IBM

There are so many smart people and talents inside IBM. The working environment is very flexible, as long as you complete the work with quality. The work-from-home policy is very helpful for people with families, though the home connection is sometimes not so good. The managers are also very flexible and understanding (of course, you need to meet such a manager; I haven't met a manager who is sales-style in software development work).

Every year, we can hear that IBM has so many patents and so many achievements, so I will feel proud of being part of this company.

The company is just too big. I feel I have little chance to know a better picture of the company. It might need to take 7-10 years to really understand how IBM as a whole company works.

That leads to confusion about company strategy. The upper management often talk about strategy, but as a bottom developer, I cannot really feel it is being executed. We are just doing the way we did before; change is very slow. There are too many people giving their opinions, and in the end, progress is made after a lot of meetings.

Also, the patent application process is a bit abused. Sometimes, some people are not doing patent for passion or interest but for promotion. But as I heard from some colleagues, in the US, this process is much healthier.

I also feel we have too many products. As an IBMer, I'm also often confused.

Microsoft has been moving very fast to reinvent itself. Now IBM needs to catch up.

Please think how the bottom engineer, researcher, or sales think about company strategy.

We only have feedback from managers, but we don't have a good channel to give feedback to managers and the company. The surveys that we fill out at year-end are very general, and after the surveys, there is not much action taken.