Company: IBM
Date: 2012-03-22
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: current

Great company to work for, although not for an extended period of time.
Pros: Lots of opportunity to get involved with new initiatives and tasks and develop portable skills. Lots of intelligent managers with valuable experience. Excellent top-notch benefits (401k and health insurance arguably the best, as well as free financial adviser). IBM name commands respect on your resume. Flexible work schedules.
Cons: Annual raises are poor whereas new-hire starting salaries are superb. It's highly likely that new-hires will start the year after you, or 2 years after you, with higher, or very similar salaries to yours, including your raises--even if you get outstanding performance reviews year after year. It seems there is more effort spent on acquiring new talent versus keeping and rewarding existing talent. This discourages existing talent from staying for any length of time, or continuing to strive for excellence year after year. An excellent performance review doesn't mean anything if it isn't backed up with financial reward. It just helps my resume look more attractive to recruiters elsewhere.

Also the company laptop situation is poor. On starting day you receive a used, refurbished laptop which is supposed to last you 4 years. That would be fine if you weren't also forced to use it for such basic things like checking email and billing hours--why can't I do these things on my own laptop/tablet/smartphone? Especially if I'm not dealing with classified or SBU materials. Lotus Notes is horrible.