After IBM
- 3%Founded something17
- 12%Joined a startup66
- 24%Joined a big company130
- 60%Elsewhere
Shares of those who moved on, by their next stop.
People who leave IBM most often go to Google, Amazon and Microsoft. 3% found something next. 12% go small. Median stay 2y
These are the engineers in the Zelcast network and the profiles run through the Eng Scorer, not IBM's headcount: 606 people on a map of 26,572, the No. 12 company on it by people. Updated August 20, 2026.
- People on the map
- 6062.3% of everyone on the map
- There now
- 407% of the people here
- Moved on
- 56693% of the people here
- Median tenure
- 2ymiddle half 10m to 3y 9m
Put IBM side by side with another company, every number against every number.
Came from, went to
Ribbon width is the number of people who made the move. Most arrive from Amazon. Most leave for Google (6% of recorded departures).
36 of 403 recorded arrivals shown, 367 more from 349 other companies138 of 568 recorded departures shown, 430 more to 362 other companies
The IBM mafia
17 of the people who left went straight to a founding role, 3% of those who moved on, half of them within a month of leaving. The bars are the ’15 to ’26 classes; earlier founders count in the total.
How long people stay
27%<1y
21%1-2y
29%2-4y
14%4-7y
9%7y+
390 stays with both a start and an end on the record.
Who comes and goes, by year
181112
292513
323214
493115
504816
585017
655918
645919
445320
446121
304322
172123
152024
121425
5326
joined left2026 is a partial year
2012 to 2026: 532 joined, 530 left.
Caliber
79mediantop 10%89
0Eng Scorer caliber, 606 scored99
there now 67 moved on 81. The people who left score higher than the people still there.
Titles held here
- Software Engineer108
- Software Engineer Intern60
- Software Development Intern38
- Research Intern25
- Software Developer24
- Senior Software Engineer19
- Staff Software Engineer15
- Intern14
8 most common titles, by people who held them.
First job on the record for 34% of people here.
Behind the median
Everyone here with an Eng Scorer read, placed in their caliber tier.
- 2%Exceptional14 people
- 16%Strong94 people
- 32%Solid193 people
- 45%Emerging271 people
- 5%Unproven33 people
605 of the 606 people here carry an Eng Scorer tier.
Exceptional and strong are the top two of the five tiers. 108 of the 605 people here with a read sit in them, 18%. A tier is the band an Eng Scorer caliber score falls in, so this is the same measurement as the median on the caliber card, opened up.
Whether a title rose here
The level of the first title recorded here, against the last.
33%Titles that rose168 of 502 classified people
- 33%Rose168 people
- 60%Stayed level300 people
- 7%Fell34 people
502 of the 606 people here had a title that could be placed on the ladder before and after.
A title rose when the last title recorded here sits higher on the ladder than the first; for someone who recorded one title here and then left, it is measured against the first title of their next role. The ladder runs intern, junior, mid, senior, staff or manager, principal, director, VP, then founder or C-level. A title that matches no rung is left out rather than guessed, and product, program and project managers are left out entirely, being a different ladder. That leaves 502 of the 606 people here classified, and it leans towards people who have left: someone still here on a single recorded title has nothing to be measured against.
Where they studied
- UC Berkeley8.0%
- Georgia Tech5.2%
- Stanford4.7%
- University of Waterloo4.0%
- Carnegie Mellon3.9%
- NYU3.9%
- Columbia3.5%
- Cornell3.5%
The 8 most listed schools among the 598 people here with a school on file.
Of the 598 people here with a school on file, 48 list UC Berkeley, 31 list Georgia Tech and 28 list Stanford. A person can list more than one school, so these overlap rather than add up.
Public work
one square is one in a hundred
37%have a public GitHub account on their profile
224 of the 605 people here whose profile was checked for public accounts. An account the check did not find reads the same as no account, so this is a floor rather than a census.
Across the 325 companies on the map that can show this figure, the median is 38%.
Where they are now
42% of the people who have worked at IBM and list a location live in New York today, against 33% of everyone on the map.
IBM
Everyone on the map
- 42%New York252 · map 33%
- 41%SF Bay Area251 · map 47%
- 6%Washington DC36 · map 7%
- 3%Los Angeles21 · map 6%
- 3%Seattle16 · map 3%
- 0.5%Austin3 · map 0.1%
- 0.5%Raleigh-Durham3 · map 0.1%
- 4%Somewhere else23
605 of the 606 people who worked at IBM list a location, and every share here is over those 605.
Where they live now, from the profile as it reads today, not where they sat while they worked at IBM: a metro here does not mean the company has an office in it. The lower strip is the same metros across the whole map, for comparison.
On the same resumes
Companies that show up most often alongside IBM, at any point in a career.
Key facts
- 606 people on the Zelcast alumni map have worked at IBM: 40 are there now and 566 have moved on.
- The most common next employer after IBM is Google (36 people, 6% of recorded departures), followed by Amazon and Microsoft.
- The most common previous employer before IBM is Amazon (7 people), followed by Microsoft and Cisco.
- The median tenure at IBM is 2y (middle half 10m to 3y 9m).
- Of those who moved on from IBM, 3% went on to a founder title, 12% joined a company with 200 or fewer people, and 24% joined a company with 10,000 or more.
- The median Eng Scorer caliber of people who have worked at IBM is 79 on the 0 to 99 scale (606 scored).
- The most common title held at IBM is Software Engineer, then Software Engineer Intern.
- Of the 598 people here with a school on file, 48 list UC Berkeley (8.0%), then Georgia Tech (31). A person can list more than one school, so these overlap rather than add up.
- 42% of the 605 people here who list a location live in New York today, against 33% of everyone on the map. That is where they live now, not the office they sat in while they worked here.
- 37% of the 605 people here whose profile was checked for public accounts have a public GitHub account on it.
- Of the 502 people here whose title could be placed on a ladder both before and after, 168 rose, 300 stayed level and 34 fell.
About this data: built from 144,786 jobs across 26,572 engineers in the Zelcast network and Eng Scorer reads, updated August 20, 2026. A move counts when the next role starts within 24 months of leaving; companies with fewer than 20 people on the map are not shown, and destinations with fewer than 3 people are folded into the totals. Caliber is the Eng Scorer score.
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