rating for International Business Machines Corporation

Bleed Blue? No thanks posted on November 27, 2006

I had the opportunity to work with IBM in an engineering division other than Global Services. I came to understand that there's a reason why most of the people at IBM are either fresh out of college or have 20 years experience -- If you're fresh out of college you don't know any better; if you're in for the long haul you're one of the lucky ones who still qualifies for a pension when you retire. Why do so many leave? Fun, creativity, and bold new thinking have no place in IBM's halls. True, they pride themselves on having the most patents per year of any company. But just before I left a patent application floated by my desk that was an application for a cardboard cutout of a dragon that sits on top of a desktop printer -- a decoration where the paper comes out of the dragon's mouth. This is a perfect example of the culture within IBM: they may present themselves as industry leaders in technology when in reality they're a cheap cardboard front on top of other people's ideas. But don't take my word for it, look at the IBM prospectus and look at divisions other than Global Services. Then look at what percentage of those divisions' bottom line is income from OS390 - a 20 year old technology. To slow this lumbering giant down even further, IBM is very process heavy. If you work there, you *will* be audited on ISO9001 guidelines (ie- make sure to have paperwork that documents you've done your paperwork and reviewed that paperwork). And in this sea of paperwork, you *will* be audited on what paper is visible on your desk at any time. You *will* be audited on if these papers have the proper cover page. You will *NOT* be audited if your code follows best practices, can crash with a pin drop, or follows IBM's own audit trail -- that's right. They audit the paperwork about the process but not the fact that you follow the process at all. This allows them to declare Romainia a country that IBM designates a dangerous country not to trade with, and still hire offshore contractors for new development in Romania.

Bleed Blue? No thanks

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