7 ms·

IBM employee here. I have no idea if the cuts are true or not but keep in mind that Cringely has made dooms day predictions in the past that were widely innacur

by pesenti 12y ago

IBM employee here. I have no idea if the cuts are true or not but keep in mind that Cringely has made dooms day predictions in the past that were widely innacurate, see for example: http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_20070504_002027.html http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_20070504_0020... or http://www.cringely.com/2012/04/18/not-your-fathers-ibm/ http://www.cringely.com/2012/04/18/not-your-fathers-ibm/ I am part of Watson and we have been hiring a lot (as well as providing great internships).

thesumofall 12y ago
I would be very surprised if this report holds true. He writes he heard about it before Christmas. I simply can't believe such information didn't leak deliberately or unintentionally during the month since.
simonebrunozzi 12y ago
I do not work at IBM, but from the outside, it seems that the Watson team is doing very well - and working on extremely interesting problems. I wish you the best.
yeison 12y ago
Watson is probably one of the most valuable projects that IBM is currently working on. Cutting people from the Watson team would be an extremely bad decision. I have no doubt that you guys are in good shape in that department. Also, all the publicity that IBM has been working on with Watson has been very wise and well executed.
nowarninglabel 12y ago
It's amazing how if someone said blatantly false things over and over again about Google or Yahoo laying off employees then it would get flagged out of existence, yet somehow Cringely makes the same false "prediction" over and over again about IBM and people vote it right up. Check your source people, you are actively spreading disinformation by a known doomsday prophet, and like most doomsday prophets he has been wrong every time.
- jsprogrammer 12y ago
  Does IBM never do large firings?
  - bigiain 12y ago
    The article almost opens with a line about the previous biggest ever layoff in history of 60,000 people. In 1993. By IBM...
    - jsprogrammer 12y ago
      Link has clickbait all over it. Hasn't hooked me yet. But more seriously, have there been any other large, but not "biggest ever" firings since 1993? Anyone have a chart?
      - bigiain 12y ago
        I dunno - 60,000 people? I can't think of anything of that magnitude (not that I keep on top of that kind of stuff...)
    - bigiain 12y ago
      Clarification... The original link went to http://www.itworld.com/article/2875112/ibm-is-about-to-get-hit-with-a-massive-reorg-and-layoffs.html http://www.itworld.com/article/2875112/ibm-is-about-to-get-h... - it got changed (for good reasons) to the origoinal Cringely page (which _doesn't_ have the comparison to IBM's 1993 layoffs)
  - TD-Linux 12y ago
    In Rochester, MN, IBM has been doing several very large rounds of layoffs over the past 5 years. Nearly half the building is empty now and being rented to other companies.
    - dingaling 12y ago
      Rochester was the AS/400 facility wasn't it? Or iSeries in latter years.
brianbreslin 12y ago
@pesenti, would love to get someone on the Watson team to come down to Miami to give a talk at my group RefreshMiami. email me brian @ refreshmiami .com if you're interested.
clamprecht 12y ago
If it happens, I wish they would publish the aggregate stats on the age of employees laid off versus the age of employees not laid off. I remember my dad was laid off from IBM after like 25 or 30 years of service, just before he got full retirement benefits. He's fine, not eating cat food or anything, but I'd really like to see those stats.
- acomjean 12y ago
  Layoffs are generally never easy. When my friends project got cancelled as conexant, they gave everyone a list of the ages of everyone being let go, likely to avoid an age discrimination suit. Even if they didn't make it public, one bets they look at age if to just avoid a reason for a lawsuit.
  - jlarocco 12y ago
    I was laid off once, and got a similar thing - a couple printed pages listing everybody's age and sex. It's shitty, but I'm sure a company as big as IBM will make sure they're ass is covered.
    - Coffeewine 12y ago
      I was laid off by IBM in 2013, I can confirm that they handed out exactly such a thing.
mathattack 12y ago
I had heard that Watson had a hiring freeze over the summer. It sounded strange given such a high profile bet on the cloud.

by pesenti 12y ago

thesumofall 12y ago

I would be very surprised if this report holds true. He writes he heard about it before Christmas. I simply can't believe such information didn't leak deliberately or unintentionally during the month since.

simonebrunozzi 12y ago

I do not work at IBM, but from the outside, it seems that the Watson team is doing very well - and working on extremely interesting problems. I wish you the best.

yeison 12y ago

Watson is probably one of the most valuable projects that IBM is currently working on. Cutting people from the Watson team would be an extremely bad decision. I have no doubt that you guys are in good shape in that department. Also, all the publicity that IBM has been working on with Watson has been very wise and well executed.

nowarninglabel 12y ago

It's amazing how if someone said blatantly false things over and over again about Google or Yahoo laying off employees then it would get flagged out of existence, yet somehow Cringely makes the same false "prediction" over and over again about IBM and people vote it right up. Check your source people, you are actively spreading disinformation by a known doomsday prophet, and like most doomsday prophets he has been wrong every time.

jsprogrammer 12y ago
Does IBM never do large firings?
- bigiain 12y ago
  The article almost opens with a line about the previous biggest ever layoff in history of 60,000 people. In 1993. By IBM...
  - jsprogrammer 12y ago
    Link has clickbait all over it. Hasn't hooked me yet. But more seriously, have there been any other large, but not "biggest ever" firings since 1993? Anyone have a chart?
    - bigiain 12y ago
      I dunno - 60,000 people? I can't think of anything of that magnitude (not that I keep on top of that kind of stuff...)
  - bigiain 12y ago
    Clarification... The original link went to http://www.itworld.com/article/2875112/ibm-is-about-to-get-hit-with-a-massive-reorg-and-layoffs.html http://www.itworld.com/article/2875112/ibm-is-about-to-get-h... - it got changed (for good reasons) to the origoinal Cringely page (which _doesn't_ have the comparison to IBM's 1993 layoffs)
- TD-Linux 12y ago
  In Rochester, MN, IBM has been doing several very large rounds of layoffs over the past 5 years. Nearly half the building is empty now and being rented to other companies.
  - dingaling 12y ago
    Rochester was the AS/400 facility wasn't it? Or iSeries in latter years.

brianbreslin 12y ago

@pesenti, would love to get someone on the Watson team to come down to Miami to give a talk at my group RefreshMiami. email me brian @ refreshmiami .com if you're interested.

clamprecht 12y ago

If it happens, I wish they would publish the aggregate stats on the age of employees laid off versus the age of employees not laid off. I remember my dad was laid off from IBM after like 25 or 30 years of service, just before he got full retirement benefits. He's fine, not eating cat food or anything, but I'd really like to see those stats.

acomjean 12y ago
Layoffs are generally never easy. When my friends project got cancelled as conexant, they gave everyone a list of the ages of everyone being let go, likely to avoid an age discrimination suit. Even if they didn't make it public, one bets they look at age if to just avoid a reason for a lawsuit.
- jlarocco 12y ago
  I was laid off once, and got a similar thing - a couple printed pages listing everybody's age and sex. It's shitty, but I'm sure a company as big as IBM will make sure they're ass is covered.
  - Coffeewine 12y ago
    I was laid off by IBM in 2013, I can confirm that they handed out exactly such a thing.

mathattack 12y ago

I had heard that Watson had a hiring freeze over the summer. It sounded strange given such a high profile bet on the cloud.