IBM

Work-life balance is moderately alright, but ultimately depends on the project.

– Management gives absolutely no interest in your career goals & aspirations; often empty promises & lip service. Neither do they check-in with you to understand you better nor your current progress.

– Way too many mid-management whom no one seems to know what they are doing all day except for attending meetings. Too few hands-on staff to carry out the real work.

– Compensation is below market rates for tech roles. Moreover, YOY salary increment, as well as promotion, is negligible.

– Benefits are non-existent. Annual paid leave is minimal.

– While local mentorship + networking is a common practice in most MNCs, it's a fairy-tale here.

– Interview process has regressed in terms of rigor, resulting in many incompetent IT "talents" populating the workplace in the last 2 years.

– Overuse of (cheaper) employees who came from a career-switch background who are not quite yet experienced in running the show.

– Projects are poorly executed: what was sold to clients hardly matches the reality on the ground.

– Attrition rate is really high for technical staff: knowledge transfer & hand-take are frequent, resulting in many messy sub-projects.

IBM Singapore is a lacklustre company hiding behind its former glory of its branding.

There is no proper system or roadmaps in place to execute technical project plans. Resources to upskill and train its employees are sorely lacking, and technical expertise and guidance are barely existent, despite being deeply entrenched in digitalisation initiatives.

It was abject misery to have worked in this company, which pays zilch attention to your career aspirations. Whatever job scope was sold during the interviews certainly did not match any of the day-to-day responsibilities. This consensus of angst was further aggravated by upper management, who all speak of the "big picture" and their empty promises of role change or adequate compensation. Those who are on the ground are the ones toiling away with no end in sight. Many of the sub-projects continue to be stalled, with the launch date delayed over and over again for more than a year.

For no apparent reason, the proportion of mid-management is severely skewed unfavourably. No one has any idea what these mid-management staff work on all day, except for attending meetings. These meetings are scheduled to appease angry clients who are disappointed over the inability to deliver results. Please hire more staff who are on the ground.

All in all, join at your own peril.