Company: IBM
Date: 2008-06-12
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: current

A steady paycheck if you can put up with the crap.
Pros: As a large company IBM offers relatively good job security so long as you're not a total screw-up, though certainly not as good as the IBM of old.

Most managers I've had were good about flexible work arrangements: work from home, off-shift, etc. Of course this cuts both ways: it might be nice for you to work off hours to accommodate your own lifestyle, but perhaps not so nice for your co-workers who can't get in touch during normal business hours. And the growing trend of work from home & multi-site teams is completely eroding the close-knit team work ethic that used to be prevalent at IBM.

The $0.25 sodas are nice; then again maybe it's pretty pathetic to be bragging about cheap soda as one of the best reasons to work somewhere...
Cons: Beware of the sycophantic yes-men that some managers (at all levels) like to surround themselves with: they will promise the world to their bosses & then pressure you to deliver the impossible, all the while reaping the rewards for your hard work.

The evaluation & rating system is possibly the worst I've ever experienced: you're in direct competition with everyone else at your band level, yet it's a big secret to you exactly whom those people are? Also, knowing that you're in a competition, where's the incentive to help your fellow employees? It's more career enhancing to turn every request for assistance into an opportunity to throw teammates under the bus.