IBM

IBM's salary and benefits, relatively speaking, are better than average, despite annual increases in employee contributions. IBM has well-defined processes in the various parts of the business, which enables employees young in their careers to learn good skills.

To those individuals new to IBM: stay long enough to obtain the experience the job offers, then move on, as IBM isn't good for you long term.

IBM has lost its shine. I am certain that Thomas Watson continues to turn in his grave as to what has happened to his company.

IBM has long moved away from gaining new ideas and starting businesses from scratch to one of acquisitions. As products move through their life cycle, the work is outsourced to places like India where IBM can reduce its labor cost.

The net effect is that employees are discarded as the products they have built and supported are no longer generating the revenue they once were. New opportunities exist only in locations where companies that were acquired are located.

Unless you have experience with the products from the companies acquired and are willing to relocate, your future at IBM is limited. IBM is adept at reducing its labor through layoffs while minimizing the publicity of downsizing and outsourcing.

Once you see the death spiral begin at your site (especially sites that have been around a long time), be proactive and find a new opportunity elsewhere. It may seem daunting at first, especially the longer you have stayed at IBM, but in the long run you will be better off (and much happier too).

I have been at IBM long enough to have numerous middle managers. None of them do a decent job with people management, and their technical skills degrade to a point where they are close to useless.

Upper management should take a hard look at their middle managers and their contributions. On numerous occasions, my employees rightly escalated their annual performance appraisals due to middle managers playing favorites.

Nothing I could say or demonstrate would change the middle manager's view, despite the middle manager having little interaction with these individuals. It took an outside (of the organization) review to fix the situation.

The middle manager remains at IBM, while the majority of the 60+ person organization was laid off across two RIFs. This middle manager and their executive, who also is still at IBM, were unsuccessful in building, maintaining, or re-missioning the team.