I’m former EMC/Dell, left a few years ago, now working for a VAR.
26 replies (most recent on top)
I still think our laptops are the best, but that changes nothing in terms of our company's toxic leadership and the culture it created.
You can only get so far with great products without investing in human "component" of the business (employees, partners, stakeholders, society at large). Dell is in for a rude awakening when (if?) it realizes that.
Unfortunately, it seems the damage is already too large, as can be witnessed by our failed PC refresh (third FY in a row!). While competitors scramble to ship an avalanche of new PC and laptop orders, we patiently wait hoping "it'll come".
Nope.
I'm going to be a net negative every day until I waltz out of here like Santa, with a fat sack of severance over my shoulder, laughing to myself all the way home.
Ho ho ho indeed!
Oh no! You mean that oppositional relationships can go both ways?
I thought that "matching energy" was all the rage these days? I'm matching the care and consideration provided to us by senior leadership.
Any schmuck out there, aiming to work super hard is a hopelessly lost cause. Their feelings here are irrelevant.
Our overlords are free to make a change in approach at any time. Until then, all aboard the Disengagement Express!
I'm at a large partner in a board level position now. I will actively ensure Dell isnt used for any project. I genuinely feel for the people still there suffering. JC is a buffoon of the highest proportion.
Ex Dell here also. As an EMC employee we were introduced to Lenovo laptops after a tech refresh and my biggest upset after the merge was having to hand it back. Those T400 series Lenovo were, and still are, an absolute beast.
I didn’t buy a single Dell laptop after getting my hands on Lenovo after that.
I enjoyed my time in Dell but despite working harder and for less pay I would say the culture at EMC was a hard one to replicate. As an Irish employee I didn’t have the best impression of Dell and while it took a while to erode I feel that eventually we did all end up living the culture we feared when Dell took over.
All the best anyone who leaves or stays in Dell but no matter how important you think your job is don’t ever forget you’re just a number.
@e1 yeah my dell laptop is faster than my wife's asus laptop, but nothing has ever broken on her asus and in the last 2 years my dell has had to be sent in for warranty work 3 times.
That's not nearly as bad as internal enemies who have clearly quiet quit and get nothing done. They don't get fired in the layoffs either.
Productive employees who still care have been made less productive by dragging them into the office 5 days a week.
I need to get myself a VAR job too before this ship sinks for real.
Dell doesn't make monitors, but will say my Dell I7 laptop smokes my wife's HP I7. Yes it's boring looking so I get that.
@db Yeah, so this means absolutely nothing. I have been at Dell for 23 years & I have seen many good people go with basically complete random decisions being to cut people (2007, 2012, 2023, 2024, 2025). Your opinion is flawed and many people let go, 60K since 2022, are not ALL people with targets on their backs. Just a d-mb comment.
@bd I personally love my job. I don't drink the koolaid but I do keep a slightly higher than neutral ground with everybody. I'm liked by everybody, do favors for people when I'm not supposed to, have a quick turn around time for my job, and say just enough to keep myself relevant with those who matter. I don't cause issues or controversies, and befriend various people and managers.
It's worked out great so far..
My opinion is that you get a target on your back if you are an outspoken senior type of IC - knowledgable and vital but, otherwise not super likeable. Are not vocal enough and just kinda do your job but don't make any dents or form relationships with others or management, or those who straight up just do the job and that's it.
Get into the middle ground. Everyone knows you, likes you, but you are soft spoken, easy to work with, have a quick turn around time, and do "favors" every so often. Don't cause issues or be too vocal but, voice your opinions and stick up for yourself when needed.
@ce I agree on this one. Their monitors ARE top notch. But that's about the only thing they have to offer that is top notch. I say this as I'm staring into a 43" Asus ROG, 244hz 4k 1ms monitor that blows any top end Dell monitor out of the water lol.
But they do make some great monitors. I'll give Dell that one.
@OP. So fomer employee from a few years ago just weekend chilling on a Dell layoff site sharing your random VAR perspective. Cool
#iworkfordell (joke!)
I do work for dell still and, while I love my job, I can't say I'd ever recomend anybody to go apply for them. I may be an outlier here but, I don't think Dell computers are all that bad tbh. Maybe they are but idk... never had one other than an Alienware Desktop - which is solid. I normally build my own but didn't feel like building one this time so... I got it on sale + my discount and it wasn't too bad.
As for laptops though? Dell is severely lagging behind IMPO. While I'm personally not a huge fan of all the LED lights every GD thing has these days, they are missing out on the younger college crowd who eats that cr-p up. Dell laptops are boring looking. No fun colors to choose from. Not fun LED's and if you want all that stuff then you gotta pony up for an M series or Alienware.
HP offers all the "fun" colors and LED's for most of their systems. College kids want to be trendy and a black/silver Dell isn't that. Apple gets away with it because... I honestly have no idea why but, they do.
That aside, Dell just isn't a great company to work for anymore. Maybe at one time they were, idk... but every company has the SAME types of benefits as Dell now - Tons of PTO, great Health Insurance, onsite cafe's, gyms, etc... - So these days, Dell really has nothing "special" to offer like they may have 10-15 years ago.
My first laptop in college, almost 20 years ago, was a Dell, that was also my last Dell laptop. Haven't bought anything of Dell since and don't plan too. I don't think we make very good products, I'm just here for a paycheck.
can't speak for the poster, but my guess is every person they let go has some animosity towards Dell. They will take that animosity to BestBuy when they buy a computer or to their new job that probably involves technology and what to buy. Some might not, but my guess is most people leaving Dell are not happy. Try and go find a job in today's market, much harder to get a job these days. They let me go and I will never, ever buy anything from that company. I hope they fail.
Ex employee result of WFR23.
Every IT department at my new gig from MF, storage, Bkup and open systems group complain and hate on Dull every day.
Every call with an Indian just fuels the customer service hate.
My wife tells me every week it was a blessing instead of being there and watching the slow death of a company.
@bx Rest assured, it wasn't just one dum--ss move on their part.
Dell make great LCDs.
Will never buy Dell product again. Will not put money in pockets of people who treat their employees like last year’s clearance cr-p. Do better or continue to lose market share
I was WFR in ‘23, my kid is going to college and I bought her a Mac. I wanted her to have something that will need as little maintenance as possible. Plus she already understands the OS from having an iPhone for so long. Using Windows is like having to drop her intelligence a few levels. I will never buy anything Dell again or try to sell it in my new job.
I also heard that Dell layed off one of their top sales reps, who was immediately hired by a competitor. Now all this teos accounts are slowly phasing out their Dell equipment/ contracts in favor of the competitor's. Long term losses for Dell could be in the millions, just from one dum--ss move by Dell.
Dell as a product has been considered subpar for over a decade now. Youth invariably default to Apple. Working professionals default to them as well.
Dell's last rung is disposable PCs for support and administrative roles.
Personally it has only been ThinkPad or mac air for me and my family/friends despite our employee discount.
As a company it's one of the cheapest low-budget outfits I've set foot in.
@bd best response ever.
People hate Dell. The only people who think Dell is great are the one's still drinking the blue kool-aid, but even their own employees are starting to WAKE UP and hate them now, so sales campaigns are totally going to plummet further. The products and culture and the management su-k ba--s. No one wants to work with Dell, they sell horrible products. DD is a dying tool. Pure, Vast, etc so many other companies out there doing so much more in the industry. Security offerings are a joke and cyber recovery is a dinosaur. Can't match competitors in the market. Dell is a laptop shop slowly sinking into the abyss like the Titanic. People should JUMP SHIP before they sink and die like Leo.
Elaborate. How is Dell doing this?
Continuing, sorry. I can’t tell you how many haters I’ve run into over the last year. Most wanting to buy anything but Dell. As a VAR, Dell is a terrible partner to work with. Whatever they think they are doing they are creating enemies from consumers to key buyers within businesses.