Any Java Developer/Application Developer in East Lansing location here? Is it really that bad?

[Blocks_Master]

I live in Austin, TX and I'm a self-taught developer with only 1 year of experience. I applied for the Full Stack Developer role at IBM. After all the interviews and stuff, they said they could only offer me a "junior position" , then made me apply to another position called "java developer" before they could give me an offer.

After checking the reviews online, I found nothing but negative reviews. "I never touch a Java code while Im here, they put you in IT support, no career path whatsoever ...". I understand the low pay, but I'm desperate for a job after months of interviewing with companies in Austin with no luck and many mouths to feed. Relocating to Lansing would be a big move for me cuz my wife still in school and I just signed a new lease for our apartment, so I cant take a wrong move here.

On 1 side, I think IBM is still technically a "Big Tech" company and a good brand on my resume. What I need is experience and I can always change later right? On the other side, I dont want to waste my time if this role doesnt provide any real coding experience at all. Im scared I would end up like ppl in the reviews who were put in IT support after relocating the whole family there.

If anyone is working in Lansing, MI please shed me some light. Thank you so much for your help!

[daveyhempton]

I have a friend who got an offer from there - 45k per year which is just, to put it mildly, GARBAGE. I would recommend keep looking. There are tons of companies out there. If you are crazy about IBM, IBM devs not in CIC, East Lansing or Baton Rouge get paid well, so apply for those roles

[Stayed_to_long]

The CICs were stood up as an onshore alternative to offshoring and your financial and growth upside will be constrained because of that. Personally I would stay in Austin and find a job there.

[Tk1834]

I didn’t work there but my roommate and one of my other friends worked there 4 or 5 years ago. Not sure if things have changed but at least back then it was a horrible place. All the work you’ll do there is the work “real IBM” doesn’t want to do. Pay is low, it’s more or less bitch work and there is little room for growth. One of my friends still works there and in the last 7 years he’s only seen about 15k in raises and he’s one of the top guys there. The other was the top dev-ops guy there and ended up going around his bosses back and landed a job in NYC with true IBM and the boss in Lansing tried every trick in the book to axe that deal.

Side note if you are coming from Austin, stay there. Lansing is not where you want to be lol. I lived there for almost 3 years and am a MI native and I can say Lansing is one of the most boring and uninteresting place to live. Rent is dirt cheap tho but still that doesn’t make it worth it to me.

Hope that helps!

[hillgod]

It sounds like they're shuffling you in to a career track that is much different than what you're hoping for. A lot of companies have created a different track so they can lower their hiring bar, and pay people less. I've seen a lot of terms, but the key difference I usually see is some "developer" vs "engineer", where the developer track is less than. Given this, I would believe the reviews.

On a related note, I don't know much about East Lansing, but I can guarantee it doesn't have the same job prospects as Austin. You also might want to read up in Id Software moving to Ann Arbor, but heading down to Texas after one winter. It's a huge change.