IBM to acquire Confluent

Post by AMerrit » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 7:24 PM UTC

JSR_FDED wrote: post #30

IBM have an absolutely stellar record of blowing acquisitions. The highly motivated newly acquired team will be in honeymoon phase for 3 months, and then it slowly dawns on them that they’ve joined an unbelievably rigid organization where things like customer satisfaction and great products don’t matter at all. Then they’ll be in shock and disbelief at the mind boggling Byzantine rules and internal systems they have…

Post by catlover76 » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 7:33 PM UTC

godzillabrennus wrote: post #121

wetwater wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In defense of Byzantines. Their rules and amazing diplomatic prowess is what let them be an empire for so long. The negative connotations to Byzantine comes from the negative perception the west had of them. Byzantines were very practical in regards to who they allied with.

I'm sure the children who watched their parents get murdered before they themselves were taken into slavery during the fall of Constantinople appreciated those rules and the alliances they supported.

Post by system_exit » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 7:53 PM UTC

Gilthoniel wrote: post #155

diob wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, they acquired the company I worked at and left us alone for a year or two. Each year would get worse though, and each year we swapped nearly all bureaucratic things around. Always a different way to do performance reviews goals, etc. A lot of the successful projects at the original company are now dead. It's also weird being in IBM, because if your "contract" ends they put you on the bench. Then you basically h…

I don’t know how many contracts IBM deals with, but the concept of a bench is very common in government contracting. It helps retain talent in an environment that’s more volatile than a typical office. Good for the company to avoid brain drain and hiring overhead, good for the employee because it’s a built-in safety net. Much better than your contract ending and immediately being out of a job, especially in today’s m…

Post by lisbbb » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 8:00 PM UTC

Gilthoniel wrote: post #155

diob wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, they acquired the company I worked at and left us alone for a year or two. Each year would get worse though, and each year we swapped nearly all bureaucratic things around. Always a different way to do performance reviews goals, etc. A lot of the successful projects at the original company are now dead. It's also weird being in IBM, because if your "contract" ends they put you on the bench. Then you basically h…

I don’t know how many contracts IBM deals with, but the concept of a bench is very common in government contracting. It helps retain talent in an environment that’s more volatile than a typical office. Good for the company to avoid brain drain and hiring overhead, good for the employee because it’s a built-in safety net. Much better than your contract ending and immediately being out of a job, especially in today’s m…

Post by jhallenworld » Mon, Dec 08, 2025, 8:03 PM UTC

AMerrit wrote: post #191

JSR_FDED wrote: post #30

IBM have an absolutely stellar record of blowing acquisitions. The highly motivated newly acquired team will be in honeymoon phase for 3 months, and then it slowly dawns on them that they’ve joined an unbelievably rigid organization where things like customer satisfaction and great products don’t matter at all. Then they’ll be in shock and disbelief at the mind boggling Byzantine rules and internal systems they have…

I worked for a small company acquired by IBM in 2011. We had a good 5-6 year run where our product sales went up (largely because so many IBM people were selling it) and we were largely left alone. Once things slowed down a bit the IBM rot set in quick though. These days I think all that's left is a skeleton crew maintaining the obligatory long term contracts around the main product, every other part of the original…