Andy Marks
Technical Principal
What has your career path been so far?
“Knew” I wanted to be a developer from the first time I got a chance to use a computer in high school set me on the path. Graduating university to coincide with a massive drop in the IT market pushed me into postgraduate research. Luck intervened again with my second graduation coinciding with the birth of Java and also the dotcom boom, so I had the massive fortune to spend a couple of years in San Francisco in the late 90s. Not long after returning to Australia I ended up at TW and the rest, they say…
Why did you join ThoughtWorks?
To be honest, I’d never heard of TW before interviewing with them. However, the obvious brilliance and humility of the people I spoke to in the first interview completely sold me. Of course, one of those people chose to leave TW only weeks after I joined, but he was truly representative of the quality of TWers I meet to this day.
(Like many current TWers), I live constantly in the fear that I’ll be found out to be a charlatan and kicked off the TW island.
What happened in your first year here?
Everyone had an enforced paycut one week after I joined… that one stuck in my mind for some reason.
If you went to ThoughtWorks University, tell us what you loved about it.
Was 2 weeks away from going over as a teacher a couple of years back… but then intensive care got in the way ☹
What's your favourite ThoughtWorks moment?
Playing bass in the Melbourne TW band (Sparkle Motion) at TW Australia conferences.
Who would play you in "ThoughtWorks: The Movie?"
I keep a fairly low profile generally, so I’d hope I could get away with a cameo: “Andy Marks – Himself”
About me
I’m the Technical Principal of our newly opened Singapore office. My role entails me trying to balance the fine line between technical relevance within ThoughtWorks and working with our clients to see how best to apply our technical approach to Agile within their organization.
On a side note: really, really excited about the potential of Singapore as an office for us and super keen to deliver great value for our customers out here.