5 ms·

IBM is an embarrassing company. They are not culling based on age, they are culling based on severe lack of skills and dated values. IBM is saturated with tech

IBM is an embarrassing company. They are not culling based on age, they are culling based on severe lack of skills and dated values. IBM is saturated with tech people who threw in their technical chops 20 years ago to become a salesperson. Everything they do, from their blockchain efforts to Watson, is so embarrassingly driven by oldschool sales/marketing people that they can't be taken seriously by technical decision makers at their customer companies. They no longer have the ability to lead their customers in technical decisions.

fishbone 9y ago
Does anyone else think that the IBM commercial where they talk about tracking a tomato with a blockchain is laughable? Or is it just me?
- ScottAS 9y ago
  It's complete crap. The saddest part is that they do have some amazing technical minds behind the scenes. They give their stage to sleazy marketing and salespeople who have no idea what they're talking about way too often.
  - hfdgiutdryg 9y ago
    Sounds an awful lot like Microsoft.
    - rsuelzer 9y ago
      I think Microsoft has turned the corner.
      - gaius 9y ago
        Yes - Azure is genuinely good
- brandonmenc 9y ago
  One of the few companies [0] in the space that I find interesting is doing exactly that. Tracking the authenticity or safety of physical products changing many hands is a perfect application of distributed, tamper-proof databases. [0] https://www.provenance.org https://www.provenance.org
  - mixmastamyk 9y ago
    That is the third time this week here I've seen the word "provenance." I had never encountered it before. Why is everyone now using it constantly on this site?
    - amdavidson 9y ago
      Perhaps the frequency illusion bias? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases#Frequency_illusion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases#Frequ...
      - mixmastamyk 9y ago
        I know that's a thing, but am here for years and never encountered it. When I don't know a word I look it up so can't say I've never seen it even if I don't remember its meaning.
        Domenic_S 9y ago
        It's just the bias at work. That word's been used around here plenty ;) https://hn.algolia.com/?query=provenance&sort=byDate&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?query=provenance&sort=byDate&prefix&...
    - pjmorris 9y ago
      I first came upon 'provenance' in "Programming Pearls', Jon Bentley, 1986. The word has been traveling around hacker circles for some time.
  - 9y ago
mrj 9y ago
Well, they let go of a lot of people with actual skills and knowledge because they made too much money. People with the know-how (my Dad being one of them) saw the writing on the wall decades ago and hit the door even before being pushed out due to age. They're absolutely embarrassing now. They've lost too many good people and everybody knows what IBM's about now. They can focus on hiring Millenials all they want, but which early-stage workers would really want to go to IBM? They know what it'll be like. Lots of outsourcing, bureaucracy and bad decisions. Not many would choose IBM over another offer. Screwing over the workforce has consequences.
- bsder 9y ago
  IBM also created a lot of voluntary RIF (reduction in force) programs in the 1990's. The goal was to get rid of managers and deadwood. Of course, the technical people were always the first to jump at the opportunity to take cash and leave. Often, they walked back in to IBM the next Monday as a contractor. IBM upper management eventually figured out that the managers weren't going to move--even an extra year at a manager salary dwarfed the program payout--and the deadwood wasn't going to move--they knew they had no other options-- and killed the programs.
- drdeadringer 9y ago
  > everybody knows what IBM's about now I don't work for, nor have I applied to work for, IBM so maybe I'm more dense than my question illustrates... but what is IBM about these days as you mention? Please help me get rid of the rock over my head on this topic.
  - rhizome 9y ago
    but what is IBM about these days as you mention? Since they sold off their consumer hardware businesses, it's all about their Global Services consulting and a little bit of big iron (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainframe_computer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainframe_computer).
  - mrj 9y ago
    Well, that's pretty much my point. There was a time when they dominated everything. Now they've sunk to such irrelevance that I don't know what to say, either. They don't have anything I care about. They're about bad decisions. A cautionary tale to tell young CEOs about mistreating the workforce.

fishbone 9y ago

Does anyone else think that the IBM commercial where they talk about tracking a tomato with a blockchain is laughable? Or is it just me?

ScottAS 9y ago
It's complete crap. The saddest part is that they do have some amazing technical minds behind the scenes. They give their stage to sleazy marketing and salespeople who have no idea what they're talking about way too often.
- hfdgiutdryg 9y ago
  Sounds an awful lot like Microsoft.
  - rsuelzer 9y ago
    I think Microsoft has turned the corner.
    - gaius 9y ago
      Yes - Azure is genuinely good
brandonmenc 9y ago
One of the few companies [0] in the space that I find interesting is doing exactly that. Tracking the authenticity or safety of physical products changing many hands is a perfect application of distributed, tamper-proof databases. [0] https://www.provenance.org https://www.provenance.org
- mixmastamyk 9y ago
  That is the third time this week here I've seen the word "provenance." I had never encountered it before. Why is everyone now using it constantly on this site?
  - amdavidson 9y ago
    Perhaps the frequency illusion bias? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases#Frequency_illusion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases#Frequ...
    - mixmastamyk 9y ago
      I know that's a thing, but am here for years and never encountered it. When I don't know a word I look it up so can't say I've never seen it even if I don't remember its meaning.
      - Domenic_S 9y ago
        It's just the bias at work. That word's been used around here plenty ;) https://hn.algolia.com/?query=provenance&sort=byDate&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?query=provenance&sort=byDate&prefix&...
  - pjmorris 9y ago
    I first came upon 'provenance' in "Programming Pearls', Jon Bentley, 1986. The word has been traveling around hacker circles for some time.
- 9y ago

mrj 9y ago

Well, they let go of a lot of people with actual skills and knowledge because they made too much money. People with the know-how (my Dad being one of them) saw the writing on the wall decades ago and hit the door even before being pushed out due to age. They're absolutely embarrassing now. They've lost too many good people and everybody knows what IBM's about now. They can focus on hiring Millenials all they want, but which early-stage workers would really want to go to IBM? They know what it'll be like. Lots of outsourcing, bureaucracy and bad decisions. Not many would choose IBM over another offer. Screwing over the workforce has consequences.

bsder 9y ago
IBM also created a lot of voluntary RIF (reduction in force) programs in the 1990's. The goal was to get rid of managers and deadwood. Of course, the technical people were always the first to jump at the opportunity to take cash and leave. Often, they walked back in to IBM the next Monday as a contractor. IBM upper management eventually figured out that the managers weren't going to move--even an extra year at a manager salary dwarfed the program payout--and the deadwood wasn't going to move--they knew they had no other options-- and killed the programs.
drdeadringer 9y ago
> everybody knows what IBM's about now I don't work for, nor have I applied to work for, IBM so maybe I'm more dense than my question illustrates... but what is IBM about these days as you mention? Please help me get rid of the rock over my head on this topic.
- rhizome 9y ago
  but what is IBM about these days as you mention? Since they sold off their consumer hardware businesses, it's all about their Global Services consulting and a little bit of big iron (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainframe_computer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainframe_computer).
- mrj 9y ago
  Well, that's pretty much my point. There was a time when they dominated everything. Now they've sunk to such irrelevance that I don't know what to say, either. They don't have anything I care about. They're about bad decisions. A cautionary tale to tell young CEOs about mistreating the workforce.