Pros: IBM has lots of very talented and hard-working people. There is a wealth of technical knowledge within the company.

Cons: IBM seems to be focused solely on the bottom line. The company no longer seems interested in maintaining a competitive advantage through technical innovation or by attracting and retaining top technical talent. IBM is bleeding away talented people through resource actions (aka layoffs) and people leaving on their own initiative. The remaining people are expected to carry the ever-growing workload with fewer resources after losing strong, experienced people. Also, the periodic layoffs strip away any sense of job security.

Pros: Given the breadth of offerings and activities, I was able to jump to interesting new projects & roles every 3-4 years. I stayed 15 years past my distaste for the character of the company because of some of the things I got to do and try. I saw the world and met some lifetime friends.

Cons: "They are who we thought they were." Mega-corporate. Process for everything. (Way too many) good, smart people building smart roadblocks to getting things done, in the name of auditing, control, and project management expertise. Desperate need for SW solutions (and everything else) to satisfy every industry and perspective, which made solutions (and everything else) bloated and unfocused. At the macro level, so much marketing vapor, but too little useful reality behind the fog. Flexibility for job-hopping has decreased over time. Strong anti-employee moves from HR in the last 2 years, including vesting changes for 401k and reduction of severance. Financial engineering is bleeding through at every level.

Pros: Work-life balance. Lots of learning resources.

Cons: Pay is not high; there are less growth opportunities.