Official: IBM to gobble Red Hat for $34bn – yes, the enterprise Linux biz
Well, this is exciting.I came across this announcement this morning while I was on my regularly scheduled exercise bike ride. I get up every morning and get on the bike for a while, checking email and the news. And what news is more intriguing to me, than the blending of a massive, (relatively) ancient technology behemoth with a 25-year-old Open Source champion.
From a CycloPraxis conjecture standpoint, it's a pretty tasty combination.
I mean, here you have the classic corporate giant that's pretty squarely placed in the Capitalizing/Enduring "quadrant", acquiring a company that's always struck me as an innovator, and certainly reads like an Author/Inventor culture, liberally sprinkled with a good dose of Building.
A Glassdoor review of Red Hat says:
I have been working at Red Hat full-time (More than a year)
Pros
- Wonderful environment where your coworkers actually listen to you!
- Freedom to shape your career into what you want it to be.
- Quarterly bonuses are fantastic..
- Intelligent, collaborative, and fun coworkers.
- Fantastic work/life balance.
- People say thank you. I feel appreciated.
- Freedom to shape your career into what you want it to be.
- Quarterly bonuses are fantastic..
- Intelligent, collaborative, and fun coworkers.
- Fantastic work/life balance.
- People say thank you. I feel appreciated.
Cons
I
love Red Hat, but it's not for everyone. The freedom to say what you
think and be heard means that Red Hat can be chaotic and difficult.
Sometimes, it's hard to move forward because everyone has an opinion.
Still, I wouldn't work anywhere else.
Some of the managers are young and inexperienced, so you may have to be patient with them. They seem to be open to learning and growing though.
Some of the managers are young and inexperienced, so you may have to be patient with them. They seem to be open to learning and growing though.
Advice to Management
Keep
using the Open Decision Framework and listening to your people. Red Hat
is special. We are all afraid it will lose some of its magic as it
continues to grow. Continue to focus on hiring people who can handle the
chaos and thrive in the Red Hat environment.
And a Glassdoor review of IBM says:
I worked at IBM full-time
Pros
Friendly atmosphere, possibility for growth and self-development
Cons
Low salary, bureaucracy, high employee turnover
It'll be interesting to watch how this all plays out, and to see what kind of attrition happens, over time. Since IBM is acquiring Red Hat, I would expect folks in the latter organization to seek opportunities elsewhere that match more of their Author/Inventor and Builder leanings. It's logical.
Then again, IBM is trying to re-cast itself as a big innovator, and they've been shedding "old people" aggressively enough to spark a lawsuit. It seems they've been trying to inject more Author/Inventor blood into their workforce by shifting to a younger crowd, but that's not something you do by age alone. Once an innovator, always an innovator, regardless of your age. Believe me, there are plenty of Capitalizers and Extenders in the Millennial generation. And taking a generational approach to it reveals an understanding of human nature that has ... shall we say... plenty of opportunity for improvement.
I don't think it's necessarily going to work.
But only time will tell.
I'll keep watching.
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