Company: IBM
Date: 2017-08-22
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Junior

AppDev GBS (PubSec) - Some things were good, other weren't... harder to tolerate the bad things as time goes on.
Pros: 1. Work from Home and Employees are encouraged to manage their own time for Work-Life balance (depending on assigned project and team).
2.  Learning resources are easily available (and company encourage learning - it's part of the annual employee evaluation).
3.  Partnership with Apple provide employees with selection of work related hardware (Mac, iPhone or IBM's Lenovo) and support.
4. Plenty of Senior colleagues that can mentor and provide guidance.
5. Standard Benefits Package: VAC/SIC (full from day 1), ESPP, 401k, Health Plan with HSA employer contributions (Medical, Drugs, Dental and Vision), Life Insurance, Disability, Employee discounts.
Cons: 1. Difficult to keep a work-life balance as management keeps pushing for increased utilization time (Ex. for 2016, my role was assigned a  minimum 100% year-end utilization goal). A typical employee will exceed the goal as, depending on assigned project and role, workload is around 10-15 hours per day - including some weekends.
2. Performance review is highly subjective. The team that review your performance (and therefore recommends your salary revisions and promotions) is not the same group that works with you on a daily basis. Even your manager (SAM) might not know the details about your work (the SAM might not even know who you are or even met you in person).
3. Salary increases (revisions) and bonuses are never guaranteed even with excellent performance reviews (1=best, 3=worst). (Ex. I worked here for three years, was considered a "rock star" employee but never received a raise, last year bonus was $850 while having PBC ratings of 1 on all years and exceeding my utilization goals in 20%-30% above the mark).
4. Combination of Health Plan Premium + Contributions + Commuting (non-reimbursable) expenses will take a big piece of each paycheck (depending on where you live+work) - all needed just to go to work.