IBM

There are a lot of talented and passionate people there.

Overall, the technical level is pretty high. A lot of information and knowledge around.

not available for all the teams. If you get to be the wrong team, you're just screwed.

People who don't give too much about doing good work, not thinking through. You will be amazed to see that sometimes a co-op student does a better job than someone who has been in IBM for quite a while. And sometimes you're just reassigned without even being asked. As a SW developer, I would expect that my work be recognized as such. I don't have too much time to market myself. Very often, it looks like only big-mouthed, rude, arrogant people make the calls.

The senior managers are pretty much okay. The problem is with the first-line managers. Make sure the first-line/profile managers are doing their job right. I was amazed to learn that sometimes they are the first people that discourage you to take risks, assume more responsibilities, and try new things.