IBM

I started the team that developed the first speech recognition software on PCs and embedded products in 1993 in Boca. The extended team included executives, Yortown research scientists with PhDs, and direct report employees.

We worked on great technology, implementing the first speech-enabled Netscape browser in 1995. The rapport and support from executives in Watson was exciting, as were the great products we created.

1. Being a woman Software Engineer, I was denied promotions beyond "Advisory" level, even with 27 years of successful projects, products, and manager ratings. Many people thought I was Senior level because of my work and responsibilities. Several Senior level men held the same job I had after I did it.

2. The current CEO got her props for bringing the Price Waterhouse people into IBM and spent HUGE $$ doing it. At the same time, executive management didn't have the cahoonas to fight the battles necessary to WIN at the Personal Computer business, in spite of having invented it and Microsoft's ANTI-TRUST Judgement. And they decimated the skilled developers from Boca into NC and TX in 1996. OS/2 Warp 4.0 was shipped in 1996, AT THE SAME TIME, moving 400 developers to Austin. The day after we shipped the product, IBM announced there would be the last release of OS/2. So, all the talented operating system developers were told their new assignments were device drivers for AIX.

My job was to be the Planner for OS/2, which is the place for requirements from the field for service releases to land. But, there was NO money in the budget for any service release of OS/2, even though it would have been very easy to accomplish a small service release while the skills were in place AND there was great customer acceptance of Warp 4.0, due to its inclusion of VoiceType Dictation, thanks to MY TEAM.

1. We developed a lot of software that is still shipped in Windows, yet we were PROHIBITED from investing in Microsoft as individuals because MS was a "competitor". IBM receives license income from this code, but there is no benefit to the IBM employees to be compensated appropriately. Our peers – those who worked jointly with us on the "New Technology" in the 1980's and 1990's at MS are many times over, multi-millionaires because of the tactics of Bill Gates and IBM's neglect of its own skilled developers.

1. Stop discriminating and deceiving women about opportunities for promotion.

2. Pay overtime retroactively to compensate for the many hours away from families and the damage done to the health of individual software engineers.

3. Do not allow Hardware Engineering managers, especially senior-level men, into Software Engineer career responsibilities, as I experienced for the last four years of employment. This should be a huge red flag to HR. I was forcibly moved into a "Project Mgmt" job code against my wishes. I was never considered for Software Management opportunities because of this ceiling problem I had, being a woman. There were senior-level men needing jobs - I had done 10 years earlier. Take a look at Joseph Walsh, who was my manager until 2004, as an example.