IBM

Salaries are good.

Work-life balance is very good -- I was able to work at home regularly. Basically, I was able to take off all the time I needed, but performance expectations were not adjusted accordingly.

There are many smart people at IBM Research, and it's possible to learn a lot. Seminars on various topics are offered constantly.

I found that the variety of work was very good until the last year or two that I was there. I was able to transition from desktop programming to Web programming.

Everyone who works at Research in Hawthorne has their own office, which is another plus.

The performance rating system is seriously broken. When I did well, I was told, "Your work was good this year" -- nothing more. Details were forthcoming only when management thought that my performance was inadequate. I was forced to resign after being given a negative performance review and being given six months to improve my performance. This trial period was a joke, as I worked myself to the bone to meet the goals that were given to me. I did meet the goals, but was told that I had not met them. I believe that the motive for these actions on the part of management was age discrimination.

I would discontinue the practice of age discrimination.

I would fix the PBC (Personal Business Commitments) system.

It appears that first-line management is rated primarily on the individual work they do (e.g., writing papers and going to conferences) rather than on the way they manage.

Also, every department is run differently.

Senior management needs to adopt and enforce software development best practices.

I had difficulty getting my manager to support using source code control!