35 thoughts on “IBM Brno

  1. what to say…i work there and is exactly how you described…is a scandal really can’ t understand how they manage those huge customers..too low quality

  2. Hi Jean ๐Ÿ™‚

    i am also working there…in fact on last meetings intentionally or not…they are trying to improve the support because according their words, already a half of the customers moved out…due to service, due to high prices for the same service which other companies offer for the same support….So now we have to feel sorry about the company and to work even more. of course for same salary…overtime is not allowed and not paid, except for call center.

  3. Hello .. i would want to work there, just for life experience, one question, you say low salary..ok..do you do overtime? meetings after work or trainning? and if you work over do you get paid? thanks..

    1. hi misa,

      I would not suggest you to join IBM Brno but it depends on your skills and the position you would like to apply in. Techical position – 2nd level up – are ok – the rest is shitty stuff – like service management and 1st line support.

      so it depends

      1. Service Management is not bad. But the people they bring inside SM are. You can get there people who have in their title ‘manager” and they used to work before IBM as party organizers; or they bring nice looking girls just – and it`s a quote – “to bring some color to the team” ๐Ÿ˜€ .

  4. thanks man, i ve read on some forum recently that they do overtime pretty often, like trainning or ..meeting..someone prononced the name of Martin team…i have no ideea..i am trolling random to find out more

  5. Hi
    I got an information that the overtime payment is suspended in IBM. To be sure I will have an appointment with a person which still working there and will update you soon. There is a “war” between low cost centers IBM and HCL. HCL is an Indian company which is paid lower even than a tram driver in CZ

    1. hi Admin, overtimes are still payed but it DEPENDS on wich team-account, even tho, they are consolidating, in terms that ONLY exceptional cases are payed (not in BAU changes and so on)

      the AVERAGE salary in IBM Brno (70%) are 22.000KC bruto x month

      1. “the AVERAGE salary in IBM Brno (70%) are 22.000KC bruto”

        LOL Man, this is the minimum salary for 1st level positions. If you think this is an average, you have really “great” overview about the situation there LOL

        1. IBM Prague , where the salaries are better:

          Service Delivery Manager – Monthly
          K?29,250/mo

          Associate Project Manager – Monthly
          K?29,600/mo

          UNIX Administrator – Monthly
          K?33,167/mo

          Net salary should be around 24k. So , you working in IT area for less than 1000 euros /m ๐Ÿ™‚ funny

          Source : glassdoor

          And where are your facts ?

  6. Thanks Jean
    I will keep the information that IBM still have a paid overtime.
    But the average salary is horrible. I know how the customers paying to the company.
    If IBM wants to continue to be the better company in the region the expenses should be reduced with the useless positions like GDF, useless tools like Maximo and so on..The saved money should be paid to the people which really doing something real there and working hard.

  7. Let’s try to be objective:

    – “stupid managers”, “bad salary”, “stupid tools” doesn’t say anything. However the following example might:
    -> employee X: band 30 (band is how employees are classified), 5 years experience in IBM (no previous experience), salary 1000$
    -> employee Y: band 30, 5 years experience in IBM (no previous experience), salary 1300$
    – based on this case study, you can start developing a theory why a person that has the same experience as another, has 30% more money;
    – I don’t agree with not having chances to grow in IBM Brno. You do have plenty of opportunities is just that your financial situation will not have much to benefit from it *10% increase is the maximum you can get while doubling your responsibilities and work and this increase usually comes about 10-12 months after you took the job;
    – I have to agree with discrimination though, I did see it and experienced it but it becomes less and less of a concern. The management is being restructured and the new exec is pretty strict about this;
    – the GDF subject is, again, spoke of in a very subjective matter. I doubt the writer of this article really understands the concepts behind GDF. The problem is that the ones that implement it do not fully understand them either and this is causing a bad perception of GDF;

    What IBM Brno needs to understand is that whether or not they pay their employees bad, their price still remains extremely high (as a provider). Add that to the frustration 80% of the people go home with every day (some reasons are listed in the article) and you have the perfect recipe for failure.

    One last point: dear “admin”, if you want people to actually take your points into consideration, you should at least try your best to write this article in a grammatically correct English. It gives the impression that you wrote it at a time of extreme frustration and without any consideration to the readers. I’m saying this because you use radical statements.

  8. IBM Brno is a mega shit hole. Don’t work there. If you hear some asshole proud of his “IBMer” status, it means that (s)he is either a dick(manager most probably) or some pathetic loser.

  9. Hi people,
    i work in IBM for 1 year now, and although the salary could be much better, nothing is as bad as the author states.
    Sure you can find useless people there, among normal workers and management, but that’s everywhere, isn’t it?
    If you are good at what you do, you will progress, there is lot of room for career growth.
    As to the overtimes, as I am fairly good at my own job, I get all the OTs I ask for, all paid.
    Besides, if I ever get fed up with this place, having IBM in my CV opens a whole world of possibilities ๐Ÿ˜‰

  10. At the first glance I can tell, it was written by someone who does not have a clue how IT companies work in general. I was working in IBM Brno for a long time on a techie position and yes, after all I left – but not because IBM in Brno would be an evil company as most of you here suggesting.

    Now to the point:

    1) salaries – yes it’s true that most of the staff has just slightly above average of the Czech Republic, but it’s also true that most of them are fresh graduates without any experience and skills whatsoever.
    You can grow and then you can get more money. I knew people on techie positions with 70K+
    2) managers – yes, they are human beings. What a surprise. You can find some which are grand and some which are not. But it’s not a problem of IBM.
    It’s same everywhere no matter whether it’s Google, Microsoft, …
    3) discrimination – sorry but this one is a nonsense. I’ve never seen anything like this in there. In fact, it’s the only reason why they would be able to fire someone.
    4) low cost – IBM Brno is a low cost centre. that’s true and noone is hiding it. Again, it’s not specific to IBM, almost all companies are doing the same. Why do you think IT companies move to east, it’s not because they want to help you, they want to have a profit.

    To me, it seems most people complaining here, have just their first working experience and are unsatisfied how come that IBM can pay them just about 25K. (btw 2/3 of Czech people can just dream about it)
    They don’t see what it takes to run a big IT company and instead of trying to improve something, they just whining and crying. But that doesn’t change anything, after all if you are not satisfied, quit and find a better job.

  11. reading trough this discussion of upset employees and still can’t figure out what you folks actually want?

    in my opinion the only persons who actually deserve the money they get and even more are the poor eus agents who work their butt off taking 20 calls a day, being askicked for every minute late and almost limited on the air intake.

    comon be real, how much time you guy’s on sso 2nd lvl spend on real productive work (not looking at ticket handling and stuff) – i’d say not more then 60% of your shift. to break it down, there is no company where you work less and earn more then ibm dc.

    i find it very inappropriate to spit on the one who actually pays your bills and brings up food on your table – in this case ibm. you think you can do more? you think you deserve better? fine get yourself a job outside however bear in mind that in every case you’ve got to offer something back to the company before being able to complain.

  12. I must say I was having quite a fun reading article and discussion. Article contains half trues but at some points I have to agree, at others its just bullshit – why do you mix up maximo and GDF? Maximo is just a ticketing tool, and definitely not so bad. If you say it brake every day didn’t you mean its autologoff when intact functionality rather than application failure? ๐Ÿ˜€ I am using this tool few years everyday and its very robust and died maybe once a year! When author mentioned salaries I have to strongly disagree many foreigners come there and get better money because of certificates and diplomas and indeed show up as totally useless.So such paperwork remains discuss-able. When mentioning discrimination it seemed to me like a little boy’s cry. It is always about how much you do for your customer. If you work hard,do good job and most important you are key person for the customer’s business within your team, manager have to evaluate it or he might lose ..it’s not about the whole company it can be just stupid greedy individual manager who try to save as much as possible and then experienced people leave and business is in a struggle or even lost..so get experienced, business important and then negotiate…or go where they pay more, life is full of choices anywhere you go development is up to you…just please dont cry, it was your choice to do so… ๐Ÿ˜‰ Just FYI I am not manager nor loser..but still working there and will keep on ๐Ÿ˜›

    1. I must disagree with following part of your post:
      ————–
      It is always about how much you do for your customer. If you work hard,do good job and most important you are key person for the customerโ€™s business within your team, manager have to evaluate it or he might lose
      ——————-
      Customer satisfaction does not depend on technical work but how big mail-xls-group chat dummy bullshit effort you can do. 30 people in the chat 10 of them pms and managers 15 sleeping but attending and 2 or 3 trying to work WHO didn’t saw this. Mainly depends on a paper work talking dummy long explanations of obvious things and demonstrating in the free space how loud you can pronounce basic technical words , simulating hard activity. If you are not a manager probably you will become in near future.

  13. About managers I am not so sure. Mine manager is Czech and it is best manager I ever had (I was working with few till now).
    but maximo… this is painful. New version 7 is the worst tool I ever seen in my life! It is not tool! It is piece of crap from recycling! Created by someone who never worked with changes probably. User unfriendly as hell. Someone forgot that ITIL is only good practice, not an oracle.
    GDF is also horrible creation. It went to the wrong direction long time ago. It is missing its goals at the moment.
    Salaries are not so bad comparing to CZ average and this 22.000 is not average salary in IBM. It may be average on first lvl of Customer Service.
    Overtimes depends on account and manager so we cannot say that we have them or have them not. I do have paid overtimes but I also know people who should not have OT even not paid. It just depends.
    Opportunities of growing are really big. And it is not 10% max of salary increase but 20% during moving to other position (of course again depends what you will negotiate). I know because it happened to me ๐Ÿ™‚ Only once since 5 years but still… (in the meantime I had some small increases every year but they were not even covering inflation increase)
    I am not Czech and I really didn’t notice any discrimination.
    Anyway because of newest Maximo and GDF in current form I am planning to leave company and that is a fact. These two points makes me sick when I hear these names. Sad but true.
    It is good idea to go there and get some experience and certificates but nothing more.
    There is a lot of true in this article but not everything fortunately. Could be much worse.

  14. I confirm that 1st line managers usually sucks. After 4 years experience in this IDC I had four different leaders. First one escaped after several months and moved far away from Brno, second one was quite good, moved to different country, third one was a liar who doesn’t care about people and the last one is totally lost. This position is usually placed by people with no experience with leading people (all of these 4 never worked as people manager before). My salary didn’t increased a lot. I got at the beginning 1000euro brutto. If you count with inflation rate around 2-4% I was loosing my money every year. Highest annual pay rise was 20euro brutto and this was super extra nice for me. You pay at least third of your salary for an apartment. Some people around you are totally dumb who can’t use excel. Some of them you can’t even talk. There is a lot of girls kissing some asses and growing up in the career without any IT knowledge or at least university management skills. All skilled guys are leaving because are not motivated at all. GDF is quite good idea, but you need good people to work with. Improvements are almost impossible if needs to be payed. Modification of any tool is almost unreal. Maximo sucks as hell, same as Symphony. Good bless I was forced to use this only a few weeks. Food and drinks sucks an are really super expensive. Hot dog is double price if you compare with city center. lol. Any entertainment is missing, team buildings are not payed. I quit 2months ago.

  15. ok. I’m a former IBM brno employee.
    From my point of view the things are like that:

    the infrastructure is very good, the buildings are very well made as in ergonomics, facilities and so on.

    the people, personally i never had any problem with anyone but here we have a thing: it so much depends on each other how manages his relationship with others.
    I never had problems related to discrimination.

    My managers were ok and maybe i god lucky because i heard of different situations in other teams, so.. yes it depends.

    My overtimes were paid accordingly – 150 % or 200% added to a normal working hour.

    this is the place where i stated since the beginning i must stay maximum 2 years or if something big occurs 3 yrs. but not more.

    I struggled to get certifications and i got it.

    The bullshit regarding salaries is true. I came in brno on a higher sallary than other 5 yes experienced IBMs were getting.
    For instance, a tech guy, friend of mine, was paid 17500 czk, working there for 5 yrs still, I came there and negotiated 22800 czk (2010) – IBM treats like shit his employers and is not providing ANY kind of motivation by letting this to happen.

    i took off there after one year and a half, getting my things done and using IBM as IBM used me. So it only depends on you to be smart and drag the things on your side,m then, leave.

    I totally encourage all the ppl who are career starters OR not achieved a certain level of certified education to go there and work, it’s a very good launch ramp.

  16. I used to work there and it is more or less as described. Especially the poor people management and the management in general. However, if you want to work in IT and you do not have any experience, I recommend it as a “starting point”. I now work for another IT company with 3x salary that I used to have in IBM, but this company would never hire me unless I had relevant experience in the field. So if you have the option, go there, get all the relevant knowledge you can and get the hell out of there.

  17. ok. Iโ€™m a former IBM brno employee.
    From my point of view the things are like that:

    the infrastructure is very good, the buildings are very well made as in ergonomics, facilities and so on.

    the people, personally i never had any problem with anyone but here we have a thing: it so much depends on each other how manages his relationship with others.
    I never had problems related to discrimination.

    My managers were ok and maybe i god lucky because i heard of different situations in other teams, so.. yes it depends.

    My overtimes were paid accordingly โ€“ 150 % or 200% added to a normal working hour.

    this is the place where i stated since the beginning i must stay maximum 2 years or if something big occurs 3 yrs. but not more.

    I struggled to get certifications and i got it.

    The bullshit regarding salaries is true. I came in brno on a higher sallary than other 5 yes experienced IBMs were getting.
    For instance, a tech guy, friend of mine, was paid 17500 czk, working there for 5 yrs still, I came there and negotiated 22800 czk (2010) โ€“ IBM treats like shit his employers and is not providing ANY kind of motivation by letting this to happen.

    i took off there after one year and a half, getting my things done and using IBM as IBM used me. So it only depends on you to be smart and drag the things on your side,m then, leave.

    I totally encourage all the ppl who are career starters OR not achieved a certain level of certified education to go there and work, itโ€™s a very good launch ramp.

  18. Hi,
    I would like your opinion about IBM Brno and IBM Wroclaw.
    I got offered work in both countries. Salary is 80 Euros more in Brno. It’s IT specialist position. Which center is better as work environment? Managers? Learning?

    Thaks a lot

  19. Good morning,
    Please can someone help me. I am a non EU citizen legally resident in Europe graduated and working. I have recieved an offer from IBM Brno and I woul like to know if I need another visa to go and work there as Czech republic is also in EU.
    Thank you

  20. Hi to all !
    I’ve read all your experience , a very useful topic !
    Now I need your help. What is your expectation for a Middleware Administrator there in Brno ? How much the salary could be/should be ? thanks a lot!!

  21. Hi ppl!
    I see this is an active tread and I need some answers ASAP.

    I’m an expert in a web development sector and know my field of occupation inside-out. Even have a certificate hand signed by people who made that technology.

    What kind of salary can a I expect in Brno?

  22. IF you live in Brno and IF you work for IBM Brno
    No matter what. You are a loser. End of story ! This is the truth

  23. Hi mortals!
    Article is great! And i say that beacuse it raised a discusion that will eventually help some people to decide what to do, or not to do with their lives… So thank you admin!
    Now lets see if i got this right.
    Career-wise the place sucks unless you work hard, kiss a lot of ass, bang some high position CZ employee and have a lot of luck (same here where i come from). But you all agree that it’s a good springboard for “IT enthusiasts” that would like to be “IT proffessionals”? (Regarding the certificates and education in the field).
    @desmo
    Could you pls elaborate the “struggle” in your – “I struggled to get certifications and i got it.”, since it could have been caused by so many different reasons…
    Does one have to participate financially, contract-wise or in any other way in that certification and who picks the certificates you go for (what certs are we talking about exactly)?
    The reason i’m asking is i too got offered a position of a Security Specialist – 2nd level support with a salary 22.000czk (net, not gross – i dont see anywhere u mentioning if your payroll is one or the other.).
    I’m located in Europe, 5h drive from Brno and kinda understand the problems surrounding the company and CZ citizens and with that in mind i’m trying to understend what i’m getting into and how long should it last…
    Well, I’d appreciate your opinion in how long does it take to get certified and to get relevant expirience?
    Thank you for pushing the topic and all the info!!!

    Cheers

  24. I spent 2 years and half in IBM Brno and thanks god I had the chance to change and work in other companies (with a much better job and salary). Now I am living in the Netherlands since 2 years and my salary got 10 times bigger then the one in had IBM Brno (and I was a DBA there)
    I don`t want to list all the nasty and shitty things I saw in IBM, but I can definitely say that it`s the proper place to start to work just for max 2 years and then to run away from to build up your carrier somewhere else.
    At the end…
    “Ignorants Become Managers” [cit.]

    1. I totally agree with you Johnny. The crazy thing is that some people there works for years and years and they really believe they do a smart job and they are unique and needed.
      They don’t understand that they’re simply a bunch of loosers and frustated as well.
      Poor them…

  25. Seems this article is old , but still actual.
    Now 5 years later the things are even worst.
    All teams working with minimum number of people. The experienced people leaving , and no new replace. The salaries still the same – 7-8 times less than the average European IT market. Some people says that working in IBM Brno is slavery , and I am completely agree. My advice is to stay away from this “company”, until they start treat people as normal human beings

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