What's the company culture at Dell?

Every business has it's own style. What is the office environment and culture like at Dell?

Are people dressed in business casual, jeans and t-shirts, or full-on suits? Do folks get together for Friday happy hours and friendly get-togethers?

What is a typical day in the life of an employee at Dell?

It's quite bad. It's a culture of everyone for themselves. Most people never help anyone else in fear they will take the credit for something the other person could have.

I never met anyone that had been there for less than 5 years... strange, makes you think that since 2003 no one has stayed here and that IS very worrying. Personally I understand why - there's about 18 levels of management and it take months and months to get anything done, when you finally do get it done the manager that originally approved it has been moved somewhere else and the new one doesn't see the need for it !

People wise I did work with one or two helpful people but they are few and far between and generally overworked and too busy to be there for you. Others were either just not available or patorising to the extent that they would use DELL acronyms when trying to explain something and talk down to you when you asked them to explain these. It's a system based on self-importance not the team and this is why they are unprodcutive and non-dynamic. It's also why they are being out sold by HP on a daily basis and why the share price has plumited to an all time low !

They do apparently pay very well but seriously I wouldn't work there for double my salary, ( wait a minute, I was working there for double what I earn now as I was on contract and I gave this up happily ).. everyday I got home feeling like I'd been banging my head against a wall for the past 8 hours, I didn't want to go out or be around anyone else and my wife was always complaining I was in a foul mood. I didn't realise at the time but this was all down to DELL. I can safely say that leaving DELL saved my marriage !

Ambition is Critical in Round Rock, Texas said: It's quite bad. It's a culture of everyone for themselves. Most people never help anyone else in fear they will take the credit for something the other person could have.

I never met anyone that had been there for less than 5 years... strange, makes you think that since 2003 no one has stayed here and that IS very worrying. Personally I understand why - there's about 18 levels of management and it take months and months to get anything done, when you finally do get it done the manager that originally approved it has been moved somewhere else and the new one doesn't see the need for it !

People wise I did work with one or two helpful people but they are few and far between and generally overworked and too busy to be there for you. Others were either just not available or patorising to the extent that they would use DELL acronyms when trying to explain something and talk down to you when you asked them to explain these. It's a system based on self-importance not the team and this is why they are unprodcutive and non-dynamic. It's also why they are being out sold by HP on a daily basis and why the share price has plumited to an all time low !

They do apparently pay very well but seriously I wouldn't work there for double my salary, ( wait a minute, I was working there for double what I earn now as I was on contract and I gave this up happily ).. everyday I got home feeling like I'd been banging my head against a wall for the past 8 hours, I didn't want to go out or be around anyone else and my wife was always complaining I was in a foul mood. I didn't realise at the time but this was all down to DELL. I can safely say that leaving DELL saved my marriage !

Oh my gosh I am so nervous. we are in the process of looking for homes in round rock with the possibility my husband might take a job with Dell. Is it really that bad in ALL Departments or is there a CHANCE my husband will be happy?

Sarah Sadowski in Crystal Lake, Illinois said: Oh my gosh I am so nervous. we are in the process of looking for homes in round rock with the possibility my husband might take a job with Dell. Is it really that bad in ALL Departments or is there a CHANCE my husband will be happy?

I used to work in Engineering department so I do not know

i think you can get a good answer to that by reading Dell's Employees opinion on their workplace.
try www.proletar.com

i got a lot out of it.

good luck.

Dell is a company with several tens of thousands of employees -- just in the Austin area, not to mention other sites -- organized into a huge number of functional groups. It is simply sloppy thinking to categorize the entire company in the way some of the previous posters do. I've been there for 11 years now and I'll have to say it very much depends on which department you're in and when you've been there. I'm under the impression that all parts of the company have made progress against the sometimes-valid work/life balance criticisms. I know that the sales groups can be a real pressure-cooker environment (what sales job isn't?) and that tech support has at times in the past required (or at least STRONGLY encouraged) really long overtime hours. But tech support has improved, and other parts of the company have always been really good places to work.

Overall, I've found Dell (in the roles I've held) to be a great place to work.

Host said: Every business has it's own style. What is the office environment and culture like at Dell?

Are people dressed in business casual, jeans and t-shirts, or full-on suits? Do folks get together for Friday happy hours and friendly get-togethers?

What is a typical day in the life of an employee at Dell?

To some degree, it depends on where you are in the company. But in most areas, dress is business casual. Some socialize together out of work -- but I'm not the type to get many of those invites myself. No such thing as a typical day -- because 1) you're talking about so many radically different types of job, and 2) Dell changes all the time.

Host said: Every business has it's own style. What is the office environment and culture like at Dell?

Are people dressed in business casual, jeans and t-shirts, or full-on suits? Do folks get together for Friday happy hours and friendly get-togethers?

What is a typical day in the life of an employee at Dell?

The "I Hate Dell forum" is a good place to look for what current and former Dell employees think,
www.ihatedell.net/forum/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=27&sid=56ed52b33ad884cd420047f66c4e858a

I would concur with the earlier statement, Dell is a brand without a soul. No leadership, no vision, every man for himself. Plenty of people work there now because of a bad economy, but I have to wonder if their loyalty would remain once things get better.

i worked at dell for a contract to hire position with the company they were with...i didnt like the management at all..they didnt have much of clue what to do either because it was new for them also..my role was helpdesk computer software break fix...which later also came with, blackberry/servers/travel/expense/insurance/iphone/printers/etc...
that and the 900 applications exclusily for that company only(so its not like i could find answers online...only resource we had was the companys page...(and dell managers that i had never gave a straight answer..or lied)

then a few months later.. insted of 8 hr shifts it turned into 10-12 hour shifts.. internet speeds werent that great to start off at..a couple months later internet speeds were even worse.. 5-10 seconds of waiting to click on something when remoting into end users computer...

at first there wasnt a time limit to resolve a call..then it was 20 minutes..then 15..then 12..

end users would get so mad when we had to verify them on every call...
and didnt know what an ip adress is or how to get it.. 127.0.0.1, 169.
i wish the company or dell would simply tell end user how to find that info through automated before calling(then automated might actually be useful..)instead of wasting valuable time before even remoting into the end users computer..

also we were flooded with calls..until the last month i worked there..then we had too many employees..thats when i left. good riddance.