IBM

Terrific benefits. Keep your eyes and ears open for good projects and teams. They are rare and will ultimately define your experience at IBM.

I worked at the Dublin/Columbus, Ohio office for close to two years in the Software Group (SWG) before calling it quits, and this is what I observed.

My "manager" tried everything in his hands to see you squirm and needed any excuse to criticize you. He was not at all interested in your professional growth and very interested in running a sweatshop.

I told him I was going to apply internally for jobs, which more closely aligned with my interests and experiences, and he told me that that would negatively impact my performance review and asked that I not return in the new year (2015), hence why I quit.

Under my manager, he had a few senior leads. My senior lead was equally unhelpful and had absolutely no professional etiquette (backtalk, backroom plotting, etc...). The Dublin, Ohio office is more like a clique, where one is rewarded more by how well one can play the games thrown at them from management, and not by the quality of your work.

The way both the manager and senior lead conducted themselves in and around the office created an extremely toxic environment.

My manager did not have the courtesy to conduct my exit interview or give me the results of it. I learned through another manager about a week later of my results.

I am convinced that this is strictly a problem in the Dublin, Ohio (or Columbus, Ohio) office. If you apply to IBM, please, please, please do your sanity a huge favor and do not apply to Dublin, Ohio or Columbus, Ohio.

Advice to Management in Dublin/Columbus, Ohio:

Focus on manager training for managers. Value the skills people bring to the table. Respect one another. Listen to one another. Help one another.