Q&A With Akamai Employees

Business casual is probably enough, but know your audience and the expectations of your potential role.

Business casual should do the trick.

Depends

Very. From a design standpoint less so - we are not here to innovate new UI directions, we are here to make our users tasks as seamless as possible in an industry with a level of irreducible complexity.

Not anymore

Not at all... new products come from acquiring other companies.

Minimum by law

Insurance, "Unlimited" PTO, Bonus, RSUs for some.

No drug test, yes to a background check; I think those things are stricter if you are a contractor/contingent worker than if you are hired on full time.

Background check. Not sure on anything else, but not be surprised

They don't drug test. I'm sure they do some sort of background check, the question is what do they look for?

3 months

Maybe a couple of phone screens, then an on-site interview of several hours depending on the number of interviewers (5 in average).

The longest part was dealing with HR. They slowed things down immeasurably. It could have been done in a day, but ended up taking weeks.

Similar.

It was about average, nothing really unusual about the interview.

They are all childish

it was too long ago, I can't remember.

How would you architect Monopoly for online players?

Well under average

Above average, it all depends on the teams.

I joined Akamai as part of an acquisition. My interview process was probably not typical. I just had some discussions with folks in different groups that was primarily about where my position would be within the various organizations.

Work-life balance for me is great, as I work from home.

Not at all difficult.

Not difficult

Not so much due to recent layoffs.

They have had several RIFs since I've been here (even though the company is profitable). People are not let go do to job performance but for purely budgeting needs. The decision is made far away from any line manager or director. The individuals deciding who is fired have never met those being fired or interacted with them in any way. So basically with no warning and from out of the blue an employee at Akamai find themselves out of a job.

It will vary across divisions, but generally it's something that Akamai outlines as a priority. It's give and take, as an employee must also understand there are crunch times which will require more focus on work.

Not always great... being out of touch or unreachable is frowned upon, even while you are on vacation. Some people expect folks to still join meetings while on vacation or otherwise away from work.

For admins, I think it depends a lot on who you work for, but compensation scales reasonably with the availability requirement. Nearly all execs are offline for a few hours in the early evening with their families, but there is a late-night burst of email and then early AM from the APJ offices.

They are relatively few and far between, mostly dependent on your team or department. The only company outings I've been on have been field-day-like outings which are fun, holiday parties, which are very good, and occasionally extravagant all-hands meetings with bands, BBQ, giveaways, etc.

What company outings? It is strictly forbidden to spend expense any meal or event at which a customer is not present.

Business casual or even less formal - t-shirts and jeans, even shorts, are not out of place.

Varies depending on location and function.

Not allowed (to my dismay), at least in the Cambridge offices.

No pets.

Because UX design is such a broad collection of disciplines, how do you break down your own skills and preferences between research/strategy, IA/interaction design, visual design, and front end coding?

Difficult to say

It is one of the most loyal and transparent companies I've ever worked for. I trust the upper management to do the right thing more than anywhere else I've been, and they really seem to want to do what is best for their people as well as their shareholders.

Cannot think any reason why

Depends on whom you are friend of

There's an Akamai Anywhere program, and lots of teams have remote people.

Don't even try it

Avoid it

Showing that even if you don't know an answer, you're able to ask the right questions and try to determine an appropriate answer.

Raises have been ok on a yearly basis, although 2018 wasn't great.

They regularly have cancelled raises all together while I've been here. This even though they are making a profit.

There are some very good people here, but the office in Santa Clara seems to be crowded with lots of B players, mostly because it's hard from a recruiting standpoint to compete with the Facebook and Google of the world in the Bay.

Certainly some bright minds and hardworking folks, but the bulk of the team is average, mostly due to the heavy competition in the Bay, with Akamai being at odds with the giants and not being able to compete financially wise, and more recently not being able to trigger interest in candidates from a projects/technology standpoint.

Execution centric in my division, limited room for innovation.

Average. A lot of the people with some level of vision have left or been let go, so we're left with people purely focused on execution, leaving very little room for creativity.

Slow. The disorganization means nothing gets done very fast.

Everchanging

None, unless having to pay for your own coffee is a perk.

Unlimited PTO

Candid and constant

There is zero communication. It is very confusing. There are far to few managers... you rarely speak to your manager. Weeks or months can go by without getting any communication from management.