After three years of IBM, enough is enough. Current business MODIS is even worse than the business formerly run by IBM.
Kollegenzusammenhalt
No team work. Former IBMers complain in a condescending and offensive manner if contractors talk too loud about the job while the same former IBMers frequently start themselves private talks amongst them - even louder. Both is perfectly OK to the team leaders. Divide et impera at its best. Former IBMers start to mock at you when you ask them to often how to properly do the many details of the job.
Vorgesetztenverhalten
Team leaders (all them are former IBMers of course) have their favorites all of which are former IBMers as well. No bonuses were given to contractors, loyalty of contractors to the job/to IBM/MODIS does not pay off. Being yourself a contractor you are additionally told how expensive the open sky car parking area is you are allowed to use for free while the former IBMers are parking their cars in the building's basement which contractors must not access. Being yourself a contractor do not expect to be recognized or to be respected as a human being. Contractors are cost factors and must match the requirements set up to work force with no discussion, no matter what their respective experience is so far in occupational life. You are expected to be a native speaker of both, English and German. If a former IBMer does not feel comfortable when taking phone calls another service desk job causing less stress might be assigned to her/him, and the contractors have to do an extended call center job - "Somebody has to do the work". The boiled frog method is used perfectly here but applies only to contractors.
Interessante Aufgaben
The job technically is mostly about Office 2010/2013/2016 and about Windows7/Windows10. You have an advantage when you know how to administer Windows Server 2012(R2)/2016. Do not expect to get paid any recognition for that, it just makes your life somewhat easier. Some teams have to deal with a lot of customers they create only tickets on the behalf of which all day-(filling the English translations of incoming German emails in electronic forms)-a boring translation job! With some luck, you learn little about IBM AIX or Red Hat Linux (Tomcat/JBoss) or SuSE Linux Server issues - learning by doing is all you can expect. It all depends on the team you're in.
Arbeitsbedingungen
The cantina does not provide food at reasonable price or quality - bring your own food what a great deal of people actually does. Former IBMers pay less for the same food in the cantina, and being a contractor you are told that you have to pay more just because you're only a contractor ... lest you forget about it. I would have given less than one star if it had been possible. Every contractor is just a cog in the wheel and no longer a human being from the very moment on the contractor agrees on working there. Unless you're a former IBMer, if you don't function (any longer) you are inevitably replaced like a malfunctioning component of a machine is replaced by a spare part. No-one cares why you cannot do it ... Do not expect to be treated equally being yourself a contractor. There're lots of annoying details every day (dirty toilets, the heating is completely shut down at the beginning of the night shift in Winter in the entire building, there's no air-conditioning system what makes more than 80 Grad Fahrenheit=27 Centigrade in Summer a torture, ...) - frustrating.
Umwelt-/Sozialbewusstsein
What?
Gehalt/Sozialleistungen
Contractors are permanently overscheduled unless they disobey (a number of) instructions.
Karriere/Weiterbildung
There's no education or introduction for contractors when new software versions are deployed at the customers' but there is for former IBMers to make sure the former IBMers and not the contractors deliver the best performance in their respective team. Support databases contain thousands of documents with no reasonable structure/with no structure at all. Do not be surprised to find two or more documents for the same task with inconsistent instructions in there with any of the documents being approved&valid.