Re: IBM Consulting info
Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2011 14:45:13 -0300
Message-ID: <BANLkTi=AZPGp0hZn3dTOexFWxL7DWg3ymg_at_mail.gmail.com>
I've worked for IBM global delivery services and, as everything in life, it depends on the manager you get. I've had a pretty good stay (except for my salary, which didn't get updated in two years... I live in a country with a 30-40% inflation rate per year, so this is essentially cutting my salary. Also, they charge in U$D to their customers and they pay is in local currency, so they make a difference when the U$D goes up or down and when the local currency goes down with respect to U$D)
Now, I've worked as part of a similar project (taking over the dba work from local DBAs), this was outsourced to Argentina, and English was a requirement upheld until HR had trouble finding qualified candidates who were willing to work for what they offered, then being able to actually communicate with the customer was not all that important. It is a very annoying job trying to understand how everyone does their job when you are about to take it away from them... they are not exactly cooperative.
Don't get me wrong, outsourcing is my livelihood, but I don't think it should be done *just* to cut down costs, it should be done as a way to leverage different timezones, and to get access to skills you normally wouldn't... there are some damn good DBA out there... not all of us live in San Francisco.
The problem with outsourcing as a way to reduce costs is that you get (with some exceptions) less of something.
I don't know how IBM India works, perhaps they are more organized, but in here we were severely understaffed (about 200 dbs per DBA) and the average skill was very low. So, the customer got mostly slow and crappy service unless they complained. If the customer complained then they would assign one of the "Senior" DBA to the task. (funny enough, not all the "Senior" DBA had more experience than the rest... they were just a bit better with customer relations and had google as their home page). So, with that many databases and that low level of skill, nobody knew anything about any database. Yes, I'm sure it was cheaper for the customer, and I don't think we ever lost any data, but availability was not the best...
Also, if you are used to doing things quick, it won't happen in IBM. They have a lot of compliance procedures and it makes making the smallest change in a customer's environment a very difficult and tedious process (and mostly inefficient).
On the other hand, it's a great place to either start a career as a DBA (they have some training programs that are very good) or to retire, just make sure you negotiate a good retirement package :-P
And you will meet a lot of people, it's a good place to make contacts, and I personally got a few good friends out of IBM.
One of the downsides of working for an outsourced service is that your scope is somewhat limited. You will have a task matrix and you'll have to stick to it, so on-the-job learning opportunities have a very low cap.
I hope you find my personal experience helpful and by no means take it as anything other than that, my personal experience.
Cheers
Alan.-
On Mon, Jun 13, 2011 at 1:15 PM, Guenadi Jilevski <gjilevski_at_gmail.com>wrote:
> Hi,
>
> What I expect is IBM to buy the perm staff ( convert to to IBM employee)
> from old company and to extend contractors. Only few key positions will be
> original IBM on the spot under IBM umbrella and off-shore support can be on
> need basis. Probably opportunities to ask questions. Perot, IBM have done
> this before.
>
> Regards,
>
> Guenadi jilevski
>
> On Mon, Jun 13, 2011 at 6:41 PM, David Ramírez Reyes <dramirezr_at_gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Companies like Bank of America now should be named Bank of India...
>>
>> David Ramírez Reyes
>> Profesión: Padre de Familia
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 13 June 2011 10:40, David Ramírez Reyes <dramirezr_at_gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> That is the core of most of this Indian outsourcing companies, they hire
>>> you with a very low salary just by giving the "opportunity" of get an
>>> American visa (for non american citizens); companies like Infosys, Accenture
>>> or ACS (between others) are making this activities their "way of living'.
>>>
>>> About 5 years ago, we were 5 DBA's in the company and I was the only one
>>> ourside US, now I am the nearest, 2 are in India y 2 more in China (earning
>>> less than the half of my salary, and I learn the half of the salary of my
>>> ex- coworkers!)
>>>
>>> Welcome to real life...
>>>
>>> David Ramírez Reyes
>>> Oracle Global DBA
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 13 June 2011 10:28, Andrew Kerber <andrew.kerber_at_gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I talked with them at one point, they were establishing a support site
>>>> in Iowa. However, the salary was ludicrously inadequate. About half of my
>>>> current salary. Of course, that was probably when they were building the
>>>> justification for bringing in lower paid DBAs on H1(b) visas.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, Jun 13, 2011 at 10:13 AM, Dennis Williams <
>>>> oracledba.williams_at_gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> List,
>>>>>
>>>>> A friend works at a U.S. company where the DBA services are being
>>>>> outsourced to IBM. I believe this is IBM India. He has been invited to
>>>>> interview with them for a job. He resides here in the U.S. I'm trying to
>>>>> gather some information for him about how this all works. If anyone has
>>>>> worked for or with IBM consulting, please help me out. Private replies are
>>>>> fine.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thank you,
>>>>> Dennis
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Andrew W. Kerber
>>>>
>>>> 'If at first you dont succeed, dont take up skydiving.'
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
-- http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-lReceived on Mon Jun 13 2011 - 12:45:13 CDT