My fondest, warmest, happiest memories of IBM are THE PEOPLE. I knew 100's of people and worked closely with dozens over the course of 30yrs. I woke up several times a year for 25 of my 30yrs thinking "I can't believe they pay me for doing this...". There used to be a consistent, warm, professional, family culture at IBM. I had 5 careers at IBM for which at most other companies I would have had to leave and go to work for other companies to reinvent myself in a different role and org. But, at IBM I was able to do new things in different ways in different roles with different technologies across business and IT and be happy, for 25 of my 30yrs. THE PEOPLE. That is is at the core of my fondest memories, and the cuture that used to exist. I left on my own terms, on my own timetable. Forced myself to leave when I saw it IMPLODING and a non-sustainable company that had LOST IT'S SOUL and DESTROYED IT'S CULTURE. I am grateful for my network of 100's of IBMers/Ex-IBMers I built while I was at IBM. The People, that's the key. The house doesn't make the family and the company doesn't make the network... it just has the potential to catalyze it. IBM broke my heart and almost destroyed my soul, I still have PTSD from it, but I am grateful for what I got out of it.
17 replies (most recent on top)
The quarter I received a $450k commission check.
Like so many have posted ... the day I left was the best. Certainly the departure significantly improved my heath and increased quality time with the family. This company is a perfect, ongoing case study for University students of what not to do in business; especially in high tech.
"Attached to this email is a spreadsheet showing a calendar of the next 8 weeks. There is one row for each member of the team. Please put your initials in the spreadsheet to indicate which of the next 8 weekends you will be coming to work. For band 8 and above no overtime payment will be available."
The day I left, I was so happy :-)
Meeting Thomas Watson, Jr. at a luncheon meeting held on the top floor of John Hancock tower in downtown Chicago. I believe this was in the very late 1980's or early 1990's. Tom Jr. seemed like a pretty chill guy and certainly didn't have the same "rah rah" motivation that his father had fostered. Largely he drew on his role as ambassador to Russia to outline the importance of world trade (the "I" in IBM) in keeping humanity from World War III.
Today he'd be derided as a "globalist" but it was a privilege to hear his take on things.
About the company? Not much, the last two years have wiped a lot of that into distant memory. About the people? Tons. Amazing that so many good people still work there. Get out!
Baseball teams don't improve until attendance drops. Companies don't improve until revenue and profit drop. Oh wait.....
I have many great memories from early in my career. That is why I am so disgusted by IBM's current state.
I was sent on a 22 month long project in Tokyo and Hong Kong, all expenses paid. Loved every day of it... retired in 2017... good luck
Oh, final day for sure.
The day Watson won jeopardy - they had the whole lab in the auditorium for the live broadcast for all three nights.
At that point, IBM was in a recognizable downslide and this was the only thing that I had seen from IBM that was ahead of everyone else vs. playing desperate catch-up. It felt at the time like this Watson thing might reverse that. But then the tragic mismanagement and mismarketing began. Oh well.
There were some good ideas in Watson and those will survive - probably not at IBM but somewhere else.
PS What is Toronto?
I hate to say it but my favorite memory at IBM was my final day as a Big Blue employee because a huge load was lifted from my shoulders. Morale was abysmal and the job was so stressful that I was grateful to leave a toxic work environment. Don't drink the Kool-Aid about IBM; it is a poorly managed company.
There are two. The day I hired on. I was proud to be an IBM’er. Then the day I made a 10 million dollar sale for my new employer against IBM because IBM said my current skills were obsolete. Your loss IBM, and Googles win.
The time I was sent to Holland with my family for a year. The project was a bust, but they had a 35 hour work week, and it was like a paid vacation at IBM's expense.
@xwm, Ginni never referred to older workers as "empty calories". She used that phrase to refer to revenue from business units that produced a revenue without any profit.
When Ginni referred to older workers as "empty calories".. at that point IBM was going to slide slowly into irrelevancy.
The day the walked me out the research center where I spent toiling 19 years