Pat Metheny's recommendation for aspiring jazz musicians was to always be the worst player in every band you play in. I've taken his advice, and ThoughtWorks is my band.

I was too young to be a senior anything, but we just didn't have enough people for me to be junior. So naturally, they made me a manager.Luckily, I could usually able to avoid my management responsibilities in favor of developing software. I was the lead developer of the main order entry system and the person who introduced XP practices to HGP. It was in developing the aforementioned order entry system where I really cut my teeth on large systems, and learned why developers should only do one death march project in their entire lives. Preferably when they're still young enough to be junior...

Trane hired me as an intern and general lackey. I did some toolsmithing and helped out with an internal project to consolidate supplier data.