Every company has a mythos that they tell themselves about what they are and where they came from. ThoughtWorks is no different. And in reality no company really lives up to it. Same here. No, we are not a socialist company and never were. No, social justice isn't just as important as making money. No, we aren't all elite technologists, standing head and shoulders above everyone else. But these things have a big enough grain of truth to matter. We're not a perfect company but are far better than most.
TW was a much smaller company when I started and a better reflection of its mythos than today. We're becoming a more regular company everyday especially since we are now owned by private equity. That event hasn't led to any night and day changes. You need a longer baseline to notice the changes and it's not all due to that sale, nor are all the changes bad ones.
The culture is a very politically liberal one, thought that probably isn't much different than most tech companies. If you are more moderate or even conservative, you might feel a bit out of place but won't feel threatened. Politics doesn't really enter your day job so don't worry about it.
One limitation of ThoughtWorks might be that most people grow out of it. Once you're a lead or principal consultant, you might feel there is no natural place to go next. You might find there are better growth opportunities elsewhere and there probably are.
It's pretty clear that TW will keep heading in the direction of becoming a more regular company just like all of them that end up in the laps of Wall Street. That might be a less inspiring reality for some people.
Work life balance is OK. Now, during COVID, it's great because we all work from home. But before COVID, it wasn't as good. Travel which can be as much as 4 days/week takes a toll. Much of the travel seemed more like force of habit than actually useful. Hopefully, this pandemic will lead to lasting changes with less travel.
Salaries are competitive but the best people are probably underpaid.
