Pros: If you are not ambitious and not passionate about your work, if you don't expect much in terms of professional respect, opportunities, or fair compensation, and are fine with being laid off at any time, this might be a company worth considering.

Cons: IBM internal performance review rules promote meritocracy. You can work very hard, accomplish a great deal, and still be given a bad or average performance rating just because you were not visible enough to the right people or simply because it was your time to take one for the team. Most employees I know have given up on trying to improve anything in the products. People are in "survivor" mode – minimum effort for maximum benefit, and don't stick your neck out. A lot of truly talented technical people have either left on their own or were laid off. People that seem to be staying behind are poor souls that are stuck at IBM for some reason, or those who play internal politics well.

Pros: Good people. Decent environment. Consistent work.

Cons: Petty raises and bonuses. Lack of employee trust.

Pros: An extraordinary level of flexibility in where and how you work in software development. Many IBMers work at home. This is great for allowing time to deal with the demands of life.

Cons: The pressure to perform and deliver is intense and consistent, while the reward is 'having a job'. The flexibility (ability to work at home at any hour) also has the ability to morph into a strong negative, depending on your management's expectations and people skills. You will be expected to work from home during the evenings/late night. You will be expected to work weekends when management deems it necessary. Management will send you emails on the weekend and expect a response. Management will call you on the weekend to instruct you to work on a hot problem/defect.