Company: IBM
Date: 2009-06-13
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: current

A stable job through two recessions
Pros: I joined in the late 90s - straight out of college after completing my PhD. While the research divisions in other companies fell apart, IBM continues to survive. My salary has doubled over a decade and I have been promoted while retaining a research scientist role -- all while going through 2 recessions. I cant complain.
Cons: Finding a groove where you can really make a difference to the company (and hence further your career) is difficult. Partly because it is a large organization with a large bureaucracy - although sometimes you get the feeling that sr management could do better. Recently (last 3-4 years) the US research division has been shrinking - where as the China and India labs are growing at a torrid pace. This doesn't make for a pleasant work environment - with people doing weird things to justify their value to the company. The only long term survival/growth option for me is to get into a pure management role - which I don't much like doing.