But by now I know the systems, I know the people, and leaving feels like starting over. So I stay. It's stupid but it's honest. I think there are many stuck at IBM with a similar mindset.
47 replies (most recent on top)
@aw wow, 70 hours. Some day you'll wish you could have those 70 hours back. You can do what I did today: called in sick with the stomach flu. I call it my Sick40 plan and I've already completed 24 hours. I may need to overachieve like you. LOL
Bob says learn to code.
So much negativity here. I have been with IBM for almost a year and Things are going great. I am well on my way to a band 7 and already have over 70 hours of required think 40 learning.
Also I am learning more skills and plan on leading a project for the Watson X Challenge. All I see here, is negativity towards Arvind and his executive team.
@a4 those who stay that long really have no choice but to stay or they can downgrade elsewhere and start over
@a2 is 1,000,000% correct. I left after 19 yrs. It was kind of easy as Gerstner torpedoed us and literally stole our pensions. In many cases you either had your original pension plan cut by 50% or were moved to the cash balance plan. At the time we were IBMers and very loyal and just kind of rolled with it. Had we gone out on a strike for a day or a week or a month or a year he would have slithered away being the snake he was but we did not. That is the biggest mistake I made in my 44 years in tech. IBM skills ARE NOT valued oustide IBM so the longer you wait the worse it gets for you. If you have time to get some momentum to leave I suggest reading DROWNPROOF a very good new book by a 17 year Navy SEAL. It is a collection of life stories and advice and I know you would find motivation in it. Good luck.
Six years is way too long, but you still have time to escape.
The ones in real trouble are those who stayed 10 years, 15 years or even longer. They become set in their "IBM ways", and become much more problematic for other companies to hire.
Blue-brainwashed. It’s hard to move on at first, but once you break out of the psychological conditioning, things get a lot better. Better pay, better work-life balance — all of it is out there waiting for you. And once you get some distance, you start to realize IBM is kind of a joke. We like smell of our own farts.