Got progressively worse - Business Development Representative (BDR) Adobe Employee Review

3.0
3 Sept 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

When I started at Adobe things were looking great, with systems and tools that worked well and a simple enough process for BDRs. There were also: -Good benefits -Mental health bursaries for gym/sports gear/etc -Eye health bursary for checks and eyewear -Hybrid work -Genuine people in team -Access to Adobe products

Cons

As time went on things started to go down hill and the cracks started to show. First, there is no opportunity to progress (max you can achieve is 'Senior BDR' and good luck getting anything past that). The 'knowledge gap' is too big between BDR and AE or BDR and SAM. When those jobs open, BDRs are never seriously considered. Your chances of success are limited to whatever patch is assigned to you. Some BDRs cruise through exceeding targets with little effort, other BDRs hustle and fall short. The inbound/outbound disparity accross patches made it an uneven playing field. Quota allocation makes no sense. Low targets are allocated to the high achieving patches, and high targets are allocated to the harder patches covering the less popular solutions. There is constant restructuring and an unclear vision for some solutions, especially Adobe Commerce. BDRs are now also being held accountable for booking opportunities, which has always been the responsibility of the AE. The switch from Salesforce to Dynamics 360 was chaos. We went from a system that worked well, to one that is awful in every way, elongates the admin process by hours and was imposed on us without taking any consideration of our requirements. Managers make a difference. My original manager was great (a bit hands-off but was always there when needed and genuinley helpful and encouraging), the newer manager is a micromanaging nightmare who pretends to care about the team.

Explore other reviews about Adobe

5.0
8 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Awesome culture. I love going to work every day. People are really nice - exciting to be in the industry where a lot of innovation is happening - good work life balance - flexible RTO - two one-week shutdowns per year, unlimited PTO, global wellness days, great benefits

Cons

- Leadership lost its way. Missed huge opportunities in markets served by Canva and GenAI. Took the wrong bet on commercially safe models, missing out on huge opportunities that were captured by competing GenAI models. No clear strategy or vision from management about how to get back in track. Our products are losing market share every day and management seems to be lime deer in headlights, unsure what to do - Watching stock price deflating nearly every day is disheartening - Decision making is very slow. Takes ages to get things approved. - C-suite is mostly over 50 and often seem out of touch with latest AI and tech trends. Uphill battle sometimes to get them to see urgent opportunities that need to be acted on immediately - Adobe failed to organically develop major products in the last 20 years. Major recent ones; Firefly and Express; have not been successful.

1
3.0
8 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great opportunity to learn from incredibly smart people, many opportunities to continue education, great for independent workers, not so for entry

Cons

Upper management forgets that first line managers need training. You need a thick skin to survive them

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All