IBM Software Developer reviews

There is a lot of talk about work life balance but that's not really the culture. While there is often some recognition for hard work/insane hours it rarely pays off financially. Also raises and bonuses have dried up despite the company's good performance. In most departments, many positions get back filled to places like China and India. This makes people nervous. Most of the products are not exactly that interesting to work on... but there are some cool things happening.

If you have a good manager, it makes all the difference. A bad manager, and your life can be miserable. employee morale is usually low, at least in my area, because we don't feel our jobs are secure (due to globalization and layoffs) and people feel pressure to work overtime. Sometimes it seems that IBM consists of a bunch of little fiefdoms with little communication between them. Also, some way-up corporate layer makes "money-saving" decisions that often winds up lumping way too many projects under a first or second line manager, giving them little room to devote necessary resources or energy.