Working at IBM — Reviews by Employees

Leaving IBM on my own and taking a pay cut to end the madness was the BEST thing I ever did for myself. This company tramatized, affected my health and I found myself hating to do something that once I found enjoyable.

I don't recommend anyone take a position with IBM. You will be better off taking a pay cut, going to a mom and pops company. They don't appreciate employees and you are just a number.

Pay: The pay is far under average since IBM has you working around the clock. If you work for IBM and make over $45,000 a year, they consider that to much and find reasons to lay you off.

Respect: There is no respect. They work you like indentured servants, low pay and be happy to have a job.

Benefits: If you go for a low HMO you will pay small price out of pocket, if you want better insurance most of the money comes from your pocket. No tuition reimbursements so you have to pay out of your own pocket to keep up to date on education.

Job Security: There isn't any since every 6 months they lay people off or outsource their work out of the country for cheap labor.

Work/Life Balance: There isn't any since you are working 60+ hours a week. Your spouse will leave you and your kids will hate you for having to constantly break promisses.

Career Potential/Growth: Unless you are working out of Boulder Colorado or New York in their research department, there is no Career growth.

Location: Rancho Cordova, Ca

Co-worker Competence: They lay off the smart ones that require higher salaries and keep the young ones out of college that are learning and making low salaries.

Work Environment: It's terrible, the managers are so far removed and working in another state that they don't know what you do, your tribulations and what it takes to get the job done. They don't want you putting on your timecards the actual times you work and want you to lie so they look good. Thank god that I never falsified, which in the end I was paid thousands of dollars (enough to buy a car) for a class action suit regarding IBM not paying employees for overtime.

Leaving IBM on my own was the best decision I ever made. Since that time, so many of my former peers have been laid off. If there is a bad quarter, watch out, they slash like mad and there is no consideration of skills and competence in these decisions. Top notch people, some of the best I ever worked with anywhere, have been axed by IBM. In 2001 during my 10 day new employee orientation I drank the koolaid when they spoke endlessly about organizational knowledge and competency, but it is just talk.

I spoke to many people at IBM, from all over the world. Many of the old timers would say things like, "Man, we used to be good, we really were, but look at us now." IBM has some outstanding engineers, developers, researchers, and yes, even business people, but the old breed has been usurped by the new that is less about the work and more about the political angle. It's too bad.

we were acquired a while ago and IBM has run our brand into the ground

The company loves the bottom line more than the employee. We have been part of a "Resource Action" where they have been slowly over the course of 2 years laying off over 400 accountants in Tulsa and sending the jobs overseas to Argentina.
To make matters worse, they are having all the employees who are losing their jobs work extra hard to try and convert to new updated programs and make corrections so that it will be easier and simpler for the new Employees in Buenos Aires who will have no experience.
I had always thought I wanted to work for Big Blue. The funny thing is now, its hardly a U.S. company. About 75% of employees work overseas. It's the King of outsourcing. Companies that move all their jobs overseas should not get any additional incentives from the government. There should be a mandate if you dont have at least 50% of your employees working in the U.S., then you are a foreign company.

Its a hell hole.

I've been at IBM for 10 years. I started working on Lotus Notes in 2000. I used to love my job, being able to build and create software was what I loved to do. Hard work was encouraged and rewarded and the common 60+ hour weeks were worth the effort.

Times are completely different. There are a lot of incompetent managers who waste a lot of time and resources. Many of the good people I worked with over the last 10 years have left the company. There is no incentive left. Since we have routine layoffs, everyone at work is just left wondering when they will get hit with one of the bullets. The company now has no intentions of improving its products or streamlining waste, they simply make cuts to improve the bottom line to keep the shareholders happy. This is evident in IBM's declining revenue yet increased profits. Finishing your career at IBM is thought to be an impossibility. Once you get to the point where you are older and you have more life responsibility you will be regarded as being expensive and not worth keeping around anymore. You will most definitely get laid off.

The work environment now is "every man/woman for themselves". Everyone is simply afraid of losing their job and it makes it difficult to focus and to really have passion for what you do.

As far as salary, IBM is somewhat competitive, but you will constantly hear every year why there was no money for bonuses or raises even for it's top performing employees. Then you have to worry that at some point you might make "too much" money, where they will lay you off because they can hire 10 people in India and China that will work 90 hours a week.

If you can find a job working somewhere else, I would.

I had interned with IBM in the summer when I was in my junior year of college and I was excited to work there at that time. After doing a good job, I had gotten a job offer during my last year of college and I was really excited to work there. The interview was tough but it was worth it. They put you through a week of training to get familar with the IBM way and meet other people from the same division. It was great pampering at that time as you would get to meet other IBMers. At that point, I was really excited to work for IBM. I had worked at IBM for 4 years. My comments are below and again this all depends on what department you're working for. This is from a consulting role and point of view.

Recommendations: "It's who you know."

Work Lifestyle: Expect working 60-70 hours a week (there are no 40 hours per week workdays) including weekends. Senior IBMers told me that they were either on the verge of a divorce or they never got married. Working in this department, it was all about making money for them and how many billable hours you could get. It was very tough to do anything else.

Experience: It was both a good and bad experience. You learn a lot about different companies, technology, people but it depends on what department you're in. For example, I didn't know that eventhough I was a full-time employee of IBM, I still had to look for projects to work on so that you're billable. You work out of your suitcase with a cell phone and laptop. You never work with the same group of people as you're working on different projects throughout the country.

Salary: Again it is very tough to get a raise unless you have someone to back you up. Raises can't be determined by writing information down and giving it to a manager who has never met or seen you and is on the other side of the country. It depends on how many people can stand up for you. Don't expect to get a good raise just because you are 150% billable.

Layoffs: It's very tough to see colleagues disappear year after year. IBM always goes through department transitions so it's regular there.

Pension: Don't get one until you work 5 years or more for the company.

The company was a great company to work for at one time. Unfortunately they have taken to cutting all of their loyal staff and hiring them back on as contract employees through Kelly Services and CGI. The amount that IBM pays the companies for a worker and the amount that the contract work receive is 60/40. The contract company takes more than half of the hourly wage and the contract managers/company do absolutely nothing. There are no benefits what so ever. Today they laid off my entire team except for the three of us that are contractors and one guy who doesn't work... at all. I me and the other two of us that do are work are pulling 12s to do the work of all the people they cut. We are overtime exempt so any extra time over 40 we work is worthless. I have my degrees and 10 years of experience and make less than working fast food. They pay us so little we cant afford rent in the area off the paycheck alone.

Exactly the kind of soulless corporation who treats people like numbers you think it is.

IBM is very cheap. They will hire just about anybody as long as they don't have to pay too much. People they hire don't always have the necessary skills to do the job. On the other hand, management is very experienced and well organized (except if you work in their call-center, which is the worst job ever and management is useless there). The benefits are average at best. There is no job security and no opportunities for advancement (as far as I could tell). Very little work/life balance as they expect you to work a certain amount of days a year, no matter what your personal situation. If you don't, it will be used against you. If you're competent at what you do, you will get respect from your co-workers and closest management, but that's as far as it will go, the company does not care.