[varun]

Hi!

I've got an on campus job offer with IBM Global Services India Pvt Ltd. as well as TCS. Although I have some idea aboout the latter , I really don't know much about the former as regards to job profile , what I'll be working on, CAT ka scene etc.

If someone has any idea about IBM Global services or knows somebody who does , I would be really grateful if you could tell me.

Thanx.

Ciao
Varun

[Psychodementia]

I don't know if he checks PG anymore, but good ol' Garfield a.k.a Praveen is in IGS. You can send him an IM. Incase he doesnt respond, IM me, I will give his email id.

Arun

[NJain]

Even Gurav kathotia a.k.a Gkathotia (of Gaurav section fame) worked in IBM for one year before making it to XLRI
IBM is better choice anyday as compared to TCS

[anonymous_user]

hi there varun!

i have also the same two offers in hand as yours and it seems i also don't know much abt IGSI...............lets see how this thread helps us


P.S : pm me we should get to know each other


suraj

[abhi123]

Hi
Go for Ibm.even experienced software engineers prefer Ibm over oth

[rohit777]

Well I have an offer in IBM Global Sevice and Cognizant Technologies so if any of you guys know anything about these two companies than plz do pour in with your views.

Thanking you in advance
Rohit

[Praveen]

Yeah Psychodementia is very much right...worked/working/will be working for IGSI for past 3.5 years!!

Seesh! Varun, Rohit777, Anonymous User - all fundoo making it to IBM! I should be raising my collar as I type now!!

Originally Posted by Psychodementia

I don't know if he checks PG anymore, but good ol' Garfield

I very well do! Just that the only thread I follow currently is "Who is Pagal Guy?"


Ok coming to the questions asked by Varun/Anonymous!

Originally Posted by varun

I really don't know much about the former as regards to job profile

Well see most of stuff we do here is application development/maintenance work. There are 2-3 departments that do product maintenance too (heard abt OS2? or Lotus Smart Suite (like MS Office) or WebSphere? they are maintained in India!) ....but highly likely that u will be put into application deve/maintenance!

Offices are in Bangalore (Main Hub), Pune and Gurgaon....Kolkata is newest but its PWC tunred into IBM

Technologies are C/C++/UNIX/JAVA (<-- big time) WebSphere etc etc. There are depts that work in Linux also. But not sure if they put freshers there.

Some of benefits are:
1. Very flexi timing...
2. They send u to freq tech trainings (external conduted by NIIT etc)
3. BRAND!
4. Depending on your lock you will surely endup in 1 or more onsite trips in first two years! But no long term trips...atleast thats how it is right now.
5. Pay wise slighlty above indus. avg...better than Infy /Wipro but lesser than small companies that pay big bucks to attract talent.
6. No ITPL/ATPL or E-CITY Offices are inside city ..so no early mornings and no busses!!

Only minus point i can think is the company has grown tooo BIG...when i joined there were hardly 5000 ppl...now we lost count! So sometimes you feel like lost in crowd but its same elsewhere too!

All said & done I have no idea abt TCS but for that they send folks to onsite 2-3 years at a strecch..so i cant give a comparison!

HTH,
Praveen

[Iceman]

Hi,

I think Praveen has covered pretty much everything there is to say about IBM, but here's my $0.02 anyways ...

I have no idea about TCS, so can't really do a comparitive analysis of the two...taking IBM independently, I would say it's a pretty good place to work in. In terms of job profile and area you would be working it, it's pretty much like any other services company. You can get great work, you can get lousy work, it all depends on the division and project you're in and the client you're working for. It's quite a crapshoot...theory abounds that there's this random number generator that decides where you end up working, but that's another story .

As for the CAT scene, I assume you're asking about the workload. Again depends on your project, how seriously you want to prep and how you manage your time. I would say that most people have a pretty balanced work load, and as Praveen mentioned, no long bus journeys, so more prep time.

Adding to Praveen's point about brand, I would say that this is the single biggest plus. IBM has pretty good brand while apping, both here as well as for US apps. I've already been asked in 4 of my interviews as to why I wanted to leave IBM. Little do they know ...

If you have any other questions, would be glad to be of help...

Regards,
Mansur

[anonymous_user]

hey thanks for all the help and it seems every time i am in trouble praveen helps me out ..............
another question that i want to know is that where is the training ............ i have heard that IGSI gives training in bangalore and then they place u at either of the 4 centeres............and is choosing of the centers in our hand

and yes one more question ...... is there any possibility of jump from IGSI to IBM india may be in the long run or something like that


suraj

[Praveen]

Iceman is purrfectly right in what he said.... Getting into projects is like ARRANGED MARRIAGE! Few are lucky & few aren't! But I must add with sheer size right now and demand for variety of skills chances bright are you might get into kind of work/skills you are looking for!

Originally Posted by anonymous_user

it seems every time i am in trouble praveen helps me out ..............

ROFL!! Nothing like that pal! Its time to repeat the cliche "We are all part of a beautiful community..so lets help each other"

Originally Posted by anonymous_user

another question that i want to know is that where is the training ............ i have heard that IGSI gives training in bangalore and then they place u at either of the 4 centeres............and is choosing of the centers in our hand

This is where that question "Do you have any locational preferences?" could play some role. Typically all new entrants go through a 2-3 months training (on diff tech skills) and these happen in batches. They first fill batches in B'lore (since need for ppl is more here than elsewhere) and then Pune. Now they try to accomodate you locational preferences as much as possible but if say b'lore quota is over then might put you in Pune. When I joined I said no location prefs and they put me in Pune while my friends went to B'lore!

After training you get to work mostly in the same branch where you were trained. But there is no hard and fast rule. You can try for transfer and get moved to B'lore/Pune or Gurgaon depending on vacancies there.

Originally Posted by anonymous_user

and yes one more question ...... is there any possibility of jump from IGSI to IBM india may be in the long run or something like that

Well IGSI is fully a software services company whereas IBM India is the arm that sells Think Pads, Servers, PCs and stuff. So 85-90% of people there are Sales/Mktg guys. I have heard ppl say such a shift is possible over long run but havent come across any guy (though legend has it that few guys have done that! )...Honestly I feel an easier way out is join some premier insti, splize in Sales/Mktg and join IBM India thru campus recruitment!! Well dont feel sad abt this...many who joined stick to services so not much info abt ppl shifting streams..perhaps once you join it might be easier than I think abt it!

regards,
Praveen
PS: Iceman ...are you in IGSI as well? PM me you mail ID. Would be nice to know a forum member in the company!