I’ve seen some go into consulting or startups, but others just disappear from the industry altogether. It's like people either reinvent themselves or burn out completely.
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I was in Dell NGSA for two years coming out of college. I saw the writing on the wall and spent everyday in office applying to roles. I even would take interviews in the office. To he-l with the BS RTO lol...
I received some SDR offers, but those weren't what I was looking for. Ended up at a VAR and I absolutely love it. Hybrid schedule, office is close to my house, coworkers / management are great to be around. The best part is that it's a vendor agnostic VAR, so we get to sell everything under the sun (including Dell). I did have to un-learn a lot of the stupid Dell propaganda that we were taught in inside sales.
My 8 months at this VAR have been more fruitful for my career, mental, and physical health than my 2 years at Dell. Leaving Dell was the best thing for me, I wish I had left after a year rather than 2 years though. Sometimes you have to taste the sour to enjoy the sweet....
Cos it’s sh-t. As a sales person you have buckets, inability to really overachieve, managers who micro manage and not a great reputation for customer management. Other than that, it’s super 😭
I was part of the WFR a couple of months ago. No job yet. I turned down one offer from a VAR (they had really bad reviews on paying out bonuses and other shady practices). Mentally, I am so relieved. I could not sustain what Dell had become in my area I was working in. The job market for me has not been fruitful at this point. I have even looked outside of tech. It is obvious when they see my resume and time at Dell that I am older (I was hoping to retire from Dell in a couple of years). Ageism is real. Too young to retire, but it seems too old to be considered. With the governments initiative to end DEI, it has emboldened hiring manager to ask thing like how old I am when interviewing. This has happened to me twice now, even though it is against the law. But who is going to do anything about it? I still have hope I will find something, hopefully something with a WAY better culture.
Back to Defense Industry after wasting 3 years at 'He-l.' Working harder and the time flies! Great co-workers and 9/80 work weeks (every other Friday off).
Left corporate America, went into medical. Love it!
@ak I agree with you, but I also see another side of the coin. I am fairly senior, with about 200 people rolling up to me.
During COVID, the pendulum swung and employees had the upper hand. Hiring was difficult because talent was scarce, teams had to push extra hard, wages rose with inflation while budgets did not adjust (I had a fresh college graduate ask me for $160K starting pay in Data & Analytics). The #MeToo, cancel, and woke movements were in full swing, which removed many traditional mgmt levers, and leadership had to back off and tread lightly... Founders, owners, and managers did not like that... and once RTOs started, a reactionary management push took hold - cuts, suppression, and similar measures began and many are still in place.
11 years at del. The market was good to me and my pay was OK, so I saved some. I went to teach highschool, I am very happy right now. It's not easy but my job satisfaction is 1000% more, I can see my impact so clearly now.
@ag I agree with you that all tech companies are toasted right now. I saw it happen right after Elon Musk took over Twitter and utterly gutted most of the workforce there overnight. Sure, Twitter took a nosedive as a company, but I think the big takeaway for CEOs was that Twitter still functioned as a product, even after a massive swath of layoffs. Musk also took the attitude of “work harder for less or bye bye” and the CEOs loved that too. The whole tech culture changed after that moment, and I’m not the only one that has noticed. I don’t think it’s sustainable as it will eventually implode the entire sector once people move on from it and these CEOs are only left with the most desperate employees, but for now they’re riding the wave of treating everyone like cr-p.
I moved to other tech corporation, but the whole tech sector is toasted, same money, same RTO policies, same crazy layoffs without notice. I think it is time to move completely to another field. I was thinking about facility services, gardening, power washer cleaning or graffiti removal...
I got the heck out of tech. It's a terrible industry for employees. I found a nice spot in a fast-growing mid-market PE-owned company, and it's been night and day better than the he-l at Dell experience.
Went back to the industry I started in, smaller org about 10k here and 60k globally but the difference is night and day.
I work 2 days in the office, 3 days at home (but flex when needed) and it’s a breeze in terms of culture.
Getting out was the right step for me, my company is growing and there’s no threat to jobs.
Should have time here to see me to retirement. Dell served its purpose, but the way it operates isn’t sustainable.
Hope the good colleagues I worked with get out and find peace too.
Parent's place.
I'm not a tech/IT guy, (and didn't work in that capacity at Dell obviously), so I went back to the industry I was in prior to my hire.
Great decision for me. I enjoyed my time at Dell, mostly, and I learned a ton, but I'm significantly happier back in familiar territory.
I am done with corporate america and tech