Company: IBM
Date: 2008-09-28
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: current

IBM: Lots of Opportunity, Lots of Exposure to the Flat Earth, Lots of Hours
Pros: Environment of constant change and complexity, particularly due to IBM's global focus.  Good management with opportunities for advancement.  Also, increasing flexibility in work location (telecommuting, etc.)  Work projects are often very challenging, so being bored is never an option.  On the other hand, getting major initiatives supported and off the ground can take a seeming act of God, so patience and persistence is not only a virtue, it's absolutely required.  Leadership often provides good communication from the top down, particularly as IBM embraces the social media to get the messages out to an increasingly distributed troops.  But individual initiative is still key for personal growth.
Cons: Global exposure can often mean regular 12 hour days.  Complexity of business environment (matrixed organization) can mean lack of clear direction and focus, leading to a consistent sense of being overwhelmed.  Despite all the focus on communication from top leadership, due to the complex nature of the business one will find often competing goals and objectives within the organization, so an understanding of the ambiguous operating environment can either frustrate or foment, depending on the individual response.  The long days can become overwhelming, so the employee needs to know when they should turn off the Blackberry/ThinkPad -- IBM will take all that you can give them.