Career Development at ThoughtWorks

In many professional services firms, the career development model is a core driver of the business model. So-called 'pyramid' models (i.e., hiring large volumes of inexperienced people and filtering them out each year with an 'up or out' approach to career development) has proven to be extremely sustainable, scalable and profitable - at least for those at the top of the pyramid!

Unfortunately, the experience for someone working their way up the pyramid often leaves something to be desired. As with most other aspects of our business, ThoughtWorks thinks about Career Development somewhat differently.

We understand that not everyone wants to follow an obvious career track. We know that broadening skills across multiple disciplines is as appealing to ThoughtWorkers (and valuable to ThoughtWorks) as is deepening skills in an area of proven expertise. We understand that moving into "Management" doesn't necessarily add more value or bring more job satisfaction than continuing to be a world-class technologist, tester, business expert or customer relationship manager.

We belive that rigidly-defined roles and responsibilities can actually inhibit growth by setting expectations too low. We have seen ThoughtWorkers grow so quickly that after just a few years they are thriving in roles that would be considered well beyond them in less fluid orginizations. At the same time we realize that some people do find satisfaction from mastering closely-related capabilities and thereby scaling up to a higher level of impact and responsibility in a given domain.

All of these factors have lead us to a flexible and adaptive philosophy to career development. Each ThoughtWorker has a Career Coach whose job is to help them understand how they measure up against other ThoughtWorkers around the world and work with them to help them clarify their aspirations for future growth and development. The process is not prescriptive or heavy-handed. It simply gives a typical high-achieving ThoughtWorker just that little bit of direction she needs to get even better. Inputs from career coaching identify areas for future learning (training or self-study), suggest potential mentors, and influence the staffing process.

We have invested in Career Development to make ThoughtWorks a place where you can truly build a satisfying career, not just a place where you spend a couple of years learning some new skills that will make you more valuable in the marketplace when you move on. That might sound a bit old-fashioned, but we believe it is a critical part of building a 100-year company and a thriving community of ThoughtWorkers.

Matt Simons, Chief People Officer

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