IBM was sure good to someone I know. Some people might not appreciate a great job surrounded by brilliant inventors, even if the company has seem better days, but IBM taught them a lot (such as an absolute commitment to backwards compatibility and long-term support) early in their career and they will be forever grateful to them for those things.
Now, they have their own company and would never go back, but they still have respect for those who choose the steady paycheck, low-risk career, and great (actually pretty incredible) benefits.
First time I've heard the benefits at IBM described as incredible.
They're constantly doing small layoffs if not spinning off entire divisions. Even if you aren't personally affected, it's disheartening to find out when people you work with are the target of a "resource action". Their headcount has dropped 150K from 2010.
They did a weird sleight of hand a while ago where you only got a 401k match if you were employed at the end of the year. I see now that they've dropped all 401k matching and have shifted to some kind of small pension program instead.
