IBM

This review is primarily for GBS in Rocket Center, WV. If you are considering joining IBM elsewhere, just know that in this sector, and this location, things are much different than the rest of the company.

• If you either went to a smaller university or didn't do so great in school and want a big name on your resume to get you good job opportunities in the future, IBM is PERFECT for that. I'm going to get pretty heavy in the cons section, but just know that this point here was what made the experience for me so worth it!

• This location is ~2 hours away from both Washington, D.C. and Pittsburgh.

• If you want to travel, there are opportunities to travel. If you don't want to travel, you probably won't have to.

• Health benefits are pretty decent.

• Most people get to work from home at least once per week.

• There is a pretty good chance that you will get the opportunities you need to advance within the company if you want to.

• If you want to become a good consultant, you will be working with a lot of good consultants.

The location. Cumberland is a "city" with not much there. Most people that end up staying long term already have an invested interest in the area (nearby college, family, etc.).

Turnover is very high. New hires come in groups, and generally if you're still around by 6 months, you are either THE last or one of the last left in your group.

Turnover is high because when you are hired, you are put "on the bench". That means you have to come into work, but there is nothing to do. This time frame usually lasts between 4 weeks to over a year (it sounds nice to get paid to do nothing, but it gets old real fast).

If you come here for experience in x type of work (development, testing, functional analyst), you're definitely rolling the dice. The "staffing professionals" are not technical people; they're trained to look at requirements for projects and match them to resumes. Their job is to keep you billable, not get you the experience you need in your career. There is a pretty good chance you get placed in a project doing work that you don't want to be doing (they will tell you that it is easy to switch down the road...don't take the bait).

There is practically no technical screening (for developers). You have a technical interview and test, but you can get EVERY question wrong and still get an offer (this actually happened in my hiring group twice). So, this goes without saying...

If you're looking to work with great developers, you're digging for needles in haystacks. You probably won't find what you're looking for. IBM has a lot of new hires that don't know what they are doing, and a lot of people with a lot of experience, but just don't make the cut.

The pay is well below average. Not only that, but even if you are good at what you do and outperform everyone you work with, chances are a year down the road, new hires (on the bench) will be making more money than you. Management will say (this happened to me twice), "Oh that's not right, but there's nothing I can do." Raises happen at earliest every 9 months, and your performance generally doesn't play any significant role. Everyone gets the same raise.

The performance review process has currently undergone a change (from what I'm told is for the better). However, managers are very inconsistent as to what the requirements are, and if you happen to be caught in a re-organization, you may quickly find out that what you are doing that was considered acceptable for your old manager is unacceptable to your new manager.

You are told that after 2 years in this program that you can transfer out, and they will help you do so. This is true, you can, and they will, but corporate IBM will actively work against you on this. I never saw anyone get transferred out. Places like Rocket Center are where IBM actually makes their money because they can afford to pay you less for the same work that people in DC do. More winning bids on government contracts.

I understand that in a big company, regulations need to be put in place so that managers can't easily abuse or favor employees. However, you've made it very hard to reward high performers in a meaningful way. Actually try to keep high performers around to get better longevity out of your products and other high performers.

Hire staffing professionals that understand the fields in which they are working. You won't have employees quit for being stuck in project positions that are detrimental to their career paths.

Please, please, please actually put weight on the technical interviews.