Coursera Reviews

Two co-CEOs with too much ego to realize neither is qualified to run a company leads to the worst leadership team ever. The situation is so bad, in fact, that their investor (KPCB) forced on them another executive - so now they have two CEOs and a President. The culture is so bad that other than the original students (at Stanford) under Daphne and Andrew (in the CS department), most early employees leave as soon as they hit their one year vesting cliff. Since so many employees leave in disgust, the leadership has begun request they sign a Non-Disparagement Agreement. Although the company built its reputation on a veneer of social impact and the motto of "Do what's best for the student," they've done nothing to back it up and lacks any clear mission statement. Leadership has been brought in from YouTube and NetFlix, and even at 50+ people, there are only three educators on staff. Although classes remain free, no effort has been spent to improve - or even measure - student learning or outcomes, and Coursera ignores even the most basic fact of education - that students do not learn by watching videos and regurgitating facts. Then again, with a completion rate below 5% for most classes, it's not clear people even succeed in watching the videos.

In the past month, I’ve seen 6 coworkers break down in tears due to overwork and physical fatigue. That’s right. Grown men and women. Crying. At work. For an education company. Coursera is a company in growth mode; hard work and stress should be expected. Where it gets weird is how employees are pressured to exude high levels of positivity, “wokeness”and inspiration while working long hours into the night, fighting for more help, and having their work criticized in public under the toxic mantra of “learn, change, grow”. If you were to sit down and talk with any employee in private they would admit that they flat out hate their job and are actively looking for a new one. So why aren’t there more bad Glassdoor reviews you ask? It’s because most employees have stock allocations and don’t want to post anything negative publicly that affect the perception/value of Coursera.