Company: IBM
Date: 2009-03-17
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: former

Working at IBM can be exciting & rewarding, but watch your back, keep your resume up to date and never stop networking.
Pros: Stable company; industry leader in many areas; ongoing opportunity to get involved in new areas of the business; focus on customer satisfaction and customer value; innovative; leader in open systems; great supporter/promoter of women, minorities, etc;
Cons: - I worked there for over 20 years and saw one of their core principles, "respect for the individual", set aside and replaced with "what ever is best for IBM".  On a scale of 1-4 (1 = best), I was rated a 2 or 2+ for every year for over 20 years. I made my quota in 2008, was told multiple times during 2008 what a great job I was doing by my manager, then I was laid off in Feb 2009.
- Staffed very thin - be sure to take your laptop with you on vacation and set aside a few hours a day to work.  Actively trying to move most of their US based resources off shore to lower cost countries ("stealth" layoffs of over 4600 people in Feb 2009 never announced to the press).  
- In sales, a generally high base salary (good) but limited leverage as they always adjust the quota, or ratchet back the pay plan to limit potential payouts. 
- Constant change and reorganizations, warranted in some cases, however it's just movement for the sake of movement at times. Management is sometimes disconnected from the relationships that the front line team builds with customers.