IBM

Because it is a large division, there is a variety of jobs, platforms, and programming languages amongst the many software products.

Benefits and pay are generally good, and there is/was flexibility with work hours.

"Reduction in workforce" is an ongoing thing within IBM. Although management tries to balance the workload amongst the remaining employees, work hours are long.

While employed there, maintaining the same quality took longer because of increased responsibilities, and thus I found myself at my laptop most evenings. I did carve out Friday night and Saturday for myself, but Sunday evening found me logged back in.

Management tried to control costs through purchase and travel restrictions, but even though the SW division was quite profitable during 2008, over one thousand employees were handed walking papers so as to maintain a higher $ per share.

I have never minded working long hours to solve a program bug, or to meet a deadline. However, the current climate is one of working all the time. When employees work long hours, quality suffers.

With workforce reductions, skills are lost and need to be relearned. Information exchange between employees suffers, as individuals seek to stand out by being the sole possessors of specific knowledge.

IBM supposedly embraces the Agile-Lean methodology, yet picks and chooses which tenets it will pursue. This does not work.