How many of you currently or have worked at IBM?

[jedisurfer1]

My dad and his friends worked there, many have left or been laid off (one worked there for over 30 years), all very smart guys. Not one of them currently has anything great to say about it.

I'm asking because I've been offered a position with a company that is closely tied to IBM (currently under a different name) with enough ties that IBM being that big, I get the feeling IBM has a lot of pull in all decision making.

They are all saying I should strongly consider other offers.

[ajkula66]

The real question here is: what are YOUR expectations?

[jedisurfer1]

Not really sure but my expectations usually are to work at a nimble forward thinking company not too concerned with impressing all the shareholders. Not focused on short term numbers, or constantly looking at some silly metrics all the time.

A company that hopefully shows some loyalty, but I think the days of someone working at the same place for 20+ years are non existent.

[ajkula66]

Not really sure but my expectations usually are to work at a nimble forward thinking company not too concerned with impressing all the shareholders. Not focused on short term numbers, or constantly looking at some silly metrics all the time.

You, my good man, are looking for a unicorn.

A company that hopefully shows some loyalty, but I think the days of someone working at the same place for 20+ years are non existent.

A small, privately-owned, tightly-knit firm is something that you should be looking into, at least IMO.

Good luck.

[rkawakami]

Not really sure but my expectations usually are to work at a nimble forward thinking company not too concerned with impressing all the shareholders.

(Emphasis added) Then I don't think IBM fits that mold any more.

Not focused on short term numbers, or constantly looking at some silly metrics all the time.

To me, this sounds like a "start-up" environment would be more to your liking. I've worked for a couple of "big" companies and they eventually start adding metrics like semi-annual evaluations and MBO (Management By Objectives).

A company that hopefully shows some loyalty, but I think the days of someone working at the same place for 20+ years are non existent.

My previous job lasted 23 1/2 years. It began as a start-up (Vitelic) and I joined about 3 years into it. It grew, merged with another company (Mosel) that was created about the same time, became a main player in the DRAM business and then flamed out. I survived several rounds of layoffs before the doors were closed. If the company had taken a different route than to try to get into the commodity DRAM business, it might still be around.

edit: It should be obvious, but I'll state it anyway. Going with a start-up is a risky chance. Depending on the market that the company is in, it might take off or it could tank in a couple of years. If you're young and just getting into the workforce, then it's a little bit less of a risk. I joined Vitelic when I was 29 and received a stock offering. In the end, there was enough of a payoff to have made it a worthwhile chance (it would have been more profitable if I'd sold earlier but that's 20-20 hindsight). My current job began in 2009 with another start-up but at a much later point (almost 7 years old). I was able to buy some company stock before it was to go public. It never did. The company was purchased by Samsung several years ago but they gave us a fairly good buyout price. Would I consider a start-up at age 58? Don't know. The kids are grown and (mostly) out of the house but I still have a mortgage and my property taxes here in NorCal are high. Although Samsung a huge company, the group that I'm in is operated more-or-less as an independent division. Is it a job of life? That's about as probable as finding the unicorn that George mentioned earlier.

[killer]

I worked for IBM United Kingdom Limited from 1st June 1967 until 6th May 1993. When I started it was a vibrant company full of intelligent people. In order to join one had to pass an aptitude test and an interview ... the only requirements. The aptitude test measured one's IQ and the interview measured one's ability to interact. It was a sound approach from a go-ahead company. IBM used that process to winkle out the problem makers from the problem solvers. As a result they were successful with little cost. (Problem makers cost a lot in terms of employment maintenance.)

In the late 1980s IBM UK chose to drop the aptitude test and only take on University graduates. The result was catastrophic in my opinion. Most graduates were problem makers. Some were brilliant but the majority cost the company money. Whereas a problem solver without a pen and paper will use a pencil and a fag packet, the graduates demanded that someone find them a pen ... and paper ... and a desk, a chair, a waste-paper basket, a car, a coffee maker, a cafeteria, soft lavatory paper, etc.

Imagine the result. No wonder it went wrong, which is sad but shows us all that graduating in geology or philosophy or economics proves that all one can do is spend years at University (at huge cost for very few days of learning) and end up ruining everything that was good.

Grrr.

[ajkula66]

I worked for IBM United Kingdom Limited from 1st June 1967 until 6th May 1993.

You, my friend, retired at just about the right moment. In my opinion, that is.

Back in 2003 (I think, don't quote me on it) we were swamped by dozens of former IBM employees who came on the basis of some ancient agreement to spend their last couple of working years with us and become eligible for *our* company's pension.

These were mostly people well in their 60s who were never exposed to anything close to the lions that they were thrown in front of. I felt absolutely horrible for all of them. Talk about making someone's final years of employment outright miserable.

Grrr.

Oh I agree. And then some.

[RealBlackStuff]

I started working for IBM in Vancouver, Canada back in 1968.
They taught me the basics about punch cards, operating and finally programming in Assembler.
Stayed with them till December 1970 when I moved back to Europe.
There I learned about a half a dozen other programming languages, to be used on mainframes.
I worked as a mainframe programmer for companies with IBM machines for several years, until a "bug bit me" in 1978 and I became an independent contractor.
Been working on my own ever since, mostly for major (Swiss) banks and huge chemical companies like Hoffman-LaRoche.
In between I played around for a few years on Sperry/Unisys machines as well.
Let me tell you that as a contractor you can make a lot more money than as an employee!
I retired in 2001.
Would I work again for IBM? No way.
Do I like IBM Thinkpads? Not for daily use, a laptop cramps my style way too much.
Give me a desktop with a nice big screen, a nice big keyboard and a nice big mouse...

[Khipata]

"a fag packet"

What is that?

[ajkula66]

"a fag packet"

What is that?

Pack of cigarettes.

[Khipata]

Ah ok, thanks!

[ajkula66]

Ah ok, thanks!

Amazing are the changes that a language goes through during one's lifetime, aren't they?

[Khipata]

Sorry people, English is my third language

[axur-delmeria]

Sorry people, English is my third language

Don't worry about it.

In my case, I learned that "fag" is a slang word for cigarettes from British comedy: "The Understanding Barman" sketch from "A Bit of Fry and Laurie". I'm not even sure if it's in common use outside of UK.

[bit_twiddler]

Every company has a golden age. For some, it lasts about a week.
I'd look at the job being offered. Would you be paid to do something
that you absolutely love to do? If so, then take it.

[killer]

"a fag packet"

What is that?

The word "fag" for "cigarette" comes from an old English verb which means to droop. A cigarette droops from the corner of the mouth so it became known as a fag from the late 1880s. It is a well-known slang term in Britain, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. To ask if you can "bum a fag" from someone means, "please would you give me a cigarette."
All very confusing for foreigners, especially if one lives in the US where fag meaning a cigarette (which was at one time common) is now obsolete. It now has a very different slang meaning, I understand, which didn't originate until the 1920s.

I do hope I didn't offend anyone for using the word as it was intended. If I did then I am sorry, but it is my natural language as I was born here in the UK.

[Norway Pad]

I was taught British english in school, so for me the word fag for a cigarette makes totally sense, and "bum a fag" is pretty close to the norwegian term for the same thing. But I realized that in the US the word means something totally different.. Here in Norway the word fag means subject (School subject or occupational subject/branch), so my US wife was very amused to see the time schedules for school being full of 'fag', and me having a framed 'fag-certificate' (Apprenticeship certificate) on the wall. Languages can sometimes be very fun.

Would you be paid to do something
that you absolutely love to do? If so, then take it.

This is actually more important than you might think. I'm stuck in a job that pays me well, but I don't necessarily love. Anyway, if I take a 15% payment cut, I can move into something I *think* I might like better, but who knows. The grass might not be at all greener on the other side, and when you pass 40, you have lost a little bit of that freedom to move around in jobs like you once could. So my advice would be to be inventive and if necessary change your jobs often while you are younger. (Provided that you are in your 20s) Unless you flat out love one specific job, don't settle for just staying at one place. Before you know, you are tied up by mortgages, family and kids, and you have lost the freedom to hunt for the perfect job. If such a thing exists..

Enjoy your job hunt!

[ajkula66]

This is actually more important than you might think.

In all fairness, it's probably the single most important aspect of one's job. In my opinion, that is.

I'm stuck in a job that pays me well, but I don't necessarily love.

Same here.

Before you know, you are tied up by mortgages, family and kids, and you have lost the freedom to hunt for the perfect job.

Amen.