowledge forum.

Tip - 8: Keep a neatly typed sheet listing out an analysis of your skills versus gap, which could be quite helpful on many occasions.

Tip - 9: Copies of your performance appraisals from different employers are helpful in outlining the credentials effectively.

Tip - 10: Keep some documentary evidence of your testing activities listing out details of projects handled by you, your role in them, ultimate achievements. Remember not to include the names & details of the clients, unless your client has made such information public on its own.

Tip - 11: Keep copies of all professional articles written & published by you.

Tip - 12: Keep copies of patents of inventions made by you.

Tip - 13: Keep documentary evidence or details of team builds exclusively led by you.

Tip - 14: Keep a summary of lessons learnt especially from your mistakes which helped you to move on. Such a document is regarded with great respect by the interviewers.

Tip - 15: Keep a list of your personal strengths & weaknesses or a list of your Likes & dislikes. This would be extremely helpful in coming out of certain odd situations usually created by some irritating interviewers.

To tackle the obvious uncomfortable question of describing one’s strengths & weaknesses; it is ideal to memorize a minimum of 10 qualities of your good points and perhaps 1 or 2 bad points or weakness. The idea of memorizing is to make it look natural and smooth during your interview session. With some practice, you will appear to be wonderfully articulate & confident and not like a tongue tied & fumbling inexperienced fool. This will help you in patching up your weakness and being a bit more aware of your own limitations of capabilities.

It is ideal to memorize your entire portfolio, if it is a bit concise, but sometimes it is not possible do so. In such a situation, nicely written documents supporting each & every artifacts should remain handy with you all the time you are out on career building expeditions.

Our career portfolio must not end at above list of 15 suggested do’s or don’ts. Rather we must keep on expanding the list with more & more artifacts from time to time.

Conclusion: With a potent combination of a powerful portfolio backed by your real professional expertise, you can smartly knock off all competitors and march towards a glamorous career in testing easily.