English for Performance Reviews in Tech
Master the vocabulary and phrases you need to navigate performance reviews in English — from OKRs and impact statements to receiving feedback and advocating for yourself.
Performance reviews are one of the most consequential conversations a developer has at work. They determine promotions, raises, and how you are perceived by your manager and organisation. For non-native English speakers, the challenge is not just describing what you did — it is framing it in the language your company uses, the language of impact, growth, and contribution. This guide teaches you exactly that.
Key Vocabulary
OKR (Objectives and Key Results) — a goal-setting framework where each objective is measured by concrete, quantifiable results. “My OKR for Q2 was to reduce API response time by 40% — we hit 38%.”
Impact — the meaningful change your work produced, not just the tasks you completed. “The impact of the caching layer was a 60% reduction in database load during peak traffic.”
Scope — the range or level of your influence. Senior roles are expected to have broader scope. “I’ve been operating at a scope beyond my current level — I’m influencing decisions across three teams.”
Levelling — the process of evaluating whether someone is ready to move to the next career level. “I want to discuss levelling — I feel I’ve been consistently operating at L5 for two quarters.”
360 feedback — feedback gathered from peers, direct reports, and managers (a full circle of perspectives). “The 360 feedback was generally positive, but a few people mentioned I could communicate more proactively.”
Growth area — a polite term for something you need to improve. Preferable to “weakness.” “My growth area this half was stakeholder communication — I’ve been working on it deliberately.”
Self-assessment — the written or verbal summary you provide of your own performance before the review meeting. “My self-assessment focused on three areas: delivery, collaboration, and technical leadership.”
Phrases for Describing Your Impact
Impact language is the most important skill in performance reviews. Move from “what I did” to “what changed because of what I did”:
- “I led the migration to the new auth system, which eliminated a class of security vulnerabilities and reduced support tickets by 30%.”
- “My work on the onboarding flow reduced time-to-activation for new users from 4 days to less than 1.”
- “I mentored two junior engineers who have since taken on independent projects — that’s a multiplier effect on the team.”
- “The refactor I delivered reduced build times by 45%, which improved developer productivity across the board.”
The key structure is: action + outcome + measurable result. Avoid saying “I worked on X” — always say “I delivered X, which resulted in Y.”
Phrases for Discussing OKRs
OKR language is specific. Companies use it to measure progress with numbers, not opinions:
- “My key result was to achieve 99.9% uptime — we ended the quarter at 99.95%.”
- “We hit two out of three key results. The third one slipped because of the infrastructure incident in May.”
- “I set a stretch goal of reducing churn by 15% — we achieved 12%, which I consider a strong result given the constraints.”
- “Looking back, I think I set the key results too conservatively — I want to be more ambitious in H2.”
Phrases for Receiving Feedback
How you respond to feedback — especially critical feedback — is itself evaluated. These phrases show professionalism and self-awareness:
- “Thank you for that feedback — can you give me a specific example so I can understand it better?”
- “That’s fair. I’ve been aware of this and I’ve been working on it — here’s what I’ve done so far.”
- “I want to make sure I understand the feedback correctly. Are you saying the issue is X, or more Y?”
- “I appreciate you raising this. It’s not easy to hear, but I want to address it.”
Avoid being defensive. Even if you disagree, acknowledge the feedback before responding: “I hear you — and I want to share my perspective on that situation.”
Phrases for Advocating for Yourself
Many developers — especially non-native English speakers — find self-advocacy uncomfortable. But it is expected in performance conversations:
- “I feel like my contributions this half have been operating above my current level — I’d like to discuss levelling.”
- “I’d appreciate more visibility into what ‘ready for promotion’ looks like concretely for me.”
- “I’ve taken on significant scope this quarter, including X and Y. I want to make sure that’s reflected in the evaluation.”
- “I want to be transparent: my growth goal for next year is to move into a tech lead role. What would you need to see from me?”
Phrases to Avoid
| Avoid | Try instead |
|---|---|
| ”I just did my job." | "I consistently delivered on my commitments and took on additional scope." |
| "Nobody noticed my work." | "I want to make sure my contributions are visible — how can I communicate them better?" |
| "I don’t know what my growth areas are." | "I’ve been reflecting on this — I think my main growth area is X." |
| "That feedback isn’t fair." | "I’d like to share some context that might reframe that situation.” |
Quick Reference
| Situation | Phrase |
|---|---|
| Describing impact | ”My work on X resulted in Y.” |
| Discussing OKRs | ”We hit two out of three key results.” |
| Receiving hard feedback | ”That’s fair — here’s what I’ve been doing to address it.” |
| Advocating for promotion | ”I’d like to discuss levelling — I’ve been operating at scope above my current level.” |
| Asking for clarity | ”What would ‘ready for promotion’ look like concretely?” |
| Naming a growth area | ”My growth area this half was stakeholder communication.” |
The developer who can articulate their impact clearly has a significant advantage in performance conversations. Invest in this language — it pays off directly in your career.