Inside Solutions Architect - You will work for every penny - Anonymous employee CDW Employee Review

3.0
Sep 23, 2015
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You work with the smartest people in the industry. The social environment is great. Build relationships with some of the largest IT organizations in the world. Most managers do not micromanage. You pick the best way to get the job done as long as it works. Work from home capabilities and very flexible hours. Ability to move to different partner related roles if available.

Cons

Pay is not competitive. Many of my skilled counterparts and post sales engineers have left for a 30% increase for a similar position which required less work. Very high turnover for tenured positions. 50/50 Salary split. Goal calculation is a mystery mixed in with magic. You never understand why your goals are raised or how they are calculated. Goals are set on a monthly basis. If you do very well one month chances are your goal will be higher the next month. Goal structure is based on profit and because you do not own the account or customer relationship it's very difficult to work towards increasing profitability. If you do not achieve a certain percentage of your goal for the quarter you will OWE the company money which can happen! If you finish over 200% of goal for the quarter you will be capped. No one has averaged that for the quarter but there are big modifiers which kick in after 120% of goal. Silly to put a cap on hard work. The amount of work is overwhelming to say the least. You will never catch up or feel like you spent quality time to help a customer. If you are a thoughtful person get used to treating customers more like a number. A lot of small solutions mixed in with parts questions and very large solutions which you have no time for. 60-65 hour weeks on average just to keep all of your account managers barely happy with your performance. 60-65 hour weeks to get to 100-105% of goal for the quarter No real training to advance your career or knowledge base. Mostly new product training only. You will never feel like you can put a stake in the ground for accomplishments because you are constantly trying to keep up.

Explore other reviews about CDW

5.0
Apr 19, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good exposure to enterprise systems and tools, supportive team environment, opportunities to learn and grow, collaborative culture, flexible work environment

Cons

Limited ownership in some projects, slower career progression, processes can be bureaucratic at times, communication gaps between teams occasionally

3.0
Jul 6, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You have the ability to sell full stack solutions, services and software.

Cons

I have worked at CDW for 10yrs and every single year they have changed the comp plan in a way that makes it harder for sellers to make money (constantly moving the goal post). Prior to 2020 CDW had little to no lay offs now it is happening every six months. They say the reasons is to reduce cost and improve efficiencies BUT as a company our sales continue to grow along with the C-levels pockets.

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