IBM

They still allow many, most people to work from home. The benefits are no better or worse than at any other large company. If you work in one of the groups that Ginni Rometty touts as the future of IBM, you're more or less okay vis-à-vis continued employment, at least for now.

Twenty years ago, the average tenure of an IBMer was probably 16 or 17 years. Now, I doubt it's more than 3. You get out of school, do your bit, and leave as fast as you can. Or, if you work for one of the many, many acquisitions, you do your bit and again, head for the doors. Either you will be forced out, or you will be so disappointed you'll leave on your own.

The 'change' from PBC to this new system is pretty bizarre. They have spoken much about it, but people are already supposed to have submitted their interim goals. So, word to the wise: make up your goals, focus only on those things you know you can do, and put a shine on it.

As far as money is concerned, don't look for much, or for much improvement over time. There is none. Get the best deal starting with them as you can, because it's highly likely that will be as much as you ever earn.

Movement in the company is nonexistent. Don't even bother. Every silo is so overloaded and pressed to deliver that no one will ever let you move, and no one is ever allowed to take on anyone new. Your department would have to be circling the drain from overwork for management to okay even a single new person.

First, second, and even third-line managers who leave the company are not replaced. Which, in and of itself, isn't terrible since there's an astonishing number of management levels, but it does tend to create a lot of churn.

They're going to this 'agile' model, which is highly, highly process and metrics-driven. Essentially bringing a Common Core mindset to the company. There is one way to do everything. Period. One form, one check box, and one process. The process and the paperwork are really the only things that matter. That's your job.

So, if you're a wiz with paperwork, extreme detail, and micromanagement, you will thrive here. It's important to understand that that truly is your job: documenting and data gathering, not technology. Whatever you thought your job was, it's really being a clerical assistant slash paralegal. Process, process, process, process. I really cannot stress this enough. IBM believes that they can solve all their problems by dumbing everything down to process and using the data gathered by that process to dumb it down even more.

One bright spot is the legal field. IBM probably has more attorneys per capita than the White House. Everything you do will be bounded and gated by an attorney. They, for the most part, get first and last approval over everything. If you're a lawyer, this is not a 'con.' If you're not, you will have to make your own decision whether essentially working for a lawyer is for you.

Which raises my last point. Most of the middle and senior people are not technologists or technical people. Few have any knowledge of the technology you work on and have arrived at their jobs by finagling the organization and shining when it comes to process. You will often be confronted with fairly senior people who have no earthly clue what you're talking about, and they're not shy to tell you. It's like a badge of honor to say, 'I'm not technical.' So, if you want to stay in a technical track, your career will be severely limited.

I think it would be pointless to suggest anything to a management who aggressively does not listen to anyone about anything, ever. That is seen as complaining and not being a 'team player.' Plus, there's no process for that.