software engineer

consultant

senior consultant

project manager

managing consultant

I came to IBM as most people do, as an employee of another company who's role is outsourced to IBM as part of a contractual arrangement for IBM to provide services previously provided inhouse.  

Almost everything we were told about the way our jobs were going to be handled at IBM and how we would be treated at IBM was a lie or a gross exaggeration.  Despite promises of annual salary reviews, almost nobody received any pay increase, regardless of how well they performed in the appraisal process.  Every year there would be a different excuse as to why there had been no budget for raises.  The annual potential bonus is in the range of 0-12%, but it is almost impossible to attain any bonus greater than 6%, more often than not any bonus was in the 1-2% range, even for someone who received very good appraisals.  Salary grades each have their own salary ranges, which you may or may not be quoted prior to starting, but it is very important to be able to identify the midpoint of the salary range, because despite what the top end of the salary range may be, getting any pay rise or salary higher than the midpoint of the salary range is almost impossible, and it is company policy to stop employees earning more than the midpoint. 

Level 1 managers are constantly overworked and under the pump from their seniors.  More senior management make work changes (such as making key employees redundant) with alarming regularity and without any rhyme or reason, leaving the L1 managers to deal with the aftermath of filling those roles with existing staff who were already stretched very thinly. L1 managers are unable to provide support to their staff and more often than not technical managers are managing technologies which they have no prior experience with or knowledge of.  L1 managers are rarely in any role for any period of time in which they are able to make any real difference or improvements for their staff.  In 5 years at IBM I reported to 6 different managers, most of whom never actually had any idea what my role was or what it was that I did on a day to day basis, and were therefore unable to observe problems in the team or understand issues which I was bringing to them.  When they did attempt to resolve issues, they most often took the path of least resistance, being ignoring the best technical advice in favour of the solution which was simplest for them to achieve.  

Although they sell themselves as a service company, service is far from a high priority at IBM.  They strive to attain the lowest level of contractual compliance with customers at the lowest possible cost.  Staff are often assigned tasks which they lack the skill or training to perform.  

The company is run by accountants who constantly try to reduce expenditure (usually to the detriment of their employees, and the customers who their employees are struggling to service).  The rest of the company are box tickers.  Their project personnel will tick a box and move on to the next thing regardless of the level of completeness of the previous tasks.  As a result they are building systems which have passed the absolute minimum amount of pre-delivery testing, and handing those systems over to BAU teams who are then left to deal with many issues which are not picked up in the build phase.  

Most long term employees at IBM (especially those who came into the company via outsourcing arrangements) are queueing up for redundancies.  It is a very sad reflection on a company when the staff receiving redundancies are congratulated by their peers and wish good luck to the poor suckers who are left behind.  

I would never work for IBM again.  I would never recommend IBM as an employer to anyone.  IBM has no respect for or value of it's employees.  Employees are merely regarded as mere number on a page and treated as such with alarming regularity.  This is endemic within the whole organisation, from it's head office in Armonk NY to various client offices worldwide and it's own "employee factories" in India/Malaysia/Brasil.  As an employee reading reviews from other employees on websites such as GlassDoor and www.ibmemployee.com it is very apparent that the same culture permeates the entire organisation.  This is not just a few bad apples in the chain  it is an entire business culture, from the top down, in every IBM office worldwide. It is the American way of running businesses, where employees are a dispensable commodity and the share price and P/L report rule all decision making.

I like to get to work early, so I can get myself setup for the day. Most days will answer maybe 10 to 20 calls, varying from a Head office employee wanting his computer password reset or his outlook account opened or some other problem to do with his computer, to a store team member who has a problem with a register. Most of the time I am able to assist them to fix the problem during the call, but other time I will need to send the problem to a support team to fix.
During quiet times I am required to call the customer and find out if the support team has fixed their problem and if not would then call the support team to find out a time period when the job would be fixed, then call the customer back to let them know. I have learned how to fill out the online forms that are sent to support teams and how to use the many varied applications used to assist customers and fellow team members in their daily work. Management and co workers are always there to help and lend assistance in problems with my computer and any queries that I have not dealt with before or do not occur very often, also they are good fun to work with at work and out of work. I find the hardest part of the job is during busy times, trying to fill out the form when there are calls waiting. The whole job is enjoyable. We have like an internal facebook system which is called sametime, which we use to communicate with co workers in the office so we do not have to shout for assistance.

- a typical day at work
Remotely connecting to the many host systems I manage and examining logs, disk space, CPU, checking script logs for errors, checking DB2 logs for errors, http and WebSphere logs.
Checking e-mail and responding to technical queries and carrying out requests.

- what you learned
Database technology, web server technology, myriad flavours of UNIX/Linux and Windows operating systems, scripting.
Windows application development, SQL, Java

- management
Many managers promoted without leadership skills. Can be difficult to "find" the better manager who's equipped with a good EQ.  Overall an open door policy exists with management, notwithstanding.

- your co-workers
You meet some great people.  Due to the large number of employees, one can find like-minded individuals with which to share good ideas, humour, insight and good old whinging.

- the hardest part of the job
Managing stress and anxiety.  Coping with the challenge of communicating with people overseas for whom English is not their native language.

- the most enjoyable part of the job
The stimulation of using powerful hardware and operating system platforms, physical and virtual.

IBM espouses virtues such as:

diversity - I was personally denied parental leave
employee assistance - I was forced to withdraw a compensation claim for a nervous breakdown on the job
I was selected for redundancy based upon an accepted medical condition. The day after an executive called and became abusive
I was told that working the equivalent of 2 extra months a YEAR for several years was expected and nothing special.
Reporting an executive for threatening to jump on a plane to "sort out" an Indian colleague resulted in no action.

IBMA removed tea, coffee, milk, sugar, cups and gave us a coffee cup to make up for it.

There is no staff Christmas party

The Children's Christmas party in Sydney is ALWAYS at Luna Park. Last year they didn't give the kids anything.

HR removed:

- shift loading on long service leave
- shift loading paid on sick leave beyond 20 days a year (IBM provides up to 1 year off sick in 2)
- double time for extra hours worked replacing it with a flat rate
- if they do make up for anything they take aware it invariably puts you outside your pay band so you wont get a payrise again until the market as they view it catches up
- pay rises average 2% per year if that
- only sales people get awards. The rest of us have to work longer hours to keep the promises that they make.

I've had the pleasure to work with some highly intelligent people on 5 continents through my various roles at IBM and feel it has been great preparation for any other large organisations in future.

Projects tended to span business divisions, teams, and geography, often utilising resources (people) from other accounts to achieve outcomes. This means multiple levels of reporting and accountability for all the staff working on your projects - it adds several layers of complexity and keeps the job interesting.

One of the most process-driven organisations I have ever worked in, IBM puts process before it's other objectives, and often the most effective way to achieve a result is to go through the process change process in order to amend the current processes to accommodate the current circumstance and tailor the process to the project's requirements where this is an option.

The most enjoyable part of the job was the direct interaction with clients, occasionally on-site with clients overseas.  

The most difficult part of the job was dealing with arbitrary deadlines or losing resources (Staff working on projects running on schedule tend to be re-allocated to troubled projects).

What is the best part of working at the company?
IBM is largely underrated so the depth and strength of the technology opens up the possibility for great business. I found a great company culture with amazing people and enjoyed working for IBM.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Like most large organisations there is a big expectation to achieve solid results and your experience is likely to depend on your first line manager.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
I made the effort to be inclusive and welcoming and I formed great relationships. I think my proactive approach allowed me to make the most of a strong and healthy culture. I did see others slip through the cracks when they didn't make the effort to engage. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
At one point, I did travel a fair bit around Australia and New Zealand - this can take a toll if you don't manage it well. I felt like i had a good balance of working from home and time in the office. I also collaborated with many colleagues around the world which i found rewarding but the time zones can make it tricky at times.

Moving to IBM Ballarat a year ago was worth it. There's a good bunch of people working here and lots of opportunity for anyone who wants to make a difference. I like that I am able to just be myself when I come to work and I'm valued for it, it's great to be among people who respect and understand me. I've been fortunate to have supportive management who are helping me achieve my career goals, I've also asked for and been given opportunities to develop my leadership skills. IBM gives you access to so much learning via the intranet, it's astounding how much knowledge is there to be shared and the people you can reach out to for help are pretty supportive. There's also a lot of support from top management to grow the site, so lots of potential for future advancement.

Ballarat itself is a great place to live and work, being a regional location you've got the benefit of a more relaxed lifestyle and friendly country-town feel, yet the facilities of a city with a population of 100,000+. Plus it's not too far for a Melbourne day-trip! Pretty much anywhere you choose to live will only be a 20 minute commute at most (many of my co-workers live 5 minutes walk), and it's great for families as the council puts on all sorts of free activities during the year.

Only two types of days in office to update administration paperwork from the second type of day out on site at venue obtaining the correct data for the administration folder, we built testing venue to run a world championship to prove to the IOC that come games time it WOULD work then we upgraded the venue to allow for number growths from a world championship site to Olympic Venue, the numbers trippled therefore equipment and staff trippled.  The hardest part of the role was the hours needed to complete this task some weeks were 80-100 hours where we slept at our venues, the most enjoyable was seeing your venue complete its task and seeing competitors gaining gold medals.  Without Co-workers and the volunteers the Olympics would not run in any country the numbers of hands needed is immense.  I believe that most Managers learn't that you have to rely on other staff and personally I learn to trust others and in my ability to teach those to gain the level of competence needed for the venue to succeed.

A typical day was early in morning meeting builders and technical staff on site, over viewing the weeks work and signing off on any work completed, checking the project was running on time and that there were no sections in the red, meeting clients to check all numbers and items requested were correct, updating administration paperwork and making sure all technical staff knew their role and were working to their dead-lines, management were contacted if I could not achieve goals in allocated time of which a Project Management Group meeting was held once a week for this type of work.  I learn't that most projects are team work and that they need a single point of contact for all questions.  Hardest part of the role was when a client changed numbers then the knock on effect of all other departments changed, sometimes this could place a few days onto the end project date.  The most enjoyable part of the role was when a client moved into their new premises and was smiling and saying thank you.

A typical day at work comprises of fighting a great many fires many of which were caused due to IBM's over riding principle of cost cutting and staff reduction.

For a job to be sent to India a person in India only needs 20% of the skills. This means that staff remaining in Australia end up doing the work of Indians as well as their own.

Management takes no responsibility for their own poor planning. It's always the fault of the employee for not working hard enough. Additional staff can only be hired once someone has a nervous breakdown. Typically after a break down the staff member concerned is encouraged to leave because "you aren't cut out for this job".

It is expected to work 60+ hour weeks. Sometimes stretches as long as 24 hours without sleep or 4 days with very little.

Human resources views staff as "them" and will do absolutely nothing to assist staff in crisis. They should all hang their heads in shame.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
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