CS major, small regional school. Graduating in 2022.
Please chime in.
36 replies (most recent on top)
yes. period.
I am in GBS (SAP) and I've had amazing mentors over last 8 years (this is a response to @8aef )
If you do get a job at IBM, get paid the most you can, do the least, take all your vacation and more, take advantage of any training before you leave for a better place.
@7wqs I’ve never seen an older member of staff give a second thought to anyone but themselves so not sure where you see this “mentoring” happen. Everyone is in self preservation mode sweating layoffs. Don’t expect any career advice or appreciation for your work. Also to OP, as a junior member of staff, don’t expect to be spared from layoffs. They cut you too in order to round out the numbers and avoid inquiry about age discrimination.
The sheer fact that this is the longest thread on this IBM board tells you about the best quality IBM has:
We have an infinite supply of mentors, people genuinely interested in developing young talent and helping people learn and grow. This is an old trait that Watson, Cary, Opel and Akers nurtured (Ginny could care less about it)...
That aside, or executives and corporate strategy is horrible.
I still think there is some value in working here. You'll learn how to work in teams. Many teams interact globally, you'll learn about distributed delivery. Many technologies we use are similar to other companies etc.
With this being said, IBM is a large company and each team, group, project, client may be different - you may love it for about 6 months and a reorg may come (or a new client) and you may start not to like it.
Yes, going to work for a FAANG or other 2nd tier tech company would be great but I know those opportunities exist but are hard to catch as everyone wants to go to work there.
If IBM is your option and the next option is not as good as IBM go with us, spend a couple of years here, learn and then JET. This is really important, two years, no more - otherwise you get caught in this endless cycle of pain and disgruntled feelings just like the rest of us (most folks are immune to it during first 24 months as they grow and are ambitiousness, nonetheless reality will kick in at some point.)
A good first job providing you work in marketing or HR, .. not .. tech
translation:
tech: far behind everyone else in most areas and a blemish on your resume
marketing: if you can learn to successfully sell inferior products, you will have a valuable skill that any other company will recognize value in
HR: excellent practice for learning how to manage layoffs, disgruntled employees, etc. - skills that will be useful at many other companies during the next recession
IBM is struggling to catch up to the major players in most key areas. Why start with a company that is so far behind? Look at the companies that are leading.
A good first job providing you work in marketing or HR, but would not suggest any tech gig with IBM.
No - Amazon, MS or try a built in NY tech start up.
As a poster said below "IBM desperately needs new blood and fresh ideas at that level."
@1nbc "IBM senior management remains entrenched in a 1950's "command and control" mentality. You will not learn about how a modern enterprise works. You will, however, get a great history lesson."
Hilarious, sad, and true at the same time.
It's the result of so many of IBM's senior executive team being lifers and so never having seen how any other modern company does things. This would be the main benefit of Whitehurst becoming CEO - not that he's anything special, just that he's actually seen how other companies operate, between Red Hat, Delta, and his consulting clients at BCG. IBM desperately needs new blood and fresh ideas at that level.
Some generic career advice for you from a guy who's been doing this for over 20 years with the last few at IBM:
View your career as a series of 2-3 year stints. Learn as much as you can in each stint, take all the training offered, get all the varied experience you can, stay as long as you're growing, leave when you're not or when a better opportunity presents itself. Take the time to build relationships with people - these will last far longer than any relationship with an employer. There is no such thing as loyalty to a company - this isn't 1980, companies aren't loyal to employees, lifetime employment is a distant memory. Always stay current with the technology, but don't go overboard always chasing the latest flash in the pan. Put yourself and your team first.
The above having been said, IBM is no better or worse really than anywhere else for that first stint.
Why on earth would anyone want to go and work for a company that is in serious decline unless you absolutely have no other options or have no drive to do better?
I still like it.
Many of the Google researchers came from IBM - more than a decade ago there was a great exodus of entire departments from IBM Almaden Research in San Jose to Google. Almaden never really recovered from that.
@2yle is correct
@2mhg, If you think Google and Facebook have nothing to do with tech other than ads, you are hugely mistaken.
Facebook has a whole website dedicated to what they do in tech: AI, data centers, extremely resilient and high performance global scale apps https://tech.fb.com/
Google develops tech that is then used by other companies. The currently hot Kubernetes technology came from Google as did Hadoop before that. There is mapping, mobile apps, AI, Quantum.
True
Guys, only 1-2% of top engineers go there, and places like Google and Facebook have boring Ad Engineering that has nothing to do with tech.
IBM is a GREAT first job! The pay was great but the work was a little boring (old product section). People were respectful, flexibility to work from home was unbeatable in my town. It's all relative, what do you have instead? Everyone makes such a fuss about FAANG. Guys, only 1-2% of top engineers go there, and places like Google and Facebook have boring Ad Engineering that has nothing to do with tech. Sure the pay and benefits are great (heck, I'd hit that!), but there are so many cool opportunities elsewhere! Good luck!
In all fairness, there is still is some good stuff to be learned at IBM. As others have mentioned, it may not be the place for a long term career path (although some have made that happen), but it served me well when I was there. Sad to say there was a time when I was very proud to be at IBM, and it was the place to be. However times have changed, and IBM hasn't kept up. Use IBM to learn your trade, and then go forth and prosper!
You'll learn at any company you join. If I had kids, I'd advise them to go look somewhere else. It's hard for me to say this as I spent 28 years here, but it's a fact.
Never make the mistake of joining IBM. Worst mistake of my life. Join a company which you can be proud of. Try startups...
If you don't mind the angst of seeing your co-workers let go, their lives turned upside down, and their families traumatized, then yes, IBM is a good place for a new hire. You can at least count on being employed for 3-4 years before being replaced by an Indian...
The answer depends on your options. If you have options to go work for someone who invest more in training and learning, go there (e.g., FAANG companies) - if IBM is your only option or if you have IBM and someone who may not be good as IBM, come over and do a year or two...
This is also very true (made me chuckle) - it was posted by @1nbc:
IBM senior management remains entrenched in a 1950's "command and control" mentality. You will not learn about how a modern enterprise works. You will, however, get a great history lesson.
There is no value to IBM on your resume. They are the laughing stock of the tech industry after their ludicrous claims about Watson and alike.
As an Ex-IBM employee I can share these insights:
- Many employers exclude you because of IBM experience. If you get an interview be prepared to explain why working at IBM is not a liability.
- IBM is not well respected outside of the US. They have abandoned several Scandinavian countries because they don't like adhering to local laws and dealing with trade unions. This reputation is understood throughout Europe.
- IBM AI is considered a joke by industry practitioners. It is fairly well accepted that IBM marketing has over-promised and product-teams have under-delivered.
- IBM senior management remains entrenched in a 1950's "command and control" mentality. You will not learn about how a modern enterprise works. You will, however, get a great history lesson.
I first joined IBM in the 1970's. It was a great reference on your resume back in the day. Today? No way. Work anywhere else and you will be better off.
IBM employees are still respected in the marketplace, and there is value to having IBM on your resume still. This board is more about layoffs which occur more often at IBM than many other tech companies, so your question here may solicit negative replies.
Now, that said, IBM does not appear to invest as much in employees as other companies such as Facebook, Google etc, but it will probably be easier to land an initial job at IBM than the other top tech companies. If you had a choice, Google over IBM, Google is the better bet, but IBM still has brand value on a resume.
From my career experience I would have told you “yes go for it”, BUT after dealing with my niece and her girlfriends who graduated from Cal Poly, I would say NO go after a Google, Amazon, Facebook offer. Every single one of them got a far better offer vs IBM 15-30% more plus signing bonus and stock options. I believe IBM is yet again behind the power curve when it comes to recruiting top notch employees AGAIN it all depends on what you want to work on, and how hard
No. Find something else. You can do much better than IBM. Make the extra effort to find something else.
Do NOT go work at a GTS innovation center because they are considered temp IBM locations where you will make far less money and get horrible benefits than dedicated IBM location's.
Any place is a good place to start
True...
From what I've seen, IBM rarely goes after fresh new college grads in their purges.
Yes, go for it. As you will read here, IBM is an awful place to plan to spend your career at, but it's not a bad place to get your foot in the door and start your career at. Just go in knowing that you should plan on only about 2 years (as the previous reply said) and have a plan for your exit after that. It's not Google or Amazon, but it can be a stepping stone to a good company down the road.
From what I've seen, IBM rarely goes after fresh new college grads in their purges. In fact, they would like nothing more than to replace many of the old guard workers with that demographic. So, you shouldn't have to experience the dread and anguish that so many of us posters here have.
The important thing is to build marketable skills and you can do that at IBM in the right groups. As noted though, just don't plan on a long and happy career here - that has been the mistake of many good folks here.
Good luck to you!
If you want a good early view of just how ruthless Corporate America can be, then sure, It's a good place to start.
- You should be fine - as long as you learn you are OK
- Working for different groups at IBM will yield different experiences, some groups are super-cool others are dead-end career paths
- Who will manage you? It’ boils down to individuals – some are better mentors than others
- Spending 2 years here will not hurt you, it’s still a good bullet point on your resume. Staying beyond should be thoroughly evaluated
- Good luck…