Months ago, I was very excited about the idea of working at ThoughtWorks.  I worked on my application in early-mid December and sent it in mid-month. I heard back a generated response a couple days later from Michael Hassin about the survey and coding challenge.  I did the survey promptly, and put my focus on the challenge. I had some Java experience before so I thought it wouldn’t be so bad.  Since I wasn’t working at the time, I decided to really make a strong effort and address concerns not directly asked by the challenge (making sure rovers don’t collide and adding JUnit tests).  I probably spent 25 hours on it over the week, many of which were spent researching how to do the build, since .jar files were not allowed. I only mention the effort here because it would have been nice to get one sentence of feedback for 25 hours of work.  I would have expected different behavior from a company that goes on and on about being “people focused.” After sending it, over two weeks go by and I email Michael (if it’s a real person, I never actually heard from him) to ask whether my challenge was received.  I don’t get a response, but I do get an email from Sue-Ellen Nario that does not mention the challenge. I am told to schedule a phone interview and I pick the earliest time possible, which was early January. The interview was cultural, and went fine.  A key part of it was about the relocation.  I was asked specifically whether I would be OK with a year in Dallas followed by a year in NYC.  While that was not my first choice, I was open to it.  I was told that I would hear back ‘by next week’.  I sent a thank you note after the call. I interpreted ‘by next week’ as meaning I would probably hear a response (or at least a reply to the thank you note) that week, since the interview was Monday morning. Days pass, Friday rolls around and no response, so I thought, OK, I guess they meant by the END of the following week.  The following week, more days pass.  Monday, Tuesday, still nothing.  On Friday, I still hear nothing and sent a polite reminder email.  No response on Friday but on Monday I get an email from you. We are now in early January, and the email says that circumstances around the relocation, one item we specifically discussed in the phone interview, have changed.  Now New York is full, and I must pick Dallas or Atlanta for the second year.  This is a bit frustrating since I have been moving forward in the application process as fast as possible and yet the spot filled up, but OK. I reply asking whether I have to decide now or could do it later, and unsurprisingly the answer is I have to decide now.   Not sure why I bothered on that one.  After another day or two of delay by ThoughtWorks, I speak to you on the phone. Now late January-- On the call you inform me that circumstances have changed again.   Not only do I not get my third choice of working in Atlanta/Dallas for the second year, but now, the spots might be full all together.  This is especially annoying considering I have spent in total around 30 hours in the process (the challenge + researching the company for the phone interview) and have been moving as quickly as possible to proceed, but I respond politely.  I am told that I will hear back the following Tuesday or Wednesday about whether there are spots open. Wednesday rolls around (now early Feb), and of course, no call or message.  Thursday, Friday, still nothing.  Looks like you have no intention of responding ever.  So now (two months after I sent in my application), when friends and family members ask me “how’s it going with ThoughtWorks?”,  I have to reply “I have no idea.” I send another polite follow-up a few weeks later and get no response again. I realize ThoughtWorks acted like any business can, and many do, being in the position of power over the applicant, by treating me less than kindly.  Nothing wrong with that, but what really irks me is the way ThoughtWorks tries to market itself as not a typical business, but instead one that really cares about people. If they didn't want me, for whatever reason, just tell me and we can all move on. I have since found a job that pays a lot more than ThoughtWorks did, and I truly recommend that nobody applies here. In my 4 or so month job search, I experienced all types of responses from all types of companies, but nobody was near as rude and horrible to deal with as ThoughtWorks.