lots of potential - unfortunately favors idiocy and bad managers - Senior Systems Engineer Cengage Employee Review

2.0
Mar 13, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Benefits package is decent, some very talented folks around, interaction with Sr mgmt is ok (but watch your back)

Cons

Technology in use is generally way behind. CLTS mgmt is highly against any type of automation, segmentation of roles is extreme and generally does not favor technologists reaching across and lending a hand, too process oriented, and very political. Promotions generally favor those who brown nose, and not the folks that are able to generate results

Explore other reviews about Cengage

5.0
Mar 28, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Total rewards, time off, great people and culture

Cons

Lots of changes and uncertainty at times

1.0
Jul 13, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The individuals below the management level are good people, with some good people at management but C-Suite is horrible.

Cons

C-Suite hides their plans under corporate speak. Cengage was a family owned private company and they sold and ever since then has had, debt, schemes to shuffle and restructure debt while implementing RIFs after RIFs after RIFs...never ending and amazingly has been in increased this last year. From their actions it's outsource as much as you can of company operations and squeeze value from Intellectual Property. Look how many times they've renamed themselves. They had a CTO join for about a month or two until she realized it was a role with no team, no authority and left. The CEO is amazing at spin, you hear "great, great, great" corporate speak as the reality on the ground is "this failed, that failed..what!? they're gone!...what they moved that department offshore!...what!? that department is now a vendor relationship...oh we're not DEI focused because the wind changed". The trend is contraction not expansion, no ground breaking innovation. My jaded view from college on expensive books has only grew since I see how the sausage is made.

2
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