Working for DELL in Dublin: is it a good company to work for?

flavy

Hi,
I've recently applied for Dell of Dublin (Emea) and I'm going through the interview process these days (I live outside Ireland). I'm considering if relocating to Ireland or not in case I should be successful for that position. Anyone can give me some info about Dell? Is it a good company to work for or not? I've read about many layoffs in Dell of Ireland in the past years and I fear about the future of the company in case I should work for them. The position I applied for is an Enterprise Technical Support role. Do you know anything about that role or did anyone of you work for that role in the past? What salary should I expect for that position? They said me that it's negotiable but I can't figure out the salary range and I didn't ask the Dell recruiter to avoid being invasive. What can you tell me about that? Thanks in advance for your help.

SPM1959

Might be a good idea to post this on the Work and Jobs forum too.

YumCha

Try http://www.glassdoor.com/

PyeContinental

flavy wrote: »

Enterprise Technical Support role.

This is probably going to be a call-centre job in Cherrywood, Louglinstown, South County Dublin. You'll likely be tethered to a phone headset, taking calls from business customers (of varying technical abilities) who are using Dell Poweredge servers and have technical problems or queries.

Dell as a company has restructured significantly. However, its ethos has always been one of maximising profits at any cost. Objectively that is something you could say about any company of course. However Dell has never been known for treasuring its employees as though they are their most valuable asset. It's possible they may say this, but that doesn't mean it's true.

Find out what they are willing to pay you before moving country for this job, and what exactly it entails. If it involves some field-service or customer-site interaction, this could make the job less boring. If it's phone calls all day, it can be soul-destroying.

flavy

Thanks for your replies. Yes, it is call-center based so no field service. It should be very boring, but I have no other job opportunities at the moment being on the dole. There are mixed reviews about Dell at glassdoor, many complaining about the highly micromanaged environment, high stress and lack of life-work balance. I am uncertain whether to accept or not, but if I should accept I would only stay in Dublin 1-2 years max and with that experience acquired then move to the Uk to look for better job opportunities. Frankly, I see few opportunities in Dublin other than call centers, while in the Uk there are many other roles in the IT without being on the phone+headphones.

No Pants

It's a call centre role, with many tough targets to meet. The targets frequently move around, so you need to be adaptable. The support roles in Dublin have been under threat for many years, so keep your CV up to date.

January

Moved from Dublin City to Work & Jobs

flavy

No Pants wrote: »

It's a call centre role, with many tough targets to meet. The targets frequently move around, so you need to be adaptable. The support roles in Dublin have been under threat for many years, so keep your CV up to date.

What do you mean with 'have been under threat for many years'? Even if they hire people with a permanent job, many of them have been fired because of the crisis?

Stheno

flavy wrote: »

What do you mean with 'have been under threat for many years'? Even if they hire people with a permanent job, many of them have been fired because of the crisis?

NO he probably means that Dell have been considering outsourcing them to somewhere cheaper

No Pants

flavy wrote: »

What do you mean with 'have been under threat for many years'? Even if they hire people with a permanent job, many of them have been fired because of the crisis?

A lot of roles have been moved elsewhere over the years. Last I heard, the staff numbers at Cherrywood were a fraction of what they once were.

flavy

Stheno wrote: »

NO he probably means that Dell have been considering outsourcing them to somewhere cheaper

Yes, they did. They moved the Limerick plant to Poland. Also, I've read there were some layoffs in Cherrywood between 2008-2009 inside the Enterprise support team too. Frankly, I don't know what's the situation now after many years.

SPM1959

They have had a voluntary redundancy scheme there recently I believe.

Stheno

flavy wrote: »

Yes, they did. They moved the Limerick plant to Poland. Also, I've read there were some layoffs in Cherrywood between 2008-2009 inside the Enterprise support team too. Frankly, I don't know what's the situation now after many years.

THere are plenty of other companies recruiting foreign language skills here.

IBM have a massive campaign at the moment.

flavy

Stheno wrote: »

THere are plenty of other companies recruiting foreign language skills here.

IBM have a massive campaign at the moment.

Thanks, I will give a look at the IBM website.

flavy

SPM1959 wrote: »

They have had a voluntary redundancy scheme there recently I believe.

Really? In the enterprise support team in particular? That is worrisome news for a person like me deciding whether to accept their offer or not.

SPM1959

I think throughout the whole company. I did however hear this info second hand so might be good to do some research yourself. Even ask the recruiter during your discussions.

flavy

SPM1959 wrote: »

I think throughout the whole company. I did however hear this info second hand so might be good to do some research yourself. Even ask the recruiter during your discussions.

Thanks for the info. I am going to ask him about that.

SPM1959

http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/business/business-news/bruton-advised-of-dell-plan-to-lay-off-150-in-limerick-1-5918709

A Limerick specific article but relevant for Dublin also I believe.

As advised though, speak to the recruiter/HR contact.

No Pants

Supposed to be jobs going this year worldwide. Anywhere from "a couple of thousand" to 15,000, depending on which reports you read and when. No country specifics.

gandalf

They are currently going through a redundancy process. But they do say they are recruiting in their financial services and solutions businesses.

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/technology/dell-ireland-initiates-voluntary-redundancy-programme-1.167402

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2014/02/12/dell_vsp/

flavy

I don't understand why they do hire in Tech Support too if they're in redundancy. I think it's disrespectful towards new hires, just to fool us.

PyeContinental

Perhaps there are redundancies for technical support agents who support only the english-speaking market, but there are available jobs for technicians who natively speak other languages.

I have previously noticed (with surprise) advertisements for tech support jobs (not necessarily in Dell) where pay for the the multilingual support job is actually less than the English only support job. Why this should be so, I don't know. On the face of it, it does not seem to make sense.

What is your native language flavy?

flavy

PyeContinental wrote: »

Perhaps there are redundancies for technical support agents who support only the english-speaking market, but there are available jobs for technicians who natively speak other languages.

I have previously noticed (with surprise) advertisements for tech support jobs (not necessarily in Dell) where pay for the the multilingual support job is actually less than the English only support job. Why this should be so, I don't know. On the face of it, it does not seem to make sense.

What is your native language flavy?

My native language is French. Yes I know about salary differences between English hires and other languages hires. Weeks ago I was applying for Voxpro and I was offered 23K, while other English hires were offered 26K for the same Support role. Then, I refused their offer because I read awful reviews about Voxpro (Cork).

As for Dell, the second link posted by gandalf states: "E'Logic line is "dead long term" as the next generation will be largely based on Compellent technology." It specifically quotes redundancy plans among the Equallogic tech support analysts...and voilà the fate wants that I was just offered the Equallogic position at Dell. I am starting to consider to refuse Dell offer too. I don't want to bear the weight of changing country, relocating to Dublin with lots of costs on my own (Dell does not provide any relocation package) and then to be put on a redundancy scheme after 2-3 months of work. Thanks Dell, but I refuse your offer and go ahead :-)

No Pants

Do Dell still have a support presence in France?

kippy

SAP are also hiring in Dublin and Galway for people with technical and language skills.

flavy

No Pants wrote: »

Do Dell still have a support presence in France?

they have business customers in France but all Tech Support positions are in Dublin.

Grayson

I worked there 10 years ago. I was in a call centre role. I don't know what it's like now but it was tough enough back then. I've worked in a few contact centres and it was one of the stricter. i will however say they were incredibly organised. And some teams such as enterprise or server had it a lot easier.

I haven't heard much about them recently but I'd imagine their ethos is still the same.

flavy

Grayson wrote: »

I worked there 10 years ago. I was in a call centre role. I don't know what it's like now but it was tough enough back then. I've worked in a few contact centres and it was one of the stricter. i will however say they were incredibly organised. And some teams such as enterprise or server had it a lot easier.

I haven't heard much about them recently but I'd imagine their ethos is still the same.

I agree with you Grayson. Unfortunately, I have no other work to go, having been unemployed for very long time after my bachelor. The only recruiters who accept interviewing me are for call-center jobs. I must accept any of these, I have no choice.

Cuddlesworth

No Pants wrote: »

Do Dell still have a support presence in France?

No multinational will hire in France if they can avoid it.

OP, Dell Cherrywood is a ok location for work. Good transport links, outside of the city and decent services around the location and internal to it. The phone support teams can be stressful but most jobs can. If your motivated, you can pick up some decent training and exams and moved out of a basic support position.

Dell culls staff pretty much every 2-3 years, its a reality of the company and creates a environment that so far I think is unique to them. To my knowledge the most recent victims were their cloud services team. Its unlikely they will outsource the enterprise support any more, there was a fair bit of backlash to their previous attempts over the last few years.

flavy

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

No multinational will hire in France if they can avoid it.

OP, Dell Cherrywood is a ok location for work. Good transport links, outside of the city and decent services around the location and internal to it. The phone support teams can be stressful but most jobs can. If your motivated, you can pick up some decent training and exams and moved out of a basic support position.

Dell culls staff pretty much every 2-3 years, its a reality of the company and creates a environment that so far I think is unique to them. To my knowledge the most recent victims were their cloud services team. Its unlikely they will outsource the enterprise support any more, there was a fair bit of backlash to their previous attempts over the last few years.

Thanks Cuddlesworth, you seem to be well-informed. Did you work for Dell in the past?

As for moving out of support roles, I see that almost all my friends have been unable to escalate to better positions and they're still in tech support. Unfortunately, helpdesk roles are dead-end, no career chance unless you know anyone in the management.

Here in France the situation is very bad, the economy is collapsing, unemployment is increasing and the government has lost its popularity. We young people almost all move abroad to get a job.

gandalf

kippy wrote: »

SAP are also hiring in Dublin and Galway for people with technical and language skills.

These guys are an excellent company to work for. I know several people working for them and they have been there quite a number of years. They appear to treat their staff very well.

flavy

gandalf wrote: »

These guys are an excellent company to work for. I know several people working for them and they have been there quite a number of years. They appear to treat their staff very well.

I know but I don't have the skills to apply for their positions. I have just basic skills about networks, tcp/ip, some vlans and switching, san/nas and some win server environments. Just basic stuff. Sap has some very good roles but they require too specialized skills for what I can do.

gandalf

Maybe use Dell to learn those skills?

flavy

gandalf wrote: »

Maybe use Dell to learn those skills?

Mmm...Dell would be good because they pay well and they have lots of benefits but as for skills their position is all around storage-focused, area in which I already have strong skills.

I should improve technologies such as Sql, xml, html, cloud, aws. Then I could apply for quality positions at SAP.

By the way, I have given a look at SAP positions today afternoon but I haven't found anything in Galway through the offical (SAP) website. The only positions in Galway were through an agency which is called CPL offering a 12 month contract with SAP (basic tech support up to 25k). Is it a serious agency in your opinion? Why do they have a role in SAP which SAP itself doesn't mention in its career website?

No Pants

flavy wrote: »

Mmm...Dell would be good because they pay well and they have lots of benefits but as for skills their position is all around storage-focused, area in which I already have strong skills.

I should improve technologies such as Sql, xml, html, cloud, aws. Then I could apply for quality positions at SAP.

By the way, I have given a look at SAP positions today afternoon but I haven't found anything in Galway through the offical (SAP) website. The only positions in Galway were through an agency which is called CPL offering a 12 month contract with SAP (basic tech support up to 25k). Is it a serious agency in your opinion? Why do they have a role in SAP which SAP itself doesn't mention in its career website?

CPL are a known agency. SAP might have handed over the staffing of their tech support entirely to CPL.

gandalf

CPL are a recruitment agency and have got involved in outsourcing. As the previous poster has stated SAP may have outsourced level one support roles to them. My experiences with CPL as a recruiter are mixed. It depends on the individual you deal with in there. Some are extremely professional and competent others are the exact opposite.

This is what they do in Galway based on information from this link http://global.sap.com/uk/ireland/about.epx

SAP’s operation in Galway is a Service and Support Centre, with teams involved in Cloud Computing, Multilingual Support, Technical Writing, Media Development, Translation, License Auditing, and Partner Services. It covers 29 languages and has colleagues from 38 nationalities.

flavy

Weird agency. I sent my CV to CPL yesterday in the evening for the tech support position at SAP. This morning at 9:00 am I was called by a female CPL recruiter speaking with a polish accent saying that she will get in touch with me at 12:00 am to discuss about the SAP role. She has disappeared without calling me. I have tried to call CPL and was answered by a man who while speaking dropped me the line. Very unprofessional service!

Cuddlesworth

flavy wrote: »

Thanks Cuddlesworth, you seem to be well-informed. Did you work for Dell in the past?

As for moving out of support roles, I see that almost all my friends have been unable to escalate to better positions and they're still in tech support. Unfortunately, helpdesk roles are dead-end, no career chance unless you know anyone in the management.

A large number of my friends have worked or are working in Dell in Cherrywood through plenty of departments.

I know plenty of people who didn't transition out of their tech support jobs, you can spot most of them a mile off. Moving jobs in the tech world requires hard work and constant up-skilling.

flavy

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

A large number of my friends have worked or are working in Dell in Cherrywood through plenty of departments.

I know plenty of people who didn't transition out of their tech support jobs, you can spot most of them a mile off. Moving jobs in the tech world requires hard work and constant up-skilling.

Cool. What do your friends say about Dell? Do they like the work environment in Cherrywood (managers, colleagues, constant fear of layoff)?

Yeah, most people that I know working in tech support moved from 1st line to 2nd/3rd line...they are given a better wage and slightly slower pace work environments (lesser calls than in 1st line support) but they always have their headphones on all day long. Some of them have resigned spontaneously after many years working in call centres because they were no more able to tolerate the high stress of call centre environment, crazy night shifts, lack of social life.

Cuddlesworth

flavy wrote: »

Cool. What do your friends say about Dell? Do they like the work environment in Cherrywood (managers, colleagues, constant fear of layoff)?

The fear of layoff would be a constant in most multinationals now days. Most of what I have heard about Dell has been positive.

flavy wrote: »

Yeah, most people that I know working in tech support moved from 1st line to 2nd/3rd line...they are given a better wage and slightly slower pace work environments (lesser calls than in 1st line support) but they always have their headphones on all day long. Some of them have resigned spontaneously after many years working in call centres because they were no more able to tolerate the high stress of call centre environment, crazy night shifts, lack of social life.

Agreed, phone support is not a long term job for most people. By upskilling you move out into another area, even if it means leaving the company and dipping your toe into unknown waters. Working the phone job will get you office experience, work ethics and references on your CV. Plenty of people I know started on the phones and moved to huge heights. Others are still on the phones.

thebannerboy

Just to note OP, both IBM and Dell are a LONG way outside Dublin city

flavy

thebannerboy wrote: »

Just to note OP, both IBM and Dell are a LONG way outside Dublin city

Thanks for sharing this info. So one should look for an house not far from Cherrywood if working for Dell...but I see no ads in daft.ie for this area. I would rather take a room in the city center, but prices are very high there and one must also consider the bus ticket price to Cherrywood everyday.

Cuddlesworth

flavy wrote: »

Thanks for sharing this info. So one should look for an house not far from Cherrywood if working for Dell...but I see no ads in daft.ie for this area. I would rather take a room in the city center, but prices are very high there and one must also consider the bus ticket price to Cherrywood everyday.

Rent in Dublin is at a extreme price wise at the moment. So for the wages you will be earning, a room within walking distance would be a good option to reduce costs. There are very good transport links in the area to and from town, meaning you don't need the expense of a car.

http://www.daft.ie/sharing/west-courtyard-tullyvale-cabinteely-dublin/769555/
http://www.daft.ie/sharing/the-ramparts-cabinteely-dublin/758346/

They are a bit overpriced, but keeping a eye out will get you a better deal.

flavy

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Rent in Dublin is at a extreme price wise at the moment. So for the wages you will be earning, a room within walking distance would be a good option to reduce costs. There are very good transport links in the area to and from town, meaning you don't need the expense of a car.

daft.ie/sharing/west-courtyard-tullyvale-cabinteely-dublin/769555/
daft.ie/sharing/the-ramparts-cabinteely-dublin/758346/

They are a bit overpriced, but keeping a eye out will get you a better deal.

Thanks Cuddlesworth. The first one is very close to the Dell building, a few minutes walking distance I guess!

And yeah, I agree with you thy're boody expensive! Now I understand why salaries are so high in Ireland! I hope it could be a decent living with 25K gross yearly that the company will pay me.

No Pants

thebannerboy wrote: »

Just to note OP, both IBM and Dell are a LONG way outside Dublin city

IBM is in Blanch and is on bus routes. They also run a company bus, but it's not free. If you end up outside of the city, it is within cycling distance of a lot of places. I cycle over from Swords in less than 40 minutes.

Dell is also far out, but to the south side. It's within walking distance from the Shankill DART station and they used to run a feeder bus from there to the business park. The Luas also runs to there I think, but I've never used it.

SPM1959

I've used the Luas to Brides Glen - few minutes walk to Dell - and it's extremely handy.