Company: IBM
Date: 2017-02-16
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Senior

Make Sure You Understand What You Are Getting Into
Pros: 1. Teamwork and fellow employees ... no matter what, almost everyone is completely dedicated and wants to win. Rare to find someone who won't help or team.
2. Decent compensation, good benefits.
3. Strong company reputation, although that has eroded somewhat in recent years.
4. IBM Research is top notch.
Cons: 1. Cutthroat culture and you never know where you stand ... even with good reviews. There is a constant feeling that you have an axe hanging over your neck 24 X 7. You can work your living butt off and be proven ... and be highly regarded by your peers and your customers ... and be fired with no notice no matter how many years of seniority you have and no matter how respected you are. 

In the end, this is a poor reflection on the value the executive team places on their employees. Anyone is expendable and the people who work here know it and live it every day.

Ask yourself if this is really the climate you want to work in. Because even if you are younger and they make you feel wanted/welcome right now, you will eventually reach a point where you are expendable at their whim.
2. Management highly political and is an "old boys" network with no shame and lots of favoritism.
3. The company executive team makes very poor product investment and marketing decisions. They are almost always behind the market with investments and acquisitions, and then they "blame" the product development and sales teams for the poor results by firing and laying them off when the executive team is responsible themselves. Middle management is for the most part, protected no matter what happens.  
4. Executive team hasn't learned that increased profitability is achieved by growing the top line - increasing top line revenue growth. You can only achieve so much improved profitability by cutting costs (people). 
5. Atmosphere of constant layoffs and firings. Not once every few years as a result of a necessary reorg or restructuring, but at least once per year if not more often. And IBM does this in such a fashion that they keep the total number of employees let go under the threshold which the Dept of Labor requires to make the layoffs public.
6. Management and HR can be ruthless and the environment right now is toxic.