 Tom Cruz
IBM Corporation
Engineer
Raleigh, NC
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Engineer working in
design area chip simulation; chip spinning integration analog. |
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"You need to enjoy
what you're doing. I think that's more important than salary." |
 
"Well it was kind of depressing with the downsizing because in some cases
I saw, you know, people that I knew and people that I worked with that
were, that were escorted out the door. And it was kind of a mixed emotion,
I was lucky, I wasn't one of those downsized but then I felt good about
that, but then I felt bad for the other people, so it was, it was kind of
bad for morale. Now I understand this is a business and you know they have
to do whatever they have to do to be competitive, but it's, it's still
just the same. It was, it was kind of depressing."
After seventeen years with IBM, Tom Cruz knows what kind of work he wants
to do. He was hired as a junior engineer and rose through the ranks as
associate, senior associate, staff, and now advisory engineer. Although he
considered going into management at one point in his career, Cruz says, "I
prefer to stay technical … It's a lot more fun." Cruz enjoys the
creativity of engineering. "You're always creating something that didn't
exist before … You're creating some kind of new function or creating some
program or script …"
Management simply doesn't compare. In management "you're dealing with a
lot of personnel problems, and I prefer to be tweaking something."
Moreover, management "equals meetings," and these do not suit all
temperaments. "Some meetings are necessary, but sometimes you're just
rehashing the same data over and over. Sometimes you're taking data and
presenting it up the chain." Cruz explains that on the technical side "I
don't have that problem because we don't really have that many meetings."
Ordinarily, "a status meeting once a week" and open communication among
members of a team is what is needed to get the work done.
Cruz has been at IBM long enough to see significant changes take place. He
saw the rise of the personal computer. He also saw three rounds of
downsizing in a company that had had a reputation for keeping its
employees. "I was lucky. I wasn't one of the ones downsized. I felt good
about that, but then I felt bad for the other people. So it was … bad for
morale … You'd see a lot of people walking around with a hang dog face
both the ones that were getting laid off and the ones that weren't."
What keeps Cruz going? The work itself. "You need to enjoy what you're
doing. I think that's more important than salary. Salary's nice … but
creativity's important as well."
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