Company: IBM
Date: 2010-06-08
Overall rating: 2/5
Employment status: current

Just a paycheck, not a career
Pros: Good benefits, IBM discounts, decent hiring salaries, looks good on a resume, liberal work from home policy, liberal dress code, talented work force, access to good tools
Cons: I was hired into a recent acquisition. IBM let us drift for years without direction. They set impossible goals, crippled our sales force, and then left us with non-IBM managers that simply didn't understand how to get products sold through IBM channels. It was a disaster. Every year we had layoffs - big layoffs. My department is down to a skeleton crew. What's left are the least senior and lowest paid. We're still adrift with no focus or direction. The products are being deconstructed and assimilated into other products. Everyone left is just waiting for the axe to fall. 

Yearly reviews are political. Some departments take the brunt of a bad review quota IBM requires for each department. Employees working on products slated to be discontinued are particularly vulnerable.

Raises are extremely rare and marginal when they happen. Promotions seem to be reserved for management - no career paths or promotions for the rank and file.

Navigating the bureaucracy is a nightmare. Everything is tedious - purchasing supplies, getting technical support, staying in compliance with IBM requirements.

IBM just doesn't seem like a good place to work if you care about your career or about the customer. It's just a place to get a paycheck for a while and a good resume-builder.