I got tired of waiting for IBM to lay me off due to my age, so I decided to leave on my own. I am 55 and I managed to find a new job relatively quickly. Pay is slightly lower, but benefits are better and from what I can see, work environment is ten times better.
My point is - it's not as bad out there as some would like us to think. If nothing else, update your resume and send out a few feelers. It can't hurt and it can end up changing your life.
I retired early last year at 56 and life is so much better. The constant stress, politics, long commute etc. have largely disappeared. Leave when you can...there is a good life after IBM.
Left 5 years ago and got over 20 % jump in pay. So much for company loyalty. Corporations don't care any more about employees, only executives, stockholders, and the bottom , so screw them all and just go for the money.
I was 58 and did the same. Best decision I ever made. I am now over 60 and gainfully employed. I would not working now if I had stayed with IBM.
I had to break some habits that were becoming all too common inside IBM:
*You don't need to defeat your own people to get access to diminishing resources.
*Misleading customers is not necessary.
*Upper management is not the enemy.
Thanks for sharing your personal stories. Very much appreciated and inspirational to hear about your initiative and experience to move on from IBM. I’m in the similar situation and plan to exit ASAP.
JWI. Welcome to the club. When I left, I thought it would be gloom and doom. Exactly the opposite was true. I work for a company who appreciates my experience, pays fairly, has great benefits, and doesn’t make me work on the weekends on spreadsheets and forecasts that are forgotten by the ineffective management team by mid-Monday afternoon. Ahhh IBM why you can’t see that management is draining you dry is beyond me.
I did exactly that last year at 54.. so much happier, stress free and enjoying work. Good for you :-)