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Work at IBM - Stability or Stagnation

Software Quality Assurance Engineer
Former Employee
Worked at IBM for 6 years
December 11, 2013
Dublin, Dublin
2.0
Doesn't RecommendNeutral OutlookDoesn't Approve of CEO
Pros

Stability - IBM is more than 100 years on the market and knows how to survive difficult times. Once you're there, your job is secure.

Flexibility and Working from Home - You can work remotely, which gives great flexibility (although this is becoming more and more common for IT companies).

Cons

No Growth. I'd rate it 2 out of 10 in terms of career opportunities. Once you're there, it is very likely that you'll find yourself at exactly the same level in terms of position and salary in 5-6 years (well, salary may increase a bit, but less than inflation).

Salary is not competitive (not my single opinion, but I've heard it from most of my colleagues).

High staff turnover.

No additional trainings are offered or advertised "in-house".

Product documentation is a disaster. It's like a puzzle, but different pieces of it are located in different locations, and more often than not, people wouldn't be able to tell you the whole picture.

Advice to Management

Revise your staff management policies, accenting more on people and knowledge retention.

Promote your staff more often; even a little bit makes a big difference.

You are spending more money on upskilling new hires than you would spend on promotions for your loyal staff.

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