ThoughtWorks comes to Sweden

I few months back I blogged about the possibility that ThoughtWorks would come to Sweden. Well, this is now reality. I have the extreme honor to be a part of this initiative together with Marcus Ahnve (who blogged about it here). If you read that blog you will know that Marcus will head the Swedish operation. I am immensely happy about having him as my new colleague and also boss. =)

People might ask what my role in this new office will be. That's a valid question. My main goal is to stay out of trouble - and trying my very best to not scare potential customers away. Marcus is extremely capable and will handle all challenges, which means that I'll do my best to bask in the glory of opening an new office. I might also have a hand in any billable work we do, and help out with recruitment and possibly even (shudder) marketing.

Not sure if you catched the meaning in that last sentence, but let me spell two points out. We will be selling work in Sweden from day one. I will be one of the consultants sold and that means that if you have an Ruby or JRuby work you want to start up, this might be an excellent time to call your local ThoughtWorks office... =)

The recruitment point is simply this. We plan on accumulating the best people we can find - as we aim to do in every country we enter. If you feel like you could fit this bill, mail me and we can talk.

It's important to note that this operation will initially be very low profile. Don't expect center folds in DN's Economy pages. We will work mostly with word-of-mouth. So if you hear of someone that might need our help, don't hesitate to mention our name. And even though we are low profile, we will still have the resources of the whole company to draw on. A 1000 ThoughtWorkers. That feels rather good, and it should feel even better for any prospective clients.

One thing I have been a bit worried about is my commitment to JRuby, and other open source projects. I assure everyone I'll do my best to live up to these commitments. Sleep be damned!

These are exciting times. I for one is looking forward to it very much. Me and Marcus will officially start on this from June this year. Get in touch if you have any questions. It's my name separated with dots at gmail, or obini at the official thoughtworks domain.