IBM Emailed Me.

"BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather" (bugeyedacura)
05/16/2014 at 15:02 • Filed to: None

It was basically a pre-interview questionnaire to see if they'd want to interview me for a tech position. Can I get an "Of Happenings"?

DISCUSSION (32)

Coty > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
05/16/2014 at 15:03

Kinja'd!!!

I WIN

Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
05/16/2014 at 15:04

Kinja'd!!!

WOOOOOOO!

Reigntastic > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
05/16/2014 at 15:05

Could be a huge step up, but just FYI my dad, uncle, and grandfather have all warned me to avoid big blue, and they all work or have worked for IBM. I've heard their IT division has it really rough and has to deal with outsourcing often.

That being said, I wouldn't let that prevent you from getting a nice job there, just keep it in mind if you are wanting something long term. I hear they're underpaid (relative to average) and overworked.

Brian Silvestro > Coty
05/16/2014 at 15:05

FUCK

promoted by the color red > Reigntastic
05/16/2014 at 15:11

My mechanical design professor had some great stories about his time at IBM. One of them had IBM hiring some fancy-pants academic type to "shake things up" by reorganizing things in some utterly moronic way. It took great restraint to avoid shouting "YOU MEAN WE PAY YOU TO DO THAT ?"

Reigntastic > promoted by the color red
05/16/2014 at 15:12

Yeah, that's old IBM though. Last decade has been totally different.

My grandpa got a Rolex for 25 years at IBM, my Dad got a TV.

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > Brian Silvestro
05/16/2014 at 15:12

Next time buddy. Next time.

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > Reigntastic
05/16/2014 at 15:13

This is from a cloud division, which is exploding in the market right now. So I'm hoping this is a good opportunity. And I'm looking more for experience than short term money right now.

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > Reigntastic
05/16/2014 at 15:14

I assume Big Blue is also the big D? And if it is, trust me, they're screwing me to the wall every way to Sunday.

Reigntastic > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
05/16/2014 at 15:15

The experience is definitely the best thing you can get out of any opportunity like this. Definitely a better division to be in, as long as it's something new or making money you're in the clear.

zeontestpilot > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
05/16/2014 at 15:16

I need to ask, where state / country do you live in? I work for IBM currently.

Reigntastic > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
05/16/2014 at 15:16

Ah, just an internal nickname for IBM that I picked up from other IBMers. Think Dr. Manhattan.

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > zeontestpilot
05/16/2014 at 15:21

I live in Northern Virginia. So there's a couple of locations around me.

jariten1781 > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
05/16/2014 at 15:29

When I worked for DEC we were praying we'd get bought by IBM...but Compaq won the day. Compaq turned out to be a pretty good company but then we 'merged' with HP. HP was awful so I quit the whole industry. IBM seems to still be kicking though, good luck.

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > jariten1781
05/16/2014 at 15:35

This is actually a smaller company that happens to belong to IBM I think, the same as mine used to be. But it sounds like a much better and stable position.

zeontestpilot > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
05/16/2014 at 15:42

Ah, I'm in MI, working at the GDC. I saw that its for a position for Cloud? That's all they tend to talk about now. Most of my email is full of Cloud-related materials.

Anyways, its like Reigntastic says, it isn't easy. (I'm choosing my words carefully here) when I was brought on board on Oct. '13, we were told not to expect too many raises, and that a lot of people quit after some time. My last project was 44 hrs a week, but I'm on the bench (waiting to be on a project), so my hrs are 40 a week. Understand though, it isn't a walk in the park. You'll get in trouble if you go in with that mindset.

Garrett Davis > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
05/16/2014 at 15:42

Awesome! Good luck, man! We just need a few more HTS writers in big tech companies, and we can dominate the tech world with our automotive irreverence! Let us know how it works out.

What would the position be?

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > zeontestpilot
05/16/2014 at 15:54

I have no problem working hard. I love working hard and getting things done. My biggest thing is that I don't like the sales position I'm in now. It's not about me not wanting to do my job. Just the ethical quandaries.

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > Garrett Davis
05/16/2014 at 15:56

It's for an entry level service tech at one of their company's DCs.

We can do it!

Garrett Davis > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
05/16/2014 at 15:59

IT stuff?

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > Garrett Davis
05/16/2014 at 16:04

Yeah, server work apparently. Racks, cables, software, hardware. The whole shebang. Entry level, of course haha.

Garrett Davis > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
05/16/2014 at 16:17

Cool, hopefully they have a good system in place, because that stuff can be a nightmare if not properly setup and maintained. I worked for a restaurant company doing IT, and their servers were an absolute disaster. It took a good year and a half to correct all the shoddy routing and half assed software in colos and central kitchens across the country. Then again, our whole department was only 7-8 people, including the VIP, so make of that what you will.

Let us know how it works out!

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > Garrett Davis
05/16/2014 at 16:21

Thanks buddy! I definitely will. How do you feel about how your article came out now that it's up and out?

zeontestpilot > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
05/16/2014 at 16:28

Then you can totally be an IBMer if you don't mind working hard, just don't expect crazy pay. I've seen new people in the field get paid either $40k or $60k a year. I'm.....the lesser of the two, which bites; but I'm able to put food on the table for my wife and (1 yr old) kid, so I can't complain too much.

If you enjoy tech stuff, you'll like IBM. Its a name you can trust. Or any company that has made a name for itself in the tech world.

Let me tell you a true story. I had a chance to go with another company (pre-IBM) to do pretty much the same that I"m currently doing. It was a 2 month training session, which was free, but out-of-state. I thought it was my big break, finally something other than working Deli! My daughter was just a month old, so I figured it'll be ok if I left when she couldn't remember that I was gone. A month into the training, I discovered that the company wanted me to lie on my resume, and lie to the client about my years of experience. I kept with the program until they let me go at the very end of the training. Out of the 6 guys left, I was the only one who wouldn't lie and refused to. Which sort of upsets me because I missed 2 months of my daughter's life. I spent 5 months looking for another job, which finally ended up being IBM.

Moral of this story, don't go with a company you don't recognize, or know personally. Like I said before, if you like tech stuff, go with IBM. If anything, in a couple of years it'll look good on a resume.

Garrett Davis > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
05/16/2014 at 16:32

Everything looks good! It will be interesting to see where we can take this. Have you thought anymore about sprucing up the site? Any ideas? I think we'll be fine as far as content goes for a while with us new writers, so I feel like driving traffic to the site is going to be the biggest hurdle.

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > Garrett Davis
05/16/2014 at 16:39

I'm networking out to a buddy of mine to see about changing the view/format (he's a professional webmaster/designer). And I've also got one of the guest writers who is in marketing working on some ways to get additional views and to better drive people to the site.

For right now, the biggest way to get the word out is word of mouth. Put it on every social network you belong to, tell everybody you know that you've started writing. Whatever gets people interested. Let's pound the pavement.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
05/16/2014 at 16:39

Just like they do to their consulting customers.

Source: I am an IBM Global Partner and have worked with IBM Global Services before.

Garrett Davis > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
05/16/2014 at 16:41

Agreed. I'll have some stuff ready to go for you coming next week. I think cross posts to Oppo will help get the name out, but then we give them little incentive to do anything but read it from Oppo, and not the blog itself. It's a bit of a catch 22.

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > Garrett Davis
05/16/2014 at 16:49

When I used to post just the URL, people would complain that I was click bating. Then I started to post the whole thing, and magically my numbers dropped off hard. I think from now on, let's just make sure we have a strong opening paragraph that has a clear lead in to the rest of the article. That should work. Typical writing/posting stuff.

Garrett Davis > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
05/16/2014 at 17:30

I know that personally I get turned off by that as well, we'll have to play around with it and see how it works out.

Conan > BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather
05/16/2014 at 19:50

When my girlfriend switched from Computer Science to Economics all that changed to them was where they'd be directing her to after she graduated. One heck of a company. Good luck.

BugEyedBimmer - back in the Saddle Dakota Leather > Conan
05/16/2014 at 21:09

Thanks man. I appreciate it.