Dell

Positions with Dell Services at this client tend to last forever.

It is a very stable job, and they employ many mechanisms such as ITIL and PMM to ensure that the overhead is sufficient for long-term projects and profit realization.

Jobs are great for those fresh out of school and those looking to coast to retirement.

Dell Services largely (and competently) provides steady-state 'keep the lights on' maintenance and provides basic enhancements, but the customer tends to turn to other local companies for innovation and greenfield development projects.

The customer is not supportive of external contractors. The customer envisions and leads projects. The customer is not very IT savvy; indeed, they've outsourced the vast majority of IT operations in the first place.

Dell very much provides staff augmentation rather than consulting, as our management seems to think.

Management above the level of on-site personnel are largely offshore-based, lack vision, and seem disinterested in the welfare and development of employees.

Most senior leadership in Dell Services come from Wipro and have a focus on cost and body-shopping positions (they go with what they know, and cost is versus value is their calculus).

Developers get tightly locked-down workstations and have little flexibility for customization.

Laptops are ancient, slow, and have small and crummy screens (keep dreaming if you think you might get anything near top-of-the-line gear from Dell).

Our equipment matches the technologies we work with on this account (dated, slow, and can only ever install pre-approved software from IT on high).

Employee satisfaction and turnover is not a concern. There's always someone who can step in and do the work for less, which leads to an erosion of wages and benefits over time.

Speaking of, Dell Services has frozen all pay raises and bonuses for the past two years (prior, you were rated exception; you might get lucky with a 1% max increase).

Mandatory, weak, and questionable internal "certifications" are required instead of industry-recognized ones.

Uncertain future with the recent acquisition by NTT Data. They seem to indicate that there won't be layoffs, but there is no word at all on bringing current pay and benefits to market rates (why should they; the vast majority of folks seem content as it is).

Healthcare costs with the new HSA plan, which is mandatory for everyone in 2017, are outrageously expensive.

None, really. They are interested in maintaining the status quo and are ruthlessly focused on short-term cost savings within Dell Services and this account.

Upward feedback has been met with indifference.

Threatening your employees to participate in your CSI improvement framework (to identify new innovations and cost savings opportunities) or risk losing your job or any chance at future bonuses is not at all cool. Neither is having non-technical management (resource managers) manage highly technical people (as they are unable to advocate on your behalf).

Better opportunities exist elsewhere.

When you manage to the middle, you get middling results.