Thoughtworks reviews

4.0

79% would recommend to a friend

(4,643 total reviews)
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Mike Sutcliff

79% approve of CEO

57% positive business outlook

Thoughtworks has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 4,643 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Thoughtworks employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Tecnologías de la información industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

5K reviews
2.0
Feb 29, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Some of the most inspiring and intellectually stimulating conversations I had in a work environment.

Cons

ThoughtWorks proclaims to stand for so much but most of it is fake. Their claim to technology leadership is granted by only a few smart people in the organization. ThoughtWorks' desire to work within challenging and technology leading organizations and transforming falls by the wayside when leadership is managing to utilization & large multiyear engagements with a few clients rather than truly innovating with the industry's best. ThoughtWorks has an impeccable reputation in the market and can attract especially younger talent from universities but lacks in attracting and mostly retaining lateral hires who have significant industrial expertise in either business or technology related functions and roles. Not going through the infamous ThoughtWorks academy means that you may never be in the club at ThoughtWorks and you're truly a consultant/resource and as long as you're billable - your career growth or the idea they want to articulate of having a say in being sent to desirable clients & projects is simply wrong. Over the last months ThoughtWorks has been hemorrhaging with an attrition of 20-35% depending on location - losing many of their best consultants mostly for two reasons: 1) TW pays around 20-30% less than the industry average and supposedly makes up for that through culture and benefits 2) the overall changing company strategy and the support for individual growth is suffering. Many people think ThoughtWorks is a consultancy and many people simply resign due to changing lifestyle or being sick of traveling etc - but to be honest - as much as it is a valid concern, other reasons are at play here. Additionally, within the just close to 2 years that I was at ThoughtWorks the amount of talent has significantly reduced. People are still being hired but not at the level that the industry once appreciated TW to be at.

2.0
Mar 2, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You'll meet a diverse group of GOOD people. Despite many different backgrounds and view points people come together and work well. I've became friends people that I would not have met if it weren't for working with them at ThoughtWorks.

Cons

If I were rating TW purely based on recruiting team and the people that work there, it would get five stars. But we all know work isn't just about coworkers or one department. The recruiting and interviewing teams manage to get a group of smart, excellent human beings, and the management and deal / project generation teams screw it up to the next level. I use to advocate strongly that TW was an excellent place for new technologists to join and gain experience in the industry. Not anymore. There use to be senior technologists that were willing to mentor and teach thoughtworkers that joined. Now people are lucky to get team members that aren't totally burnt out from staff augmentation projects and the subpar salary. There is virtually zero career progression. Even if a person were to get a promotion from consultant to senior consultant, the pay bump is not worth it since the starting salary for the consultant grade was already low. Yearly salary adjustments on average were less than 3%. This was when inflation was 9%. You'd be losing money working at TW the longer you stay. In order to qualify for career progression, an employee's performance would be evaluated by their performance partner. Your teammates will have inputs on your performance, but ultimately your promotion is granted only if you have a favorable review from your performance partner. If your performance partner dislikes you or hates your work, congratulations, you get to enjoy your less than 3% cost of living adjustment and try again next year. There might be a counter response toward this unfavorable review along the lines of "we pay competitive salary". Sure... it's competitive when the job title is consultant, but not when the actual work is software engineering. Prior to the most recent round of layoffs, leadership team managed to cut our transportation and personal development budget, furloughed bench and internal project staff for a week (with another week coming up) despite record profits and an additional company acquisition. TW is extremely green washed. They promote their environmentally friendly partnerships (as shown on their website), but at the same time leadership held our end of year party on a cruise ship. Didn't even bother to buy carbon credits for it (didn't have budget for it). This isn't even diving into the non-environmentally friendly clients that we often court. This con might make me sound like I'm some environmentally friendly hippy, I'm not. However, I do think it's disingenuous to champion green tech as a promotion to get technologists and partnerships, but at the same time do action that say otherwise.

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Thoughtworks Response
3y
Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback. There's a lot here, I would be happy to chat with you if you're comfortable doing so so we can address some of your concerns. You can reach me at tim.ogorman@thoughtworks.com. As you know we are a culture of feedback. It's one of the many reasons that make Thoughtworks a special place. We each have a voice and we are encouraged to use it for change. If you are not comfortable reaching out to me then please reach out to any of the business leaders you are comfortable discussing your concerns with. You can even do so anonymously if you would prefer. Thank you again for your feedback.
2.0
Feb 9, 2018

Not for everyone

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good mix of experience, from entry-level to super senior. People operations manager in SF is very kind and understanding

Cons

constant weekly travel super political below market value pay arrogant people promises to be transparent but politics reign supreme

Viewing 16 - 18 of 4,643 Reviews

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