:Delmain Reviews

If you want to work for a “boss” that is actually a college frat bro that never grew up, in an “office” that is actually a dirty freezing cold garage, all while being underpaid with no benefits, then this is the place for you. That alone should be enough to get you to reconsider applying here, but if you’re a young recent college grad or just finished some sort of bootcamp and you’re really desperate for a job (the exact type of person Dan preys on) let’s go into detail as to why you need to avoid Delmain like it’s the plague. First of all, everybody at Delmain is making at least 20k less than they should be making. The only benefit to be seen (when I worked there) is a terrible providence medical plan. No dental, no vision. You only start out with 12 days PTO, and that increases by two days each year. But god forbid you actually take your PTO, or are sick and need to work from home. If you use your PTO or WFH, you will be judged, and you will be belittled, and you will be penalized. But of course, not directly, because Dan is too spineless to have a real conversation with you about it, instead you will simply be the target of passive aggressive digs about you and your job performance. Also when I left there was no actual policy about working from home, it really just came down to how Dan felt in that particular moment in that particular day. If he was in a good mood, great, you can work from home without being treated like a child. Other times, not so much. But remember, “no micro-managing here!” /sarcasm. Secondly, if you happen to be a woman, there is NO way you’ll ever get promoted, be paid fairly, or taken seriously, as Dan only hires women so that he doesn’t outwardly appear sexist, though he is in fact probably the most sexist person I have ever had the misfortune of knowing. Dan is the type of man who walks around wearing a trendy Wildfang “Wild Feminist” crewneck, but then hires less qualified men over more qualified women, pays women employees a great deal less than the men, and thinks that the only redeeming quality a woman can have is that she is a “sweetheart.” When I started at Delmain my salary was $36,000/yr. When a male who had less experience than me joined the company, he started at $50,000/yr. The scariest part of this is that Dan truly believes he is doing nothing wrong. Multiple women at the company have come forward, at great risk of their own, and asked him to undergo gender and bias training. This has been brought up to him MANY times. He will say “sure, find me a company that does that and I will book them,” and then he never does. And then proceeds to treat that female employee like garbage as punishment for coming forward. Not only is he not alarmed that his words and actions are damaging to his female employees, he doesn’t even care enough to look up training companies himself. If there is a god, the moment Dan touched that “Wild Feminist” shirt it should have just burst into flames. But, alas. Third, if you’re a designer, don’t even bother applying. Delmain goes through designers like toilet paper, in the year and a half that I worked there 5 designers left, including myself. One of the most accomplished designers Delmain ever had just up and left without even having anything else lined up after, purely because he was so sick of being treated like complete garbage by Dan. This is because Dan likes to think that he has “the eye” for design, and after going through countless rounds of client edits for a website, the final boss to beat before launch is Dan, who will tack on absurd design changes at the last minute. And if you dispute those changes because you know they will look like trash, you will have to deal with Dan’s passive aggressive wrath for the coming weeks. Sure, Dan has an “eye” for design. Just take a look at his personal website, where the green plaid background makes all of the Comic Sans copy completely illegible. To Dan, defending your design with logic and facts means you have a bad attitude. Going along with whatever he says even though it a) doesn’t make sense and b) looks like trash, means you’re a great employee! Fourth - internal “structure” and “policies.” Policies are made up on the fly, just to serve Dan and his ego. Delmain’s internal policies and procedures have about as much solid structure as a pile of jello. Dan literally has no idea what he is doing, and it is incredibly obvious that he is flying by the seat of his pants. He attempted to use something called "radical candor" as a way to get ideas from his employees on how to run his business. The idea was that being "radically candid" about ways your boss could improve would therefore improve the company as a whole. But when everyone's radical candor suggestions were things like "pay me a livable wage" and "please give us dental insurance," ... let's just say radical candor had a short life span at Delmain. Dan has no idea how to run a business, but, as he knows how to manipulate people and turn on the charm when luring in new clients, people keep signing on. Dan being a conman and snake-oil salesman is pretty much the only thing keeping Delmain afloat - and all of the hardworking underpaid employees that have to deal with his antics. Lastly, the office. The office is a cold cement building that he remodeled WHILE we all had to work in it. There were contractors coming in and out, hammering, sawing, drilling, all while we were in the same room working right there. But remember, can’t work from home! Then, Portland had to rip up the street right outside the office, and the construction was so loud and intense the entire building would shake. Still, no working from home. But god forbid the crossfit people next door (who were there long before Delmain moved in, so Dan knew they were there when he bought the building) drop their weights and play their music, oh boy that really grinds Dan’s gears. So he’ll march next door and complain. So much for that “neighborly” core value, huh? The bathrooms have hideous peeling wallpaper, the floor is dusty cold cement, and it’s as dark and depressing as an empty old cave. Stay far away from Delmain and you’ll be fine. There will be somewhere else that pays more, has better benefits, and doesn’t suck your soul dry. There will be somewhere else where the boss isn’t a sexist bro. These are my opinions, and a summary of my own experience as a female working at Delmain.