Company: IBM
Date: 2016-05-20
Overall rating: 1/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Senior

IT Project Manager
Pros: Work-Life balance flexibility is great and not really available at other employers.  Health benefits are good and vacation time is generous (for employees with 10+ years in the company.
Cons: The company is top heavy with excessive layers of middle to upper management.  The disconnect between senior leaders and the workers "on the ground" is abhorrent.  IBM basically operates in two realities = (1) the reality that senior leadership believes exists and (2) the true reality of how it actually exists.  Senior leaders cannot truly lead the organization when they do not understand the services provided, customers supported and abilities of their teams.

The majority of senior leadership has limited experience in the departments they are running.  Execs with sales backgrounds are running IT service delivery.  Execs with finance backgrounds running data security and privacy.  You can imagine the laughable work direction that comes from these mismatched departments and their senior leadership.

I work in IT Service Delivery responsible for providing support to commercial customers.  You would think that customer service would be a top priority.  It is not and for the many years that I have been here it never has been.  IBM is run by the finance department and the associated bean counters.  All decisions are made based on Finance directions and the ever present specter that is Wall Street.

There are so many more cons however I would be here all day.  Net/Net - IBM is a sinking ship with no long term future.  Stay away.

Oh I almost forgot.....they pay well below market value as well.


IBM management can be described with a single word = sycophant.  For those not familiar with the word it means a person who acts obsequiously toward someone important in order to gain advantage.  This is the over-riding goal for all IBM managers, directors, general managers, etc, etc.  Never speak out or disagree with anything that up-line leadership might propose.  There are no checks and balances with leadership at IBM.  Just yes-men and yes-women whose only job is to relay messages downward.  Horrible ideas and roll-outs are so common place at IBM it is almost laughable.  All you can do is roll your eyes, do what is asked and then watch it fail.