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Akamai doesn't really develop anything

Systems Architect
Former Employee
Worked at Akamai Technologies for 9 years
January 17, 2019
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
2.0
Doesn't RecommendNeutral OutlookDoesn't Approve of CEO
Pros

Large company. Liberal work from home policy. International.

Cons

Your work will never see the light of day.

Akamai started as a web caching service and pretty much stopped there. They have gone on to buy other little companies to acquire new technology and... don't seem to do anything with it.

Akamai has annual layoffs where folks that are not politically aligned get axed regardless of their contribution or technical importance. Honestly though, Akamai needs to lay off a lot more people because Akamai doesn't really develop any new technology. They really don't need all of those engineers and developers. Seriously, Akamai could be 1/10th its current size and still be just as "productive".

The liberal work-from-home policy is nice, but it also has a downside. My manager lived in another state. His manager lived in another country. Our BU was run by another guy in another country.

Nothing seems to get done. My team produced lots of great work, but there was nobody to hand it off to, even the teams that requested the systems in the first place. Nobody is in charge. Nothing seems to go anywhere. There is no direction.

Advice to Management

Bite the bullet and decide just what the heck it is you do.

Figure out what people you need to do that one thing and then -- sorry -- fire the rest.

Akamai is bloated with people looking for something to do. Let them go or give them real jobs!

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