Q&A With IBM Employees

It's extremely difficult to answer this question as there is no "product team" at IBM. Product management responsibility lies across many different teams in every business unit and each group has their own approach and technique.

Intelligent, motivated, and passionate, however needs to prioritize and focus when it comes to defining goals. Lots of room for improvement when it comes to communication as well.

Average. Lots of passing the buck up to higher levels of leadership, very process oriented, not very agile. Very top down product feature decisions.

No

yes

You are aware this is a question about the marketing department, right ?

great, very welcoming

2 weeks

Ridiculously hard. Unless you are in the "favorites" group of a selected few, then it is challenging.

Beats being unemployed.

Full Benefits, vision, dental, health and life.

I've never been to one.

They rarely happen, and when they do, employees are treated like 10-year-olds.

Regularly. (just don't expect much in the way of a raise)

RARE. RARE, so very rare. Quit and come back a few years later if you want to get anywhere.

Actually treat their employees as assets as stated, instead of disposable.

Return to work/life values.

Depends on what business unit you are at. My impression is that the management is not empowered to grow their teams, and at the director-level, they're not empowered to maintain the design culture going. The IBM Design transformation is slowing down for sure.

Very solid and committed to pushing the practice in a massive organization like IBM. However, as a whole the company lacks enough qualified mid-to-senior design leaders that can help Guide and lead complex product offerings.

People are talented and hard-working. That being said, there's a career growth bottleneck. To lead teams of less-experienced designers, the team has brought in external hires. But there's little movement at that level, so people stay a few years and then leave. There's no motivation to stay and wait until one of those spots opens up–it could be 5-10 years until the opportunity happens, and why compete with so many colleagues if you can find a growth opportunity somewhere else fairly easily?

Design at IBM is made up of top industry hires and the best university hires. We are made up mostly of embedded product teams focused on different aspects of the business. There is also a central studio that focuses on hiring, design thinking, and education. It’s a tech and engineering focused environment for most teams, however there are teams that work directly with external client engagements.

no

Business casual

they don't offer anything for relocation, but you can usually land a signing bonus of about $1500.

I don't know I don't contribute, but it does happen quite often.

5+ weeks (took me 8)

Typically they give you 3 months notice to either find another job, or get another team without the design org to agree to hire you. Usually you have to source this yourself, and might approach another platform and ask if they need designers, and get them to open headcount. It’s essentially a paid period of time for you to continue to come to work with the understanding that you will be simultaneously or primarily looking for a new job

In my organization, you are notified via phone call from your 1st or 2nd line manager and also receive a confirming email. The email lays out your termination date and the time you have until your termination date, usually 3 months, but I have heard also 2 or 1 month in other organizations that experienced layoffs. The email also provide information on a severance package. During that 90 days, in my org., you are given support to take some time away from work to search for another job. You may also be required to train your replacement, if, for example, the job function is moved overseas.

Product teams are typically stretched thin and overworked.

Overworked/stretched thin.

Depends on your experience level, assigned band, and business unit/team in IBM. Can range from $75K to $115K for someone with 1-5 years experience.

You get a great starting salary, but you may not receive a significant raise for several years. Market adjustments and cost of living adjustments do not happen every year, so you may technically be making less money. There are traditionally no bonuses.

The vibe varies based on the age range of the people on your team and the subject matter of your projects. Some teams are very young and immature; other teams are competitive and work long hours.

Experts and easy to work with.

Excellent.