Company: IBM
Date: 2013-03-10
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Junior

Advise against re-badging into IBM during IT outsourcing
Pros: My company outsourced their IT to IBM, and as a staff member in the IT department, I was hired in to IBM for support of the account ("re-badged").  While it wasn't a horrible experience, I would not advise anyone to follow this path.

For pros - IBM is a massive company, and one can theoretically move towards an IT career with limitless  growth and opportunities in every technology sector.  During my time with IBM I was treated fairly and my manager was reasonable and cordial.  I worked long hours but was compensated as an hourly employee.
Cons: As a re-badged employee there was constant tension between IBM goals and the goals of previous co-workers who were now on the other side of the fence.

I expected to be able to tap into the vast wealth of knowledge that a massive corporation like IBM might offer, but in reality each account was largely an island in terms of support, and getting assistance from resources assigned to other accounts was very burdensome where possible at all. 

I expected that a technology company would be on the forefront of that field, but in almost every regard I found that only the most basic system administrator practices were understood and employed by IBM.  Battling with IBM management against cookie-cutter designs which conflicted with customer requirements, or outright didn't solve the customer's problem, was a regular and frustrating occurrence.

Despite significantly increased responsibilities and being at the near-bottom of the pay scale, annual salary adjustment was embarassing (<1% despite being rated as an exceptional employee).  Same story on the bonus front (my bonus didn't make it into the triple digits, <$100).