Having the skills like those taught in this course are necessary to succeed as a leader, but not sufficient by themselves. Earning a promotion to a leadership position is usually a lagging indicator, meaning that you lead first then get recognized as a leader afterwards. In this section, we will review the roadmap to promotion:

The promotion process – I’ll share how companies decide who to promote.

Assess yourself (strengths, brand, what you want) – How to assess yourself in an objective manner and learn what others think about you.

Find and work with a mentor – having a mentor (or more) is very powerful for professional growth. We will discuss how to find a mentor and get the most out of that relationship.

Invest in your leadership skills (relentless learning & practice) – when learning to be a developer or tester, you learned technical skills and practice those skills.Investing in your leadership skills is just as important.In the past, or in game of thrones, leaders are born. In today’s world, leaders are made.

Communicate for impact (speak the language of a leader) – You communications are vital in how you deliver information, and how people perceive you.

Manage yourself (Emotional Intelligence) – Before managing others, leaders first learn to manage themselves.This is called Emotional Intelligence, abrievated as EQ, which is meant to compliment your Intelligence Quotient (or IQ).We will review the most important components of EQ and provide several exercises to improve your EQ.

What you accomplish & market yourself – The roadmap to promotion has 2 components, the accomplishments that you have, but also the marketing of yourself.

Stay or go – Finally, we will review a decision that you will need to make regarding earning that promotion, its to stay at your current company or leave for other opportunities.