Company: IBM
Date: 2012-07-05
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Confirmed

Excellent environment, excellent team of people, great opportunities if you're in the right place at the right time.
Pros: Relaxed work environment, access to a worldwide network of people with amazing experiences, IBM has pretty much done everything in the IT industry there is to be done and all of this has added to the plethora of knowledge contained within its knowledge network. If you're part of the consulting team you get the opportunity to work on excellent client facing projects and if you're in the right place at the right time you can pretty much define your own career. There are several career IBMers in senior positions and it is a privilege to work with them and learn. Work life balance is generally encouraged and work from home is a real and valid option and not just marketing, giving you the ability to balance your professional and personal commitments.
Cons: Its a large organisation with "processes" that have evolved over a 100 years and as such has led to a "red tape" like feel. This also causes the organisation to feel a little archaic and slow. Several of the policies in consulting that impact travelling for work are not very employee friendly. Significant variations in salaries at same level as you can negotiate a high salary when you join and the longer you spend the lower you slip below the market average. 

From a consulting viewpoint, the focus is on increasingly using the consulting workforce to leverage IBM software for work which is in my opinion counterproductive as it consulting is best when it is solution agnostic and aligned to figuring out what suits the client best rather than having to retrofit the IBM solutions into the client requirements.