IBM

IBM is still a great name to have on your resume.

They do some pretty cool projects, and you learn to work hard at IBM.

For some people, things turn out really well at IBM if they get the right first project.

Projects are chronically understaffed.

It's hard to get a good assignment. It seems the best work is hand-picked for certain people. YMMV, but the company is not interested in developing you.

They will keep you in the same assignment for a long time, and make it very hard to transfer.

In my case, I did a stint as a Support person. I then applied to a Development proper position (which I had done previously).

I started out doing Development, but in less than 2 months, Support duties were added to my job, and then my job became that almost 100%.

After years at that job working hard, I transferred to a new job, and I noticed that once again, I wasn't allowed to go to a Development proper position; they wanted me to do the same job again!!!

Even though there was plenty of Development work to do on my new team, they would rather keep the project understaffed and behind schedule than to hire one more ready and willing developer to help out, and go out of their way to keep me in a position I no longer wanted to perform.

If your employee says they want to do Development, is qualified for it, and is tired of doing the same thing for years, take it seriously.

Also, don't allow customers to open support tickets as backdoor consulting requests. Your support personnel are not consultants. There is a separate fee for that. It is incredibly unfair.