Steven graduated in the spring of 2005 with a B Sc in Computer Science (Honours). He immediately began working for a software development firm in Regina called App Depot (AKA ADX Studio). He soon found that he was working ridiculous hours without much in the way of rewarding work to make it worthwhile. The management consistently bid on contracts and agreed to impossible time lines.So, he put in his resignation effective the end of September. At the same time, he began a prolonged application process with a company called Thoughtworks. Thoughtworks is an IT consulting firm which has an innovative corporate structure and some rather intriguing recruitment practices. Steven underwent several interviews and travelled to Calgary for several more stages before he was finally hired in early December. He starts work in the Calgary office on January 16th. He was able to slip up to Calgary just before Christmas and find an apartment just two blocks away from work.

He was a bit disappointed, on one count. If he had begun at the ground level with Thoughtworks. he would started with a four month training stint in Bangalore, India. However, the company decided to start him a rung or two up the organizational ladder, so he missed out on that opportunity. The upside, of course, is that he also starts with a wage that’s $10K more than he was expecting, so I think he’ll learn to live with it.

All this means, of course, that shortly after the New Year, we will be moving him up to Calgary. This is getting to be a bit of a habit, as we moved both of the boys last year at New Years too. With any luck, we can avoid the blizzard conditions that we had to cope with last year.