Company: IBM
Date: 2009-04-06
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: current

IBM Canada - A company in decline.
Pros: IBM looks very good on the resume.  Additionally, IBM has a lot of opportunity for training, especially for IBM products.  They also offer a nice tuition re-reimbursement for part time studies.  On paper IBM has some very nice work/life balance programs, however depending on where you land in the organization and who your manager is, your mileage may vary on taking advantage of the programs.

Like any corporation the roles at IBM are narrowly focused.  You are expected to be very good at one or two specific things.  That said, they do allow, and encourage movement with the company, so building a broad skill-set is possible.

IBM Canada has a strong sales / marketing / operations presence.  Serious technical work is typically done in IBM US or other countries.  So bear that in mind if you're a techy looking for a challenge - you probably won't find it at IBM Canada.
Cons: IBM Canada is a company in decline.  Originally IBM Canada was looked to by IBM US as an internal 'outsourcing partner' (1960 to around 2000).  A large majority of the work at IBM Canada is in fact working with IBM US business direction and funding (Toronto Lab Missions, Helpdesks, Inside Sales, etc).

IBM US is now looking to BRIC countries for the work that IBM Canada performed.  The pure Canadian market is small, and IBM Canada would be 1/3rd of the size it is today if it only dealt with Canadian business.  As IBM US looks for other outsourcing partners in the world, expect IBM Canada to massively contract.

Technical work is declining, or leaving IBM Canada.  The large bulk that remains is sales, and operational type work.  If you are looking for that type of work, IBM Canada may be a good match.