Thoughtworks reviews

3.1

45% would recommend to a friend

(3,421 total reviews)
avatar

Mike Sutcliff

56% approve of CEO

28% positive business outlook

Thoughtworks has an employee rating of 3.1 out of 5 stars, based on 3,421 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 Information Technology industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

3K reviews
3.0
Jan 4, 2009
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

If you are lucky your project team mates will be fun. The brand is still good for now at least.

Cons

Used to be that you could make a difference, but now you're just another cog in the machine. Hired in a bunch of more junior people in order to increase margins, but means that there are less people to learn from and the reason for going to TW in the first place - ie to work with the best and the brightest is no longer there. There are favorites and different rules for different people. Senior managers tend to get paid vast salaries and have no accountability, this can be very frustrating when you are traveling weekly for little money.

2.0
Apr 22, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I worked at TW for many years. When I started, there were still some vestiges of a vibrant culture. It was a very people-oriented organization. Employees were highly motivated and encouraged to learn and grow. They were a bastion for agile and extreme programming in an industry that really badly needs those things. It used to be a great place to learn and build your resume. There are still many wonderful, talented, dedicated people who work there.

Cons

Over time the organization has become a complete tire fire. I strongly discourage anyone from working there anymore. There has been a clear regression in organizational maturity. Most projects end up being exhausting slogs and bitter failures. TW business model is full of perverse incentives, as long as they can sell work, it doesn't matter if we actually create any value. The clients are typically very large-scale enterprises overwrought with organizational dysfunction. It is common for them to have impossible expectations, abusive leadership and unwillingness to compromise or remove constraints that inhibit delivery. TW has a tendency to hire a bunch of junior devs right out of college and then put them on projects with insufficient training. The company has very high turnover and continues to shed more senior employees, so in many situations it ends with the blind leading the blind. Problem employees are never dealt with, just passed around from project to project. Many in leadership roles are mini tyrants, or they prefer to schmooze with clients instead of overseeing the teams and helping them to succeed. Recently due to the tanking stock price and lack of work, they've been going through multiple rounds of layoffs. The whole process has been lacking in transparency. Even now the company continues to lay people off silently without the leadership acknowledging it to employees. TW underpays everybody and has big gaps in pay equity which they have never addressed.

2.0
Jan 16, 2024

A little chaotic

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Smart people are mostly nice. Work life balance. Diversity of gender and race,

Cons

The company is struggling to find how to transition to a big public company and it seems like they don't really know what they are doing and are just trying everything. No coherent strategy. Culture is sagging. Very left leaning. Not very tolerant of diverse perspectives. People from conservative cultures will just have to focus on work and keep their opinions on other matters to yourself.

Viewing 34 - 36 of 3,421 Reviews

Glassdoor has 5,994 Thoughtworks reviews submitted anonymously by Thoughtworks employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Thoughtworks is right for you.