That’s okay! A lot of our consultants join without prior consulting experience. TWU will prepare you for working with clients from both a technical and business perspective.
University grads. Career changers. Bootcamp alumni.
It doesn't matter what your background is, our entry-level program embraces trainees from all technical abilities and all walks of life. All you need is love for technology and a passion for learning.
Thoughtworks University
Established in 2005, Thoughtworks University (TWU) is our immersive entry-level program designed to prepare you for life as a Thoughtworker. The one year experience starts with three weeks virtually learning how to build working software and how to be a great consultant ready to tackle the most ambitious challenges for our clients. Afterwards you’ll join your first project as a consultant and continue the program with monthly sessions. Like the 3,600+ Thoughtworkers that have graduated from Thoughtworks University, you'll make lifelong friendships with colleagues from around the world. Thoughtworks University has a pivotal role in training tomorrow's Thoughtworkers and we are thrilled that in 2021, 55% of graduates were women and under-represented gender minorities.
Experiences from Thoughtworks University Graduates
Na Maier, Graduate Developer
Exciting, engaging and enriching! It was an incredible and inspiring learning journey together. Thoughtworks University aims to improve our technical and consulting skills, but also helps us to understand how to build in quality and security in every piece of code we write but also why it's important to bring Thoughtworks' values and culture into software delivery. It was a great learning and growing experience in my life!
Chris Whitehouse, Graduate Developer
I had a great time at Thoughtworks University, great supportive learning environment. The trainers were incredible, by turns, knowledgeable, caring, and entertaining! And, fantastic to build friendships with other Thoughtworkers all over Europe. Great times!
Laura Bassani, Graduate Developer
Thoughtworks University gave me all the tools necessary to start my first project with confidence. In my experience, the program offers the best setup to learn and practice. A safe environment, where you can learn, make mistakes, reflect and learning, full of experiences to improve our skills as technologists. Everybody is very supportive and made me feel very welcomed.
Joanna's experience
One of our Chief Talent Officer, Joanna Parke's most memorable experiences at Thoughtworks was her time as a Thoughtworks University trainer. During her life-changing time in India, she learned how to teach and made lifelong friends with teammates from around the world.
What interests you?
Building
Developer Consultants work with our clients to ensure we are evolving their technology and empowering adaptive mindsets to meet their business goals.
Liaising
Business Analysts are the bridge between clients and developers, determining what outcomes software must achieve, how it should be used and then generating bold ideas to create custom applications.
Testing
Quality Assurance Analysts break things (a lot) in order to ensure that issues are documented and errors are rectified to make sure our solutions are in tip-top condition for our clients.
Designing
Experience Designers leverage both the left and right brain in order to assess how humans interact with technology and create a more useful and compelling design for end-users.
FAQ
We consider candidates from all academic backgrounds. If you're applying to be a Software Developer, we'd expect you to have working knowledge of at least one object-oriented programming language.
Yes. We ask that you have no more than 12 months of relevant tech industry experience to be eligible to attend Thoughtworks University.
Yes! We consider candidates from all academic backgrounds.
First, you need to apply to a graduate-level role on our career site and be hired into Thoughtworks. Once you’ve officially joined, entry-level Thoughtworkers (recent grads or career changers) attend Thoughtworks University during their first year with us.
We hire entry-level roles on a seasonal basis, which may vary country to country. Grads or career changers will need to apply for a “graduate” level position on our career site. If you don’t see any open graduate positions when you search, we encourage you to sign up for our Access TW careers newsletter to stay up to date on our open roles.
No. We believe Thoughtworks University is a valuable investment into our people and the future of Thoughtworks. Because of this, it is part of your onboarding and training, so the program— and any affiliated travel — is 100% covered by Thoughtworks.
Thoughtworks University is much more than learning how to code: it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to network with people from all across the globe, learn about different cultures and understand how Thoughtworks operates as a business. Perhaps most importantly, you will learn how to be a great consultant from experienced Thoughtworkers.
If you are applying for a Software Developer role, then we expect you to have working knowledge of at least one object-oriented programming language. If you are applying for another Junior role (eg. Quality Analyst, Business Analyst), other technical skill sets will be assessed.
Being a graduate is a year-long experience at Thoughtworks. You will spent your first few weeks with Thoughtworks University. After this period, your learning experience will continue as you explore different topics such as: consulting, social change, accessibility and more.
After TWU you will work with our staffing team to identify your strengths and interests. In time you will start working on your first client project. In between projects you will be on the “beach”,where you can upskill, build your network or work on internal projects.
When you are offered a role as a Graduate Consultant you are automatically hired as a full-time Thoughtworks employee. Similar to most roles, you will have a probation period, after which you will be offered a permanent contract. TWU is simply the training that you will receive as part of the graduate experience.
That’s really up to you! There are no typical career paths here. After TWU, you will get to work on your first client project, working as part of an agile-focused team. At the same time, you will have the opportunity to expand your network, continue learning with support and make extraordinary impact in whatever career path you choose.
That's a great question! We partner with clients from a variety of industries, so the work Thoughtworkers do varies from client to client. Visit our Clients page to learn more about what we've accomplished.
