
IBM announces plan to hire 25K ahead of Trump meeting - randomname2
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/310312-ibm-ceo-announces-plan-to-hire-25000-workers-ahead-of-trump
======
randomname2
Besides IBM's Ginni Rometty, the list of tech execs due to meet the President-
elect today includes Apple CEO Tim Cook, Alphabet CEO Larry Page, Microsoft
CEO Satya Nadella, Facebook COO Sheryl Sanddberg, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Intel
CEO Brian Krzanich, Oracle CEO Safra Catz and Cisco Systems CEO Chuck Robbins.
[1]

List of "invited, but not going": Uber CEO Travis Kalanick (currently out of
the country), Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, Salesforce
CEO Marc Benioff, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield. [2]

Announced a few minutes ago however is that Travis Kalanick and SpaceX's Elon
Musk are due to become members of the Presidential advisory council. [3]

[1] [http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-top-tech-executives-
larry...](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-top-tech-executives-larry-page-
tim-cook-sheryl-sandberg-to-attend-summit-at-trump-tower/)

[2] [http://www.recode.net/2016/12/10/13908492/trump-tech-
summit-...](http://www.recode.net/2016/12/10/13908492/trump-tech-summit-tim-
cook-apple-larry-page-google-sheryl-sandberg-facebook-nadella-microsoft)

[3] [http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-forum-
idUSKBN143...](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-forum-
idUSKBN1431KU)

~~~
puranjay
I don't see a Zuck. What gives?

~~~
mattkrea
Because their COO is there instead.

------
tyingq
_" CEO Ginni Rometty announced that the new jobs will come over the span of
four years"_

That's roughly 6000 per year. I'm curious what the definition of "new jobs"
is. Since they have 300,000+ employees, I would think they already hire 6000+
a year just to cover natural turnover.

~~~
RA_Fisher
I wondered the same thing, but I believe the announcement is more intended to
curry favor with Trump.

------
GrinningFool
The conclusion of the article:

> Rometty, the sole Silicon Valley leader on the advisory

> council, may be trying to show Trump that IBM is working

> to keep jobs inside the country.

Is directly at odds with the implications of the CEO's words in the same
article (emphasis added):

> We are hiring because the nature of work is evolving –

> _and that is also why so many of these jobs remain hard to fill_

That reads a lot like the language used by $everyone to convince legislators
that more H1B visas are required.

In addition, I saw nothing in the statement that indicated the hiring would be
in the US, or of US citizens.

~~~
djb_hackernews
Exactly. And where is Trumps plan to meet with organizations that represent
the interests of the American tech worker?

All these executives see is the bottom line, and to them it looks like a bunch
of overpaid nerds and there is a nice solution to that problem and all they
have to do is repeat over and over "we can't find the skills we need". They've
done a fantastic job of all getting on the same page, I just wish the american
tech worker did the same to at least counterbalance their narrative.

------
satysin
Wtf is "new collar"? Some bullshit IBM-talk for hiring back the 20k skilled
workers they fired earlier this year for less money/benefits?

~~~
tyingq
If you search around for other places where she uses the term, it means jobs
that require only vocational training. Handy that these "new collar" workers
will be less expensive, right?

Edit: The letter she wrote to Trump outlining what "new collar" means:
[http://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/files/201...](http://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/files/2016/11/15/IBM_LETTER_PG1.png)

~~~
virmundi
Do we know that those new collar jobs will be less paid? In the resource you
linked, security and data analysts are included. The could be vocational. They
could be degree bearing. They could be advanced degree bearing. If they are
paid less, it's probably do ease of entry.

~~~
tyingq
I posted a link in another comment in this thread that gives some idea. Their
pilot program (6 year high schools) is targeting entry level jobs that pay
$40k/year. They are definitely not degreed.

I can't, of course, prove that this is displacing a job with a higher entry
level salary, though I highly suspect it is.

If it were a normal white collar opportunity, why call it new collar? That
term obviously implies she's trying to shoehorn something in-between blue
collar / white collar.

Edit: I assume the $40k jobs are mostly in New York State, since the pilot
school is in Brooklyn. I have no idea if $40k is a reasonable salary for say,
Poughkeepsie.

~~~
virmundi
I think a lot of tech jobs are vocational. I know they don't require a college
degree.

I have one. I'm good at what I do. I've worked with several people who didn't
have one, only a HS diploma, and they were good. This is part of the
meritocracy that is tech.

As to the entry level. While that is low from a SF perspective, in Florida,
that's pretty good, especially in a semi-rural area. If IBM is putting data
centers and the like in similar areas, the price for the employee is a good
fit.

Edit: don't get me wrong. I'm not a huge fan of IBM. I have a love/hate
relationship (15000 red book pages under my belt). I also call their self-
checkouts Nazi Clerks given their past.

------
DoofusOfDeath
IBM is a Silicon Valley company? I thought they were headquartered in some
combination of Armonk, NY and whatever country has the cheapest workers that
week.

~~~
gph
Silicon Valley has become a general reference to the Tech industry the same
way Wall Street is for the Finance industry. That's just the way it is in the
public consciousness now, no point in fighting it too much.

------
reqres
Given Trump's propensity to publicly denounce individual organisations,
including threats of withdrawing government business, it's hardly surprising
that companies are now lining up to court Trump's favour in the same vein as
Carrier. The only thing that does surprise is just how quickly companies are
adapting to the new game and lining up to present King Trump some kind of
offering.

The most recent Economist cover story provides some interesting perspective on
this [http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21711314-president-
ele...](http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21711314-president-elect-has-
new-approach-dealing-corporate-america-it-not-all-good)

~~~
djb_hackernews
Indeed. My bet is they will announce a "great deal" that will "create 1000's
of tech jobs" and all the Trump had to give up was an increase to the H1B cap,
another OPT extension and maybe even a tax break.

------
hellogoodbyeeee
What does the term "new collar" mean? I understand the distinction between
blue and white, but i don't get what could be new

~~~
steverb
Judging from the context, I suspect it mean hiring former blue collar people
to fill what would traditionally be professional roles (IT).

Basically, they laid off a bunch of expensive, educated and experienced people
and are now looking to backfill the areas they cut too deeply in with cheap
labor that they can boot camp to a minimum level of proficiency and then
charge the same prices for.

~~~
tyingq
>with cheap labor that they can boot camp to a minimum level of proficiency

That does indeed seem to be the case. There's a Huff Post article where IBM
execs talk about their pilot program that's tied to this "new collar"
business:

 _According to an interview with an IBM official, “The objective is to prepare
students for entry-level technology jobs paying around $40,000 a year "_[1]

[1][http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/what-does-the-p-
in...](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/what-does-the-p-in-ptech-
_b_6244690.html)

------
howderek
I don't trust this at all. IBM promised to create jobs in my town (Columbia,
MO) in order to receive tax credits, and after they received those tax
credits, they cut their workforce. The city has since suspended those tax
credits. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but I see this as nothing
more than a facade to gain leverage with Trump.

[http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/local/ibm-s-columbia-
emp...](http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/local/ibm-s-columbia-employment-
numbers-drop-again/article_6b5f6867-dd99-5c44-b401-cc4ec7e2d7dd.html)

------
Dowwie
To give some perspective on IBM's contracting relationship with the various
agencies of the US government, here is a broad search:
[https://www.usaspending.gov/Pages/AdvancedSearch.aspx?sub=y&...](https://www.usaspending.gov/Pages/AdvancedSearch.aspx?sub=y&ST=C,G,L,O&FY=2017,2016,2015,2014,2013,2012,2011,2010,2009,2008&A=0&SS=USA&RN=international%20business%20machine)

------
user5994461
Quick question:

What is IBM doing and selling nowadays? Did they become a consultancy or
something?

They have 300k employees. That's a lot for a company I thought was dying.

~~~
dplgk
[http://www.geek.com/apps/tsa-paid-1-4-million-for-
randomizer...](http://www.geek.com/apps/tsa-paid-1-4-million-for-randomizer-
app-that-chooses-left-or-right-1651337/)

------
wyldfire
Note that it's the announcement that's "ahead of the meeting," not the actual
hiring.

~~~
__derek__
Yeah, the structure of the sentence tripped me up. I get that headline-writers
sometimes get teased for their dependent clauses, but they do serve a purpose.

------
wmccullough
You mean the same company that this year, laid off over 20,000 positions? Get
the hell out IBM, you're acting like a bunch of sycophants.

P.S. Bluemix is bad and you should feel bad.

EDIT: I normally try to approach my commenting with a rational calm way, but I
can't, not with I.B-fucking.-M.

~~~
shakna
Can any of us approach the behemoth calmly?

It seems that wherever I go, everyone has something terrible to say about
them, but they still keep getting huge contracts that they fail to deliver on.

Is there someone here who can reasonably explain why they like IBM?

Because I can't understand it.

And I congratulate Queensland, Australia for banning future contracts with
them for the next fifty years. (QLD can't contract to them for 50 years).

~~~
krona
No CTO ever got fired for buying IBM.

~~~
randcraw
No longer true. When IBM borked the Federal Aviation Administration's air
traffic control software upgrade (1993), they very publicly lost the contract
and many heads rolled. Mitre (their very stable FFRDC) lost a third of their
FAA support staff in the blood-letting that ensued.

IMHO, the only remaining golden boys of business are consultants like Bain and
BCG, who tell the C-suiters what to think.

Of course, the great secret is that these opt-shops will be the first
companies to be fully automated, but invisibly. Then for decades thereafter,
human CEOs will blithely continue to follow the lead of their precious Bain-
bots, not realizing they've become a bot too (which they always were, of
course).

------
noobermin
I think the "ahead of Trump meeting" makes what is effectively almost a tech
story into a political one.

