ThoughtWorks Immersion Anticipations

I'm off to India for a two-week session of immersion. We'll be examining Agile Methodologies as they are used in a ThoughtWorks project.

We won't be doing any actual programming, which is a little disappointing. Thought I've worked on a couple of applications since leaving Praeses, I am anxious to get back into the throws of a client-driven project. It always seems so much more relevant to be working on something for actual users. I enjoy the idea that I might make their work better, easier.

My friend Kshitij is from India. I'll get a chance to see the house his family has lived in for three or four generations, and connect with his family. He says the street vendors in Pune will rip me off like crazy. Apparently that's just what happens to tourists. Still, with the relatively strong dollar, I should be able to have great fun in India.

I hope I'll come back from India with some strong bonds to other ThoughtWorkers, and some great memories. The prospect of knowing smart, friendly people on several continents is exciting, and a little daunting.

ThoughtWorks Orientation

I've taken a position as an "application developer" with ThoughtWorks US. I'll be based out of their Atlanta office. I'm in Chicago having been through two days of meetings with People Support (human resources ++ ), People Development ( training ++ ), accounting, recruiting, and a whole hose of others.

Our group of eight lateral-hire new hires is a diverse, intelligent and amazing bunch. I'm thrilled to be part of them. It's exciting to be working at what seems like the "next level" of professionals.

I knew ThoughtWorks would be great for me. Over the past two days, I've really become even more excited about the processes in place here. The company seems to genuinely want what's best for their people. While a majority of companies say that, I've actually seen the infrastructure over the last few days to make be believe that this company is absolutely determined to deliver.