Pros: If you're just starting out in your career, it can be a great place to network with a lot of people in your field. You can sample many different job types just by talking to people. They have great mentors who are really helpful. You have to take the initiative to find a great mentor, though. They have a lot of internal tools that can be very useful. They can also be a pain to learn since there are so many of them. Web 2.0 technologies are being adopted by IBM, and there's definitely a lot of cutting-edge stuff you can get involved in if you join the right team. Good benefits and flexible work hours/location.

Cons: Upper management could care less about the low-level employees. Layoffs will hit your department at least once every two years, if not more often. Good performance ratings won't save anyone either. If you don't want to be a small fish in a big pond, then IBM will not be for you—nor will any large company. There are a lot of politics and processes that keep things from moving along. The day after laying off thousands of employees, Sam will tell the president of the US that creating new "21st-century jobs" is important and something that IBM is doing.

Pros: Work is interesting; work-life balance is good.

Cons: Salary is on the lower side.

Pros: Workplace culture is fine. Most colleagues are nice people.

Cons: Strategically lost; lacks clear vision of the way forward.