My first year experience

Describe your First Year Experience in one or two words: Wonderful

I’d love to hear about your career journey. Can you talk about what led you here and your decision to join Thoughtworks?

I'm a boomerang coming back to Thoughtworks after 6 years away. I loved working at Thoughtworks, lots of great people and fun projects. I left because of travel. With full-time travel not happening, I was super happy to return.

Ok take me back to your first day at Thoughtworks. Your first week. Your first month. How has your onboarding and First Year Experience differed from previous onboarding at other companies? 

I've been a programmer for more than 30 years and the onboarding with Thoughtworks is, by far, the best I've experienced. 

First, they make sure you have access to everything you need to get started by giving you your own project board that has links to day one paperwork and the ongoing Thoughtworks reference material. There are also.a number of in-house developed training modules to help you get familiar with the Thoughtworks  culture  This is ridiculously thorough and really helps you get comfortable with how Thoughtworks functions. 

Second, they make sure you know how to get support when you can't find what you need. When you use that support, everybody is always helpful and makes sure you get connected with the right people to get your questions answered. Plus everyone is up front about the answer, even when it's not what you wanted to hear. This support means I do not worry about having questions about most things as I know that I will be able to get an answer pretty easily. 

Third, they are constantly looking for where onboarding needs to get better. Onboarding changed a lot from when I started in 2011 vs 2021. From what I remember, it got a lot better in that time.

What has been your favorite part of your Thoughtworks career to date? Any milestones? “Ah-ha” moments? 

Coming back after 6 years, to a now public company, I was worried that things were going to have changed. And while a lot has changed,  it is still the same Thoughtworks; the identity and the things that I believe make Thoughtworks unique are still there. 

What advice would you give to someone who is starting their first day at Thoughtworks? 

Be ready for a company that really takes what they say to heart; where a major focus is around making the company function better for everyone. It's not the disruptive approach you see in so many corporations (e.g. reorganizations). Instead it's continual improvement; it happens regularly and seems to be backed into the Thoughtworks DNA. As a consultant, this means getting a say in what assignments you are put on, getting treated with respect by all Thoughtworkers including management, getting support to improve yourself, and, most importantly, getting to work on interesting projects while doing things right with a bunch of really great coworkers.

Anything else that you wanted to add?

Not much really. Just that I know Thoughtwork is not perfect, but if getting to work on interesting technical projects with a lot of great people and being treated with respect while doing that is something that sounds good to you, Thoughtworks is definitely a place to check out.