Comments on: Starting at ThoughtWorks: First Five Weeks http://jamescrisp.org/2007/03/26/starting-at-thoughtworks-first-five-weeks/ C#, .NET, Ruby, Rails, book reviews, mind hacks, Wing Chun and the occasional personal bit. Sun, 15 Jan 2012 14:28:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: P G Palmer http://jamescrisp.org/2007/03/26/starting-at-thoughtworks-first-five-weeks/#comment-5456 P G Palmer Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:27:00 +0000 http://jamescrisp.org/wordpress/?p=52#comment-5456 I'm enjoying browsing through your blog and appreciate all the good information in it. Thanks for making it. A bit of feedback. This sentence: "Much fun as it is on the beach, after a few weeks, I was itching to join the big boys and go on a project" contains the disturbing assumption that only males work in this profession. Please try to avoid this; I know it's common slang to say "guys" or "boys"; and to those of us females in the profession, sometimes it makes us feel a little, well, unwelcome. Cheers, Pat I'm enjoying browsing through your blog and appreciate all the good information in it. Thanks for making it.

A bit of feedback. This sentence: "Much fun as it is on the beach, after a few weeks, I was itching to join the big boys and go on a project" contains the disturbing assumption that only males work in this profession. Please try to avoid this; I know it's common slang to say "guys" or "boys"; and to those of us females in the profession, sometimes it makes us feel a little, well, unwelcome.

Cheers,

Pat

]]> By: Philip http://jamescrisp.org/2007/03/26/starting-at-thoughtworks-first-five-weeks/#comment-62 Philip Mon, 14 May 2007 18:20:00 +0000 http://jamescrisp.org/wordpress/?p=52#comment-62 ThoughtWorks seems like a really amazing company from everything I've read. ThoughtWorks seems like a really amazing company from everything I've read.

]]> By: Anonymous http://jamescrisp.org/2007/03/26/starting-at-thoughtworks-first-five-weeks/#comment-53 Anonymous Mon, 16 Apr 2007 01:56:00 +0000 http://jamescrisp.org/wordpress/?p=52#comment-53 Watch out. He is an expert on rails now. You can't mess with that. Watch out. He is an expert on rails now. You can't mess with that.

]]> By: James Crisp http://jamescrisp.org/2007/03/26/starting-at-thoughtworks-first-five-weeks/#comment-49 James Crisp Sat, 07 Apr 2007 08:33:00 +0000 http://jamescrisp.org/wordpress/?p=52#comment-49 Ruby is pretty big in TW USA, less so but growing in TW Australia. I think it is worth learning either way - dynamic languages make you question some of the things you've always taken for granted, and give you some new perspectives. JRuby is not quite feature complete yet and currently a bit slower. Major benefits of JRuby are easy integration with Java objects and Java style packaging and application servers for Ruby code. Unless you need these, the standard Ruby would be best. You might want to check out InstantRails (PC) or Locamotive (Mac) if you are on these platforms and want to get into the rails side of things with minimum install hassle.<br/><br/>Cheers,<br/>James Ruby is pretty big in TW USA, less so but growing in TW Australia. I think it is worth learning either way - dynamic languages make you question some of the things you've always taken for granted, and give you some new perspectives. JRuby is not quite feature complete yet and currently a bit slower. Major benefits of JRuby are easy integration with Java objects and Java style packaging and application servers for Ruby code. Unless you need these, the standard Ruby would be best. You might want to check out InstantRails (PC) or Locamotive (Mac) if you are on these platforms and want to get into the rails side of things with minimum install hassle.

Cheers,
James

]]> By: Anonymous http://jamescrisp.org/2007/03/26/starting-at-thoughtworks-first-five-weeks/#comment-48 Anonymous Fri, 06 Apr 2007 15:40:00 +0000 http://jamescrisp.org/wordpress/?p=52#comment-48 Thanks James,<br/>That helps. Most of my experience is in Java Web Development. But I think I'll try to learn Ruby before I join since I hear a lot of TW projects use Ruby. Any suggestions if I should start with Ruby or JRuby ? Thanks James,
That helps. Most of my experience is in Java Web Development. But I think I'll try to learn Ruby before I join since I hear a lot of TW projects use Ruby. Any suggestions if I should start with Ruby or JRuby ?

]]> By: James Crisp http://jamescrisp.org/2007/03/26/starting-at-thoughtworks-first-five-weeks/#comment-47 James Crisp Thu, 05 Apr 2007 23:32:00 +0000 http://jamescrisp.org/wordpress/?p=52#comment-47 Hi Anonymous,<br/><br/>Your professional services manager (PSM) looks after assigning you to projects, and from my small experience at TW, this usually means you have a brief discussion with them about the project before you get assigned. At that point, you find out technologies etc, and if you are concerned, you could potentially ask not to go on the project. However, the PSM will take your experience into account, and if you're going on a project with lots of new technologies, you'll be going with other people who know them better and can help you. It's in both your and TW's interest.<br/><br/>As an aside, if you've got experience with a mainstream language and a few frameworks, you'll generally find a lot of familiar patterns and constructs in new languages/frameworks, so you'll probably pick things up pretty quickly.<br/><br/>James Hi Anonymous,

Your professional services manager (PSM) looks after assigning you to projects, and from my small experience at TW, this usually means you have a brief discussion with them about the project before you get assigned. At that point, you find out technologies etc, and if you are concerned, you could potentially ask not to go on the project. However, the PSM will take your experience into account, and if you're going on a project with lots of new technologies, you'll be going with other people who know them better and can help you. It's in both your and TW's interest.

As an aside, if you've got experience with a mainstream language and a few frameworks, you'll generally find a lot of familiar patterns and constructs in new languages/frameworks, so you'll probably pick things up pretty quickly.

James

]]> By: Anonymous http://jamescrisp.org/2007/03/26/starting-at-thoughtworks-first-five-weeks/#comment-44 Anonymous Thu, 05 Apr 2007 16:04:00 +0000 http://jamescrisp.org/wordpress/?p=52#comment-44 Hi James<br/>Im supposed to start with ThoughtWorks for their TW University program in June and have a few questions i would like to clarify frm you.<br/><br/>What im curious about is the fact that as a developer you get thrown into projects that might not be in a language\technology\platform you have any experience with. How are you expected to cope with this ?<br/>How do you walk onto a client site, ready to start writing code, only to find out that the project uses the FooBaruby technology which you have absolutely no experience with ? <br/><br/>Im assuming you would be paired with a Dev experienced in FooBaruby and you can pickup stuff on the go and from reading books after work, and some kindof rampup period is accounted for in the case of new developers joining a project. Hi James
Im supposed to start with ThoughtWorks for their TW University program in June and have a few questions i would like to clarify frm you.

What im curious about is the fact that as a developer you get thrown into projects that might not be in a language\technology\platform you have any experience with. How are you expected to cope with this ?
How do you walk onto a client site, ready to start writing code, only to find out that the project uses the FooBaruby technology which you have absolutely no experience with ?

Im assuming you would be paired with a Dev experienced in FooBaruby and you can pickup stuff on the go and from reading books after work, and some kindof rampup period is accounted for in the case of new developers joining a project.

]]> By: Matt http://jamescrisp.org/2007/03/26/starting-at-thoughtworks-first-five-weeks/#comment-38 Matt Wed, 28 Mar 2007 07:34:00 +0000 http://jamescrisp.org/wordpress/?p=52#comment-38 Hi James, <br/><br/>Glad to hear you're still enjoying it. As it was me who did your initial phones screen I'm glad you felt the hiring process was smooth and even quick! It's good to see that you don't feel mis-sold or that there was a great disconnect between your impressions of TW and the reality of working here. <br/><br/>As for the poster with the comments about the Kool-aid running out, you'll be pleased to know that we know have ThoughtWorks Kool-aid vending machines in all our offices and on client sites so it's permanent happy faces for all! :-P<br/><br/>Matt Buckland, TW UK Recruiter Hi James,

Glad to hear you're still enjoying it. As it was me who did your initial phones screen I'm glad you felt the hiring process was smooth and even quick! It's good to see that you don't feel mis-sold or that there was a great disconnect between your impressions of TW and the reality of working here.

As for the poster with the comments about the Kool-aid running out, you'll be pleased to know that we know have ThoughtWorks Kool-aid vending machines in all our offices and on client sites so it's permanent happy faces for all! :-P

Matt Buckland, TW UK Recruiter

]]> By: Anonymous http://jamescrisp.org/2007/03/26/starting-at-thoughtworks-first-five-weeks/#comment-37 Anonymous Tue, 27 Mar 2007 18:25:00 +0000 http://jamescrisp.org/wordpress/?p=52#comment-37 The can of cool-ade will run out eventually. It always does The can of cool-ade will run out eventually. It always does

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