Never not met my 40 hrs, wondering if this is really that serious?
22 replies (most recent on top)
@cb hey man sorry but it ain’t happening
It’s not it’s bullsh-t
I never met 40 hours and I am chilling all time at home! lol !
I never meet my 40 hours and I am still here... I guess they are not looking at the correct data! Where is the AI when you need it! lol!
@g0 absolutely, put it down under Hybrid cloud and AI learning. Your Think40 rewards will multiply.
@gq seems like you need lessons in English spelling. Why not ask IBM AI for suggestions and upskilling ?
Seams like you have to much free time .
Does reading this website count towards learning skills to deal with inevitable layoffs?
Yes think 40 is a requirement and wise to meet. But the proper approach is to utilize the education to prep yourself for your future career whether with IBM or not. You should view yourself as self employed, just so happen IBM is now paying you (your company). Tomorrow could be some other company that values what your company provides.
As others have pointed out, you may be wasting your time. Logically, what you’re doing makes sense—and it’s exactly what we’re told to do to earn a promotion. But in reality, advancement is far more about who you know and who likes you. You’ll likely see people with a fraction of your accomplishments leapfrog ahead. That’s because the system is rigged. Your best chance of reaching your goals is to become a favorite of those at the top.
What did Krabanaugh upskill in
You sound like a boot li---r
You should easily be able to find 40 hrs of training that’s beneficial to you period, regardless of whether this is being monitored or not. If you aren’t willing to upskill then any company would be better off without you
just quit. company is dogsh1t
My first line manager keeps sending out emails and slacks to keep upskilling
I am a third generation IBM Employee I hope to stay with IBM my whole career
It’s all about costs. Nothing more. Management has practiced lowering costs for the last 8-10 years and it’s accelerating. One of the main CFO talking points on every quarterly earnings call is “cost take out”. (Eg “We are running to the 3 billion dollar cost take out 3 year plan, OR we are upping our cost savings plan by an additional 1 billion). The CFO has commented on every quarterly call for the last 5 years on that subject. Thats where the focus is, and where it will remain. Ask yourself these two questions. If you did 100 hours of Think 40 training, but cost more than a new hire do you feel safe? The second question is just the opposite. If you did zero Think 40 training, but had a skill that would cost IBM more to replace vs keeping you, do you feel safe? From a CFO perspective, Think 40 is a nice to have, but cost savings is an essential to have.
@c3
You are waisting your time my guy. Promotions at IBM don’t work that way. You have been misled of lied too!
@c4 it's not what you know or learn, it's who you know in mangement who can protect you from the upcoming layoffs on 2026
@OP if IBM employees who have completed their Think40 and achieved 100 hours or more of Learning and still get laid off, why should anything happen to those employees who are too lazy and who do not even complete an hours worth of upskilling ? It the law of Krabanaugh upskilling - layoff the people who work hard at their jobs, but keep the toadies and imbeciles who su-k up to IBM management and just sit around doing nothing. That's what corporate IBM has become under Alvind and the Pipmunks. Some things are not going to change anytime soon.
I did over 100 hours last year and looking to do about 175-200 I am a band 6 and want to get promoted. Additionally, I have 21 Badges and will try to get at least another 25 this year. IBM is all about adding more skills and education and I want that promotion
It’s not
@aa I was in IBM management for most of the think40 era and don’t recall ever seeing a report on think40 hour completion by employee name. If the upper levels of management wanted to hand down a low performance assessment, there were plenty of ‘justifications’ to do that already cooked into the system. Most of them would stand up better under judicial scrutiny than a few missed think40 hours would. (On the occasions when I personally wanted to give a low performance assessment, I had crisp, clear reasons and the employee had received multiple warnings and chances to change course.)
Think40 was a previous CEO’s baby. It continues partly out of inertia and partly because some of the presentations are actually useful and the formal program keeps penny pinching team leads from forbidding your attendance to ‘save’ an hour. Think40 is more about making a small opportunity available to you than about placing a noose around your neck.
It is a basic requirement that is tracked and reported to management. Not meeting the 40 hours requirement could be used as justification for giving an employee a lower performance rating.