Thread regarding IBM layoffs

@pg :

I understand your dilemma - why not join the group that has been put on PIP because of low utilization? Rather than competing with each other for positions that would never close, work in collaboration, and use your one month bench time to hack Watson so that every time a person is placed on PIP, US Labor Dept. is notified.

@pb

Who's list will I be on?

A bunch of bitter fired Ex IBMers or current IBMers who brag that thery write novels and day trade?

@OP I sincerely hope you win. Because if you're who you say you are (which I doubt) and you win, it'll be easy to figure out who you are. And then you'll be put on a universal sh-t-list. Another way of saying this is: if you're who you say you are (which I doubt), you have sh-t for brains.

@jf
The Challenge is a great way to upskill and collaborate

The WatsonX Challenge is for IBMers who have too much free time. Those of us that actually work don't have time to muck around with something our customers refuse to use. It's pointless. Anyone who says otherwise hasn't been around here long enough to figure out how this place really operates.

@eb You wrote "Nobody is forcing anyone to participate." thats a lie. Many people are forced to participate.

The rest of what you wrote was just the Blue Kool-Aid clouding your judgement .

@gw

How can you prove that? CEOs are not on RobinHood all day

@ea why can't you say that Arvind is working tirelessly to make IBM Competitive by Day Trading ? It is what he does every working day of the week.

Just look at the IBM Yearly Report for 2025 for more details.

@gh LOL

@OP - I beg to differ as one of the things I've always enjoyed about IBM is that it gives people the chance to create real-world problems with emerging technologies.

I've yet to encounter a single client that has deployed Watson X to production. Not one that merely owns it through an ELA or has built a POC on their laptop, but actually has it in prod where it's being used by employees/customers. NOT A SINGLE ONE.

Do you think a forum called 'the layoff' is the right place to post this absurd corportae a--licking?

@cd Hey bro, good luck with your little BASIC program for incentive payments.

If IBM executive
"The Krabanaugh Special" (cheeseburger, fries, super-size shake, and $2 million)

Else if new graduate hire
"AI Prompt Expert" honorary badge and paper certificate worthy of framing

Else
"No soup for you!" (no need for incentive payment as PIP or RA is forthcoming)

@ea Arvind does day trading to make sure IBM stock is competitive for his oversized bonus. HE hopes that he doesn't reach the stage where he is stealing those comfortable chairs from the IBM meeting rooms in Armonk only to get caught by IBM Security as he wheels them out.

@eb

The Watson X challenge is just delightful! I think you should automate PowerPoint presentations. Take any idea, good or bad, and automatically create a PowerPoint that oversells the idea, claims IBM is leap years ahead of the competition, and promises to revolutionize the tech industry and change the world within five years. Imagine the savings! IBM could fire (PIP, RA, force to RTO) all those pesky engineers in one wave. You'd likely be promoted to executive instantly. At the very least Arvil and the rest of the execs would start doing to you what you've been doing to them. Just imagine!

@dp

Nobody is forcing anyone to participate. If you think it's a waste of time, don't join. But calling it "free consulting" ignores the value participants get from learning new AI skills, collaborating with teammates, and building solutions that could actually make work easier. Innovation challenges have been part of the tech industry for decades because they encourage experimentation and give employees a chance to showcase ideas they might not otherwise have the opportunity to pursue.

If your only takeaway is cynicism, that's your choice. I'd rather spend my time building something useful than assuming every initiative has a hidden agenda. Sometimes a challenge is simply an opportunity to learn, innovate, and have a little fun with new technology.

@dv

Arvind is working tirelessly to make IBM Competitive

@dd Why are you continuously referring to writing a novel or trading ?
What does the Indian at top do all day ? He is day trading ...

@a4 Dude stop lying and trying to troll people here. Nobody is that stoooo-pid or naive that they would willingly give IBM weekends of their time.

The @OP is doing shots of the blue Kool-Aid.

The WatsonX challenge is the biggest waste of time - placed right in the middle of summer when people are trying to get away from this shthole and take vacations.

Here is the true purpose of WatsonX - free use case idea generation courtesy of IBM slaves.

@OP, add me to your team... and I will make sure you never win! lol!

@OP Do you have a personal relationship with AI?

@cm it is obvious that @cj has a growth mindset in that he's looking at better long term opportunities even if they take him away from IBM. Who can blame him for thinking out of the box ?

You, on the other hand are only looking at pathetic near term projects like brown nosing with the likes of Joanne Wrong and Krabanaugh who have no future unless you consider stealing from the government finds to be an opportunity of the future. Grow a pair like Bill Gates.

@cj

It's telling that your first thought about AI isn't "How can it help me do my job better?" but "How can it help me look like I'm working?" That says more about your mindset than it does about watsonx. I'll stick to building tools that actually help colleagues be more productive.

Hey buddy! Can I use Watson X to automate more "looks like I'm doing IBM work" screens on my work laptop, in case IBM HR bots like yourself take screen shots while I'm writing my novel on my personal laptop? Let's collaborate! Please post your contact info!

Oh, that troll again. It's here to stay, it's so fake that I truly believe it's someone from RH/ internal comms.

@c9

Calling enterprise incentive payments "just a BASIC program" is a good way to advertise you've never worked on one. Calculating incentive compensation at a global company involves thousands of sales plans, exceptions, territory changes, quota adjustments, multiple currencies, tax rules, approvals, audits, and regulatory requirements. It's one of the most complex financial systems a company operates.

AI isn't replacing the payment engine it's being used to improve efficiency, identify anomalies, reduce manual work, and help employees navigate complex processes. That's a lot different from writing a few lines of code in BASIC.

It's easy to dismiss work you don't understand. Building and maintaining enterprise-scale systems is considerably harder than making sarcastic comments about them.

@c5 make sure your send copies of you email to Joanne Wrong and Krabanaugh too. And don't forget that loss leader of IBM Marketing, Jon Adashek. They need to be aware about how powerful Client Zero is really for customer satisfaction, notification and updates.

After all, you saw the news here first on this IBM layoff board.

@c8 "Our team is automating incentive payments"

Wow, so all of our fat ugly execs can get even more bonuses! Yay!

(You need AI to automate incentive payments? Sounds like a fu--ing BASIC program.)

@ap

I will check with my first line to see if we can cross collaborate. Our team is automating incentive payments and creating a realtime dashboard to track progress. Additionally, we are streamlining one of our chat bots to make it even more efficient.

@by

Every idea you listed assumes AI exists only to make employees miserable. That's a pretty bleak way to look at technology. AI can also eliminate repetitive work, improve customer support, accelerate software development, enhance cybersecurity, and help employees be more productive.

@OP:

My team is building an ICA Agent that would integrate with the sales lead generation system at IBM - Every question that AskHR is unable to answer will be emailed to the potential client zero customer with the subject line: How IBM has saved $ 4.5 Billion using AI .

Additionally, a summary of all the comments on this layoff board would be sent as attachment, as this board has become the go to place for big announcements from IBM.

Anyone else participating?

no, they were all put on performance improvement plan are not around to participate any more.

@a6, since you suggest building something worthwhile for your colleagues, how about :

1. Automated layoff notices after AI picks randomly winners from a list of employees in every department at IBM ?

2. AI nominates you for a PIP instead of a layoff to save IBM beacoup bucks ?

3. AI randomly decides that you only get 2 weeks severance after working there for 30 years.

4. Your taxes do not get deducted from your paycheck, so you have to explain this to the IRS and the State people. Bonus challenge - your taxes get deducted for a different state and a notice goes out that you have relocated, even though you haven't.

5. AI takes over Arvind's and Krabanaugh's jobs and saves the company compensation money and bonuses.

Is this a joke? People are about to get laid off

@a6 This is a layoff site. No one cares about your technical challenges.
Are you doing the bathroom queuing simulation in your WatsonX challenge ?
IBM previously filed that patent (related to the bathroom queuing) and received it.
I doubt that you are intellectually savvy to perform any technical task.

@a6 Are you so thick you don't get how inappropriate your posts are here? Would you go to a cancer support group and brag about how many pushups you can do?

Why don't you come clean and tell us how much IBM is paying you to be a shill?

@a5

There's nothing wrong with people expressing grievances. My post wasn't about layoffs or executive compensation it was about a technical challenge I volunteered to lead and the work my team has put into it over the past few weekends. Those are two different topics. People can be disappointed with company decisions and still take pride in building something worthwhile with their colleagues.

@a4 Interesting. You posted about your enthusiasm for IBM (which is run by crooks) on a layoff site where people air concerns and grievances, and then you pondered how someone could post a grievance after reading your lovely post. What's wrong with this picture?

@a3

Interesting. I posted about spending weekends leading a team on an AI project, and your response is executive pay. Some of us enjoy building things instead of turning every conversation into the same grievance.