Something to readReviews & performance
Writing a performance self review for software engineers
A short essay on writing a self-review your manager can use, with a filled-in example
Why it’s worth your time
Your manager is unlikely to have seen everything you did this period, and the most recent months may weigh the most. Gergely Orosz, previously an engineering manager at Uber and now the writer of The Pragmatic Engineer, lays out a four-part self-review you send ahead of time and links a filled-in example. The examples are for engineers, though he notes the ideas carry over to other fields.
How to write a performance self-review
The essay · 5 min · Free
Opens their site. We don’t copy it here; we’d rather they get the read.
- Read the essay.
Look at the four sections and the screenshots under each. Then open the linked example, which starts with the goals agreed for the period and says plainly which one was missed and why.
- Write the goals section first.
Before listing anything you did, write two or three lines on what you were expected to achieve this period. If you can't say, write your best understanding and plan to check it with your manager after the review. Then add one result, with a number next to it if you have one.
Good moments for this: two weeks before self-reviews are dueat the end of a big projectwhen your expectations feel unclear
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Making it work for you
Every workplace is different. Here’s what to think about before you start, and what might get in the way.
Things to think about
Orosz frames the self-review as making your manager's job easier: they have to judge your work against expectations, and you hold most of the evidence. Results laid out against what your role and team were asked to deliver tend to be easier to use than a list of tasks.
What might make this harder
Use theirs, as Orosz suggests, and borrow his sections as prompts for what to put in each box.
Questions people ask
How do I write a good self-review?
Orosz suggests four parts: the goals or expectations for the period, your accomplishments in priority order with numbers where they help, how you worked with others, and how your work maps to your level's competencies.
Why write a self-review if my manager writes my review?
Your manager likely hasn't seen everything you did, and may weigh recent work more heavily. A self-review sent ahead gives them the missing context and tends to make the review fairer.
What if I don't have clear goals for my review?
Write your own understanding of what was expected. Orosz notes that unclear expectations are already a problem, and suggests a follow-up with your manager after the review to agree on them.
How does a brag document help with a self-review?
A running list of what you worked on and what it changed, kept week by week. Orosz uses Julia Evans's name for it and says keeping one makes the self-review much faster to write.
What it says, and how it holds up
Orosz writes from both chairs. He says review season has always made him nervous, first as an engineer and then as an engineering manager, and the essay draws mostly on the manager's seat. A self-review sent ahead of time is his answer, and he argues few admin tasks matter more for a career. As a manager, he saw people leave it to the last minute or skip it, and he's blunt that skipping it leaves little ground to complain if your manager misses things.
The structure is the useful part. Goals come first, so the reader knows what you were aiming at, then results ranked by importance, with figures where they add context and estimated impact for work that hasn't shipped. The how comes next, the collaboration and help that rarely shows up in metrics, and last a pass against your level's competencies. The linked example fills every section for a sample engineer, down to links to code reviews, which makes the shape easier to copy than a blank page.
It's written for engineers at companies with formal review cycles, levels and competency frameworks. In a smaller company with no written expectations, the goals section may be the whole conversation, and agreeing on expectations now may help more than a polished review later. A self-review also can't stand in for a year of updates. If your manager is hearing about your biggest win for the first time in it, the more useful fix is a short monthly note on what you've shipped and what it changed.
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Picked by Truest and described in our own words. The original belongs to its creator. Last updated October 9, 2026. We sell a career membership; where that’s relevant above, we say so.