Tivoli is trying to get more experienced people into the IBM Software Services for Tivoli (ISST). They are currently running a “promotional” program to encourage people from Tivoli development into ISST. Their carrot is $20k for 2 years of service paid up front. The other carrot is that the compensation for ISST personnel is greater than that for regular developers: ISST averages 21% bonus paid quarterly, regular developers are up to 9% bonus paid yearly. The major downside is the amount of travel, up to 75%. Interestingly one benefit of the travel is that the job is not location dependent – they don’t care where you live. That would make moving to a gay-friendly state much easier as long as we lived close enough to the airport.
Unlike IBM Global Services’s (IGS) utilization target of 98%, ITTS’s utilization target is only 50% which gives more room for education, intellectual capital development, etc.
It would amount to no less than a $10k/year bonus for the next two years (which is damn good) and around 21%/year bonus on top of that. This is going to be a tough call. Have I mentioned that I am almost a perfect fit for one of the open qualifying positions? This is going to be a really though call. They’re only hiring 30 people and to get the bonus you have to transfer by March 31th.
Update 2006/02/10 – Modified entry to be public.
Digital Ramblings 
75% travel is pretty rough. I’d personally want to be unattached for that to work out (er, to be fair, it would probably work well in my current relationship because we’re fairly independant, but it’s certainly something to consider).
You can make a lot of money if you’re willing to travel, but the professional road warrior is an arduous, lonely career. I do know people that have done it just to make mad bank for a few years, though.
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I’m sure you’d do a fabulous job in the position … but only from Seattle. Anywhere else just wouldn’t be the same. ;-)
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More like Boston or San Francisco
While Seattle would be filled with awesome people we’d love to be around – I’m not sure it fits the bill as a “state the doesn’t hate us” quite as much as Mass. or California. I’m also uncertain if the Seattle airport is an “endpoint” or a “hub” which would affect our decision if I’m really going to be doing up to 75% travel (which is why Boston and San Fran are probably higher on the list than Seattle :( ).
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Re: More like Boston or San Francisco
I didn’t think either Boston or SF was a significant hub. They both sound like large terminus airports (ala Sea-Tac), but I may be wrong. (I feel like they’re too coastward to be meaningful hubs for US destinations, and my guess is that Boston, SFO and SEA are all int’l hubs for different airlines).
I don’t think any states with real hubs are gay friendly, though. (Real hubs to me are Chicago, Denver, Atlanta, Dallas, Minneapolis .. I think the red states control the hubs).
I may be wrong, but you might want to look at it further. :)
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Re: More like Boston or San Francisco
After I posted that I went to look and at least for American Airlines, they consider Boston a hub (similar to how they consider DFW). Obviously Boston isn’t as signficant as DFW but it’s probably closer than Seattle. Granted, it may be that they just consider Boston a hub for their international travel…
What’s the deal with the red states controlling the hubs??
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Re: More like Boston or San Francisco
I just rechecked, and I was wrong about Chicago and Minneapolis (both IL, MI went blue). But CO, GA, TX are definitely red. Not to say that the cities that they’re in are red, though, since most urban areas tend to run liberal (but cities don’t give you rights).
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Re: More like Boston or San Francisco
I can’t help but feel a little sad; so many of the people I hold dear seem to move away, and I have only Texas to blame. We may be Texas friendly, but I guess that only extends as far as the good ol’ boys. Wherever your destination may be, remember you’ve got family and friends here in Texas that love you!
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Two resources…
Hey Casey. I have two people close to me in my life who are living the life you are currently considering.
One is my ex-wife, who actually, just in the last few months has taken a break from Tivoli Services, which she did for ten years straight (100% travel).
The other is Kevin Reinstein, who you may know. He is still currently doing it, with his current client, if it hasn’t changed in the last week or so, in Detroit. He lives here in Raleigh.
If you called either one of them, and tell them that I sent you, I feel certain they’d each spend 15-30 minutes on the phone with you to share how it’s been for them. In fact Kevin LJs under .
My ex can be found in the Blue Pages: Donna (my last name) at the RTP site.
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