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IBM to pause hiring in plan to replace 7,800 jobs with AI

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Re: IBM to pause hiring in plan to replace 7,800 jobs with AI

#201

Post by selimthegrim »

1970-01-01 wrote: post #152
jillesvangurp wrote: post #11

IBM as a company barely makes sense at all at this point. They are a very large and a former tech company that mostly coasts along on doing expensive consulting projects around me-too clones of things that other people have invented just so they can still pretend to be a tech company. So you can do things with AI, cloud, and databases with them. But they aren't really leaders in any of that for a long time. And havin…

IBM is a company in the same way Hawaii is a state. There's a lot of great of stuff going on, most of it is done "at the other island" and a lot of the stuff will be consumed by a live volcano without anyone really noticing.

So going by the flag it’s also the East India company is what you’re saying.

Re: IBM to pause hiring in plan to replace 7,800 jobs with AI

#203

Post by t43562 »

AlbertCory wrote: post #77
t43562 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Software for people who don't care about software! Personally I think if you don't care about something it will be bad. This is great for small companies and startups - if the bigger ones did things properly how could anyone compete?

Exactly! They're creating a Quality Umbrella. "if you don't care about something it will be bad" -- maybe to you. To them, it's not causing any problems that they care about.

Not to me but to the company/institution and all its users. Of course the person who arranged it doesn't care because they are in a situation where they are immune to those particular consequences. e.g. they never use the system and nor do any of their senior managers so they can dismiss all complaints and report on how much money they saved.

If one innocently wants to do what's right for the institution, the shareholders or the taxpayers, one has to care. Its usually a tactical mistake to care of course - people who don't have a lot more freedom of action.

Re: IBM to pause hiring in plan to replace 7,800 jobs with AI

#204

Post by propogandist »

sidewndr46 wrote: post #89
manicennui wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have no idea what you are talking about. IBM does more cutting edge research than the entire HN bubble combined. Hard research like materials science and semiconductors. Consulting is less than a third of their revenue and regardless of how you feel about consulting, it seems kind of idiotic to claim that this "barely makes sense at all at this point". Are the only companies that make sense the ones that work on…

Sure, those 24 consecutive quarters of revenue decline under Rometty is an obvious indication of cutting edge. Cutting edge research on how to turn investors money into into option traders profits.

her role crashing the company into the ground is completely omitted in her book, which has been popping up on my linkedin feed. Her gender and former title is clearly more important than what she accomplished, much like Marrisa Mayer.

Re: IBM to pause hiring in plan to replace 7,800 jobs with AI

#205

Post by propogandist »

LawTalkingGuy wrote: post #103
manicennui wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have no idea what you are talking about. IBM does more cutting edge research than the entire HN bubble combined. Hard research like materials science and semiconductors. Consulting is less than a third of their revenue and regardless of how you feel about consulting, it seems kind of idiotic to claim that this "barely makes sense at all at this point". Are the only companies that make sense the ones that work on…

You can't hire their research arm. > regardless of how you feel about consulting It's a matter of how well they do it. They're not known for creating customer value. > Are the only companies that make sense the ones ... who don't lay off entire arenas full of people and discuss stupid platitudes like replacing them with AI. Pretty much. Management's messaging around this was so delusional - "replace with AI" - that i…

it is possible to hire the research division, you just have to be a multi-billion dollar enterprise. They do joint research partnerships and outsourcing for large organizations to build out new technology. IBM is not very good at commercializing IP, so the partner takes on that responsibility.

Re: IBM to pause hiring in plan to replace 7,800 jobs with AI

#206

Post by red-iron-pine »

qbasic_forever wrote: post #97
fdye wrote: post #74

This is just using the AI hype as cover to not get slammed by the markets. If they came out and said "We are pausing hiring..." the markets would rightly be like "Man they are screwed..." Expect to see more of this from zombie companies in the future, as long as they spend $20/mo on a ChatGPT subscription somewhere they are probably not violating SEC disclosures either.

Yep if you read what the CEO said the quote was that they "could" replace workers with AI over five years and as the tech improves. That's just pure speculation and bullshitting, like when Elon said Tesla cars will be fully self driving vehicles in five years. It's market pumping talk from a company with a vested interest in selling "AI" to enterprises.

Agreed. The article is so short and IBM didn't respond to comment. It's a blurb, a CYA for what's going to be an ugly quarterly report in a few weeks.

Re: IBM to pause hiring in plan to replace 7,800 jobs with AI

#207

Post by red-iron-pine »

MikeTheGreat wrote: post #170
JAlexoid wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They spun off only Global Technology Services, which was only IT infrastructure consulting. Most of the business consulting, including outsourcing software engineering, is still with IBM.

So they're a consulting company now? I know they got rid of OS's and laptops a while back; I assume they don't make or service mainframes/minicomputers anymore. Do they do any software/hardware development, or is it all consulting?

They ditched consumer electronics years ago; margins are razor thin and it's all made in China so just let em handle it.

Still plenty of hardware and software stuff done via IBM with POWER systems, AIX, etc. They were an early investor in Red Hat and now own it entirely.

Re: IBM to pause hiring in plan to replace 7,800 jobs with AI

#208

Post by red-iron-pine »

treeman79 wrote: post #154
kneebonian wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to understand their competitive moat, DoD and especially Pentagon contracts. Most companies don't have the capitalization, runway or people who are so badly broken as to go through the bidding process for something like that.

Yep was at a small startup and the owner insisted we go with IBM, over the protest of everyone. Months of work and we got infrastructure moved over. Only to find out the stack we were sold on was being sunset. Owner insisted we move to the new stack. Month later we were on new stack. This happened twice more.

Almost as bad as Oracle

Re: IBM to pause hiring in plan to replace 7,800 jobs with AI

#209

Post by red-iron-pine »

rybosworld wrote: post #55
manicennui wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have no idea what you are talking about. IBM does more cutting edge research than the entire HN bubble combined. Hard research like materials science and semiconductors. Consulting is less than a third of their revenue and regardless of how you feel about consulting, it seems kind of idiotic to claim that this "barely makes sense at all at this point". Are the only companies that make sense the ones that work on…

They have seemingly 1000 products so it's definitely not fair to apply experiences with one of those, to all of the others. That said, I've hated the handful of IBM software products I've needed to use. Another anecdote: I've never met a fellow developer that spoke highly of IBM. That includes the folks who used to work there. I think it's remarkable how rare it is to meet someone that speaks highly of the company. C…

> Another anecdote: I've never met a fellow developer that spoke highly of IBM. That includes the folks who used to work there.

Worked with a buncha folks in the NC Research Triangle area, all former IBM. None had good things to say about the engineering culture there. Most did long stays regardless -- it's that kinda of org -- talking like 10+ years, but jumped to other companies like Red Hat (ha!), Clorox, Splunk, and Uni research after the last big shakeup.

Re: IBM to pause hiring in plan to replace 7,800 jobs with AI

#210

Post by red-iron-pine »

raverbashing wrote: post #191
TigeriusKirk wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My college roommate has worked for IBM his entire career, over 30 years. He loves it there, obviously, and never seriously considered leaving.

Let me guess, he enjoys wearing a tie to work

I never realized how much I hate ties until I spent 3+ years working essentially in t-shirts and jeans. Never again, outside of interviews or formal events (weddings, funerals, et al).
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