Kirstyn

How much coding experience did you have before attending TWU?

Before starting at Thoughtworks and going off to TWU, my experience with coding was minimal. I majored in UX/UI design at university and so the coding I had done was mostly front-end web development. I felt that I was at a disadvantage to the people who studied computer science for instance. As soon as I got to TWU I realised that everyone was at different levels of experience and ability, some being completely new to programming and others having some work experience already.

What was your experience at TWU like?

TWU was an amazing and enriching experience, we learnt all the agile processes and practices while experiencing how an ideal agile project should be. It was a super effective hands-on learning approach and we had so many resources available to us, for example, the amazing trainers that were there whenever we needed help or guidance. It was amazing to have a safe environment to try new things and practise the skills we were learning.

Being able to work with grads from all over the world was a big bonus. We all built such strong friendships and now we all have a network of colleagues from around the world! (best believe I will visit them all).

What have you been working on post-TWU as a Graduate Consultant?

I was on a client project for just over 3 months working with a team to build a mobile application. During this time I was able to apply some of the things I had learnt at TWU while learning new technologies and skills.

I was on the beach (TW term for when you’re not on a project) for a while after my engagement ended and I took the time to do some self-learning and got involved helping out where I could.

How did you adapt to remote working this year?

The shift to working from home was difficult at first. Not having casual conversations and active movement was the biggest struggle for me. When working in a project team and pairing, the remote work has worked well, but being on constant zoom calls means that you end up sacrificing the social calls to get away from the computer screen. When on the beach and doing a lot of individual work, work from home can get very lonely and demotivating very quickly. I find that having casual zoom catch-ups helps a lot.

What are your tips for any Graduate starting their career?

All graduates add value even if you feel you don’t know as much as everyone else. Don’t doubt yourself, we all start from different levels of experience.

Never be afraid to ask questions and seek advice from others. We all struggle with similar things.

When working from home it's hard to meet people. Don’t be afraid to just message or schedule a casual catch-up to meet other people in the company.