Company: IBM
Date: 2017-06-29
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Junior

Focus on cost reduction
Pros: 1. Good work life balance.
2.  Even though IBM is  considered an old tech company, it is investing a lot of money on new areas.  Even if the new initiatives in AI, Watson, Blockchain do not turn into success stories, you can get hands on experience in them.
Cons: 1. Layers on layers of management.  Nightmare for any kind of change management activity.  Leadership understands this, but they tend to respond by adding separate management chains to cut through the original bureaucracy.   And of course, this ends up adding more confusion.  
2. Very margin driven company.  With declining revenues, they continue to focus on cutting more costs, instead of finding ways to maybe invest and grow.  The management layers sit secure, the cost cutting affects the lower level employees.  Promotions get delayed, frequent hiring freezes etc.  New divisions like Watson get investments, the rest of the company is get cut to the bone, resulting in declining employee morale.