Shifting to dinosaur status - Lead Software Engineer Akamai Employee Review

3.0
Sep 30, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Akamai's benefits and pay are good to great, and the work life balance is excellent. You'll have an opportunity to work with really huge datasets and the intersection between your work and your daily life will start to become apparent as you realize just how much traffic Akamai controls. It's a real opportunity to make a difference with some decent technology. There's a huge and shiny new building in Kendall Square that Akamai will be moving in to very shortly. It's very modern and cool.

Cons

The tech stack at Akamai is almost entirely proprietary. The company does let teams integrate open source and new tech as they see fit, but the process is very slow. Basic solved problems like continuous build and integration seem like unmoveable behemoths, even though they are not. Technical debt is rising and the company leadership has explicitly admitted that they are prioritizing revenue streams over any sort of technical debt reduction or mitigation. Over the past 5 years the company has gone from a fairly nimble if a bit introspective organization to a profit hungry big business. There are a few departments that seem to be guided by randomly throwing darts at a board with no thought to how it will affect other units. Communication between business units is poor to non-existent.

Explore other reviews about Akamai

5.0
Jun 10, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Genuinely collaborative culture with talented, supportive colleagues across sales, marketing, and technical teams. * Strong work-life balance and flexibility compared to many companies in the cybersecurity industry. * Meaningful products and technology with a strong reputation in the market. * Employees are trusted to own their work without excessive micromanagement. * Good benefits and a people-first culture that generally prioritizes employee well-being.

Cons

As a large organization, decision-making can sometimes be slow and require alignment across multiple stakeholders. * Organizational changes and shifting priorities occasionally create uncertainty. * Cross-functional processes can be complex, which can impact speed of execution.

4.0
Jun 10, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good people and good tech

Cons

Management is completely hit or miss

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