Akamai Technologies

The technological acumen of the company is top-notch. Engineering challenges and experience gained are up there with the top of the pack. Some of the engineers are the best in the business and are scarily smart. You will be challenged as an engineer, and this is a good thing. Very low employee turnover indicates that Akamai is a very good company to work for.

Senior management has the trust of the employees to "do the right thing" and is well-respected. The feeling within Akamai is that the sky is the limit and the potential of the company is very high.

Getting up to speed as an engineer takes a very long time, as the institutional knowledge held by longtime employees is not well documented. This is further compounded because Akamai's technologies are highly specific and thus highly customized. Having the feeling of being productive can take a long time.

The fear of "taking down the internet" makes release cycles very long. This is a valid concern, but it permeates every business group, and this slows down everything.

The company has a hard time sorting through all the potential ideas and prioritizing them. Too many good ideas.

Overall, you are doing a very good job. I would focus on simplifying the engineering onboarding process with a strong focus on training and better documentation. You also need to simplify and speed up the process involved between idea creation and a deployed system by removing barriers in the process.