If you want a place with good leadership, this isn't it. - Senior Software Engineer Scribd Inc. Employee Review

2.0
Apr 26, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- The people not working as higher management - The benefits and perks - Remote work allowed

Cons

- No chance for professional growth: There isn't a clear path for career development nor help from anyone in the company. - Lack of leadership: There are people in higher management that share many words and very little meaning or vision. - Deaf ears to suggestions: There is this aspect of working as Scribd where new people in higher management offer an idea and you explained how that was tried and why it failed and they would move forward with the idea regardless with an air of: "it failed before because it wasn't me who tried" leading to rehashing of failures leading exactly to the same outcomes it did before. In the engineering side, when they came up with a decision and you explained to them why this was not a good idea you were regarded as someone who's not a team player. - Actively complaining about management has become part of the culture at Scribd to the point that most people still there are there out of inertia because interviewing if just a pain in the neck. - More bureaucracy that is warranted for a company this size with very little agency for ICs. - Constants layoffs being labelled as "reorgs". The phrases "be careful or you'll get reorg'd" and "I don't want to be reorg'd" are now common place with anyone you speak to. According to leadership, the company has not had any round of layoffs and that's because they've labelled it a different name. - The previous CTO was useless as were the people who he brought in and got paid to not do anything at all. Only one of them remains and everyone wonders what value he brings to the company.

Explore other reviews about Scribd Inc.

5.0
Nov 12, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

good culture, great work and highly recommended, remote first

Cons

no annual stock grants or refereshers. It is once in two year thing.

1
5.0
Aug 18, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Competitive Salary & Benefits for a tech company of its size. - A great people team that truly actually tries to make the company a more fun and supportive place to work. - Fun offsites / onsites for team building. - Solid work-life balance, generally flexible. - Bonus structure (if you qualify) is very generous. - Work feels meaningful, you get to work on a product that helps people learn and develop every day. - Lots of internal promotions (depending on your team) - The work really never gets boring, it is fast-paced but not chaotic, like some earlier stage startups can be. Scribd has been around for awhile and is well-structured internally. - Not reliant on funding any longer which takes off a lot of stress.

Cons

- The audiobook space is tough to crack, and a lot of effort has gone into projects that haven’t quite materialized. - User acquisition is very reliant on SEO, which results in volatility often out of anyone’s control. - There could be more transparency on when people leave or get let go, often times you don’t know someone is gone until you go to message them and they are de-activated. - The annual raises could use some flexibility, 2% doesn’t keep up with inflation these days. - Growth has been lagging, which can put a lot of stress on everyone.

1
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