Company: IBM
Date: 2010-08-12
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: former

Good performance reviews don't guarantee continued employment.
Pros: IBM has many convenient locations.  They allowed me to work from home whenever I wanted unless I had a "must attend in person" meeting.  They provided good benefits and matching 401(k) funds up to 7%.  They reimbursed employees for local travel.
Cons: The AIRRP.  The Annual Involuntary Resource Reduction Program.  Corporate profits drive all actions at IBM.  People are treated as commodities.  There's always another person who can take your place, and oh, yeah, they can pay them 20% of what they were paying you by shipping your job to India or Slovakia.        
IBM insists on using Lotus tools, such as Notes, Sametime and Symphony, which are poor imitations of Microsoft products.  By spending several years at IBM, you will lose touch with the rest of the world and when they lay you off, you won't have the skills and experience necessary to compete in the job market.