My first year experience

Describe your First Year Experience in one or two words: Inspired Community

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

After University I spent a couple of years traveling around the world and trying a lot of odd jobs from farming, marketing, restaurant kitchens and even working in a spice shop for a while. I had been studying software engineering by myself for about 6 months when I decided to join a bootcamp to expedite my learning. While I learned a lot in that bootcamp I knew that I wanted a place where I could grow quickly and experience a lot of different things in a short amount of time. A mentor of mine actually mentioned Thoughtworks to me as a place that shared my values and then flat out told me I would not be able to pass the interview at that time. Given that challenge I spent weeks learning Java, applied, and submitted my coding challenge. I remember being extremely excited and anxious during the interview process. Even with my nerves I found all of the interviews fun and each conversation was like talking with smart and interesting people that I knew I wanted to work with. I heard back from Thoughtworks that I would be receiving an offer and immediately said yes. While I did leave Thoughtworks for another opportunity, the people and ethos of this place brought me back and I am happy to be back with my community. 

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?

My first onboarding experience was in 2015 as a junior consultant. We started with a week of training in Chicago where I met other new hires and was oriented into Thoughtworks followed by a trip to Pune, India for Thoughtworks University (TWU). TWU was an amazing experience to embed into the Thoughtworks culture and understand our viewpoints on sensible defaults for technology and delivery teams. I have never in my life learned so much in such a short period of time. Iit was remarkable to me how quickly I felt I could impact my teams and clients for the better from this experience. As I am a boomerang, I left and returned to Thoughtworks, I was fortunate enough to have a second onboarding. This second time around I was coming in through our ever evolving First Year Experience which has been revamped to keep up with Thoughtworks growth. The experience was far more organized and curated than any previous onboarding I have experienced including videos, exercises, meetups, and other resources provided to help guide folks through their first year. As there is always so much to learn, when you first join an organization, the First Year Experience team has really put a lot of thought and effort into making this much easier at Thoughtworks so new hires can hit the ground running, with confidence, and join accounts with relative ease while understanding what is expected of them and where they can influence. 

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

I think my favorite part of working with Thoughtworks and many of my “Ah-ha” moments have been with working with the large international community of technologists here. From the beginning of my Thoughtworks journey I was able to meet people from all over the world and share different views and experiences. I have also been lucky enough to travel with projects to different offices to understand different cultures, perspectives, and learn from expertise in different regions. Another “Ah-ha” moment was when I left Thoughtworks for another opportunity and recognized how much I learned and grew at Thoughtworks. After a year at that other opportunity I actually returned as I realized how much more there was for me to learn here. 

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

Ask a lot of questions and don’t be afraid to introduce yourself to anyone and everyone. We are an open and inclusive community who love to meet new people and discuss any topics from technology to the arts to philosophy. The Thoughtworks network helps your growth at here and even extends to alumni, therefore these connections will serve you throughout your career. 

Anything else that you wanted to add?

Thoughtworks is a special place where your impact is only stunted by what you can imagine. Take the time to learn from us and don’t be afraid to help us grow and be better by respectfully challenging viewpoints. We are a place where we truly believe that healthy debate and disagreement make us stronger and more resilient.