Company: IBM
Date: 2010-08-02
Overall rating: 5/5
Employment status: current

Depends where you land
Pros: There are many parts to IBM, I highly recommend you speak to someone currently working there to pick out the division AND team you want to work for. 

For me:

IBM has been EXTREMELY flexible. Whether it has been time off work, or working from another country so I could spend time with family. A lot of trust must exist before you endeavour upon such suggestion with the management.

Project choices have been more or less "get your job done, and then you can do anything you want". These can be completely left of field.

Some will argue that IBM doesn't pay 'rock-star' salaries, this is in fact the case for the majority of staff. If you on the other hand prove your worth, IBM will bend over backwards to provide a remuneration package that will surpass that of their competitors if you were to walk in off the street.
Cons: It's a BIG company. With the size comes a lot of slow decision making that is simply because too many ticks are required from too many people before anything gets done. This is extremely counter-productive.

- There is very limited empowerment to first and second-line management in basics such as hiring someone.

A lot of the time IBM seeks to protect its bottom line, and it does this through a high-margin game, instead of actually going after a product or service in the market that is looking to the future. IBM in many respects is stuck in 70's and 80's.