Dell

The best reason is the customers. The products Dell makes are used all over the world by billions.

Being in the Product Test group, I contribute directly to the quality of products Dell makes. There is tremendous opportunity and latitude in my job to make an impact. The best satisfaction is if I am successful in my job, it positively affects the quality of the product seen by billions of customers all around the world.

Being a very large company with continuous thrust on product lines, bureaucracy is the biggest hurdle at Dell. Processes seem to slow down themselves. Many people also say Dell lacks innovation in products, although Dell's innovative ideas in business processes were unprecedented. Most employees have been at Dell for more than 10 to 15 years, making the average employee age over 35. This high average employee age triggers a static environment not suitable for innovation. However, my opinion is that a lot is changing at Dell, and the effects should be seen in a couple of years. People are finally getting over the transition phase to move forward.

Dell definitely has strong senior management in most departments. However, as is universally true, senior management is overpaid. They seem to not be following the subtle issues faced by engineers and analyst levels (in the product group) until wake-up calls. Sometimes they could be more flexible and trust their partners more than they normally do. As partners, I am referring to vendors, manufacturers, contractors, and ODMs.