Hi all, I am an international student in the US. Recently, I received a co-op offer from IBM and an intern offer from SAP. Below are some pros and cons I have in mind and I hope someone who works as a product designer/UX Designer from both companies or is familiar with the companies can give me some feedback (company's culture, work-life balance, company potentials, ! conversion rate !, etc. Highly appreciate it! IBM (8 months co-op) Pros: - Slightly low hourly rate but making more in total due to longer duration. - The design manager has a variety of product experiences in the past - Friendly HR (not directly related to the position itself but worth mentioning) Cons: - Didn't get the chance to know any team members since only interviewed with the design manager. -------------------------------------- SAP (10 weeks internship with possible extension) Pros: - Slightly higher hourly rate - The mentor is a good person Cons: - Seems resource-shortage, no researcher in the team which means I get to have the chance to do user research. - HR is not as friendly as IBM's - The design manager has only been in the same industry, same product for over 20 years. (could be pros and cons the same time) Summary: IBM's design team has slightly more members and a variety of products to work with. SAP's mentor is really nice but the product is pretty limited to a certain industry. #design #ui/ux #internship #ibm #sap #techcareer
Does IBM sponsor visa? Ibm is ok for early career. I also moved to another company b/c of IBM.
I honestly don't know. I only know that IBM recently says no sponsorship to all new hires. And SAP makes GC policy harder during the pandemic :(
IBM usually gives a full time offer to most of coops so that's what i was asking.
Depends what kind of designer you want to start off. What is hourly rate? I prefer to go SAP…IBM is dying
And just get O1 visa and try H1
Not sure how likely would designers get the O1 visa. Will def take a look, thanks for sharing!
IBM = Sketch / less salary SAP = Figma / little bit higher salary than IBM
Recently changed to Figma. :)
Oh thats great news because Carbon design system only shows Sketch
Watever company you choose, don't start for more than 2-3yrs... Otherwise you will be redundant
IBM has a good design program. It's good experience to have but I wouldn't recommend staying after your internship is over. I feel bad for the intern on my team who accepted a full time position after his internship ended. My manager treats him like he's an assistant.
Design is underfunded at IBM (but designers I have worked with do great work) but I can’t imagine it’s better at SAP
You're right but from what I've seen, they fund the early career designers better than the senior level and up.
I think both places are great places to grow your careers!!! The only thing you need to see: Salary and culture/manager. That's all you need!!
Ibm is a great place to start and learn, just don't stay too long.
Since this is early career you probably need to think about whether you get a chance to work on end-to-end design so you can improve your portfolio. Also IBM gives you more time to find a full-time if you have visa issue. Company wise SAP sounds slightly more relevant to me.
I did FTE for design at IBM. It was an overall good experience and I can say I'm at Meta now because of IBM then.
That is good to hear, thank you so much!
But also have an exit strategy. IBM is a sinking ship....jump in 2-4 years. But it's a well run sinking ship? I think it's got a while yet