Company: IBM
Date: 2015-03-19
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Junior

Great Company!
Pros: -From a sales perspective, you never have to explain who IBM is, what they do, the company's financial health, etc. 
-If you can be part of a growth/investment area within IBM (Cloud, Analytics, Mobile, Social, Security) then you have the benefit of some of the most powerful minds, R&D activity and customers behind you to help sell. 
- Good culture and workplace - there are jerks here, but they seem to get noticed and dealt with pretty quickly. I've never had a boss that was incompetent and/or a jerk for more than a few months. 
- Mobile work - can go to an office or work from home
- Good work/life balance opportunity
- Benefits are pretty good and there are many perks at retailers, parks, etc. for IBMers. 
- Bring your own device for mobile and laptop
Cons: - Quota plan is split into halves - so you have a fist half quota and a second half quota. These can vary greatly from one half to the next and it often thought that Management uses this leverage to keep commissions lower. Or you can look at it as two opportunities to hit accelerators, but as we all know in sales, customers buy on their schedule, not yours...
- There are many layers of middle management that are paid handsomely, but I could not explain to you what they do other than take data from the field and communicate it up. Past my third level manager (and I have 6 people between me and the CEO), I have never seen or had any involvement with these managers other than seeing them at conferences or all-hands conference calls which are all fluff. 
- Getting help at IBM with things like payroll or benefits or IT assistance can be daunting - the joke is that IBM stands for "I'm By Myself" For all the people and resources available at IBM, sometimes you have to raise your hand pretty high to get noticed, but the help is good once you get it.