Many moons ago I passed on an opportunity to work for them because they wanted to choke me every day with a tie. That was the same period of time when they were actually something special.
They have a lot of patents. That can keep you going a long time.
Their one growth business is Watson apps. And they still have the mainframes. But really, IBM is a big outsourcing company. Other companies outsource whole systems with their employees. Then IBM will reduce headcount and send whatever it can to India.
Didn’t IBM have strict dress codes even on into the 1960s and 1970s? When a lot of high tech firms by the 1970s had casual dress codes, I heard that IBM apparently still required ties (as what you mentioned) and other rules pertaining to dress codes.
#7 I was at a gas station in downtown Minneapolis in the early 1980’s when I noticed a building across the street with many people coming out as it was noon. The guys all looked the same with white suit and tie. It was a IBM building.
I was hired at ATT in 1998 to a call center for their internet service provider business. You were required to wear a tie even though no one but your co-workers saw you.
I quit for 4 reasons on the 5th day.
1. No parking, you had to drive around and around the block to find a spot. After a year they allowed you to park in the lot....
2. Wearing a tie
3. During our training one of the people asked what the turn over is. A question I never heard of before. The answer was 10% a month!
4. I was hired at another job for $1.50/hr more : )
That job eventually turned into the one I got now and I am making nearly 3 times more money.
I do not wear a tie either!
Just casual clothes and on Friday I get to wear jeans!