Decent company; variable tech - Principal Software Engineer Elsevier Employee Review

3.0
13 Apr 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Work-life balance - Working on some genuinely interesting problems - The company is consciously trying to pivot to become better

Cons

- Too much product focus at the expense of tech - Dealing with legacy systems is not a priority -> leads to accumulating too much technical debt that slows down progress - Still a bit siloed - You can easily get boxed in into a dull routine of fixing broken stuff and give up any hopes of anything better

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Elsevier Response
7y
Thank you for taking the time to leave your review. At Elsevier, we are all responsible for our own development and careers, with support from our managers through career development conversations, action planning and ongoing coaching. We are committed to a fair, equitable and inclusive approach to career development for all employees, and we recognize individual preferences, aspirations and development needs. We support this in a structured manner. Managers have an important role in supporting career development for their team members. As you must have noticed, we have increased our investment in in-person training opportunities to enhance skills further in this area. Job titles are well clarified at Elsevier. However, as noted that you’ve spent less than a year at Elsevier if you think your job is not reflective of the work you do daily, it’s important to discuss this with your manager. Overall, our tech employees, as well as the leadership team in Tech globally, are unified in their efforts to continue to build an environment that is supportive, nurturing and inclusive. We encourage you to partake in this by identifying other ways to further contribute to these efforts by speaking to your manager or if you prefer, contact us at elseviergdrev@elsevier.com

Explore other reviews about Elsevier

5.0
11 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Industry leader Great benefits Incentive trips Invests heavily in its employees

Cons

Processes can be burdensome and clunky at times

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Elsevier Response
1mo
Thank you for this balanced and thoughtful review. We're glad to hear that our benefits and investment in people are making a positive impact, those are commitments we take seriously. On the process feedback: Leadership is actively reviewing operational workflows, and the advice to listen more closely to employee feedback is something we're holding ourselves accountable to. If you're open to it, we'd encourage you to bring specific examples forward through your team or people and culture contacts. Change is most effective when it's grounded in the real experiences of the people doing the work, and that means you. Feel free to reach out to us at elseviergdrev@elsevier.com to provide more information Thank you for staying engaged and for caring enough to share this. It matters.
4.0
20 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

-Great company -Team has talented, experienced account managers and product experts who know the territory well

Cons

West team management is heavy on micromanagement and sets unrealistic territory targets without rep input — high turnover, and long tenure in company seems to shield this manager from accountability and growth

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