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  • March 2023 (Revised May 2023)
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Akamai Technologies: Expanding the Talent Pipeline

By: Christopher Stanton, Lynda M. Applegate, Allison Ciechanover, Emily Grandjean and Sophie Beck
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:20
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Abstract

In 2022, senior executives of Cambridge, MA-based Akamai Technologies met to consider whether and how to scale a successful technical training program. The program, Akamai Technical Academy (ATA), was launched in 2016 to address a key challenge at Akamai and in the technology industry at large—the need to create an inclusive and diverse workforce. ATA participants came from communities typically underrepresented in the tech industry. They went through six months of in-class training followed by a six-month on-the-job contract working with Akamai project teams. By early 2022, nearly 150 ATA graduates from the U.S., Poland, and Costa Rica had converted to full-time employment, and internal hiring managers were interested in recruiting future ATA graduates. Ultimately, the company wanted to build a robust and diverse global talent pipeline, as well as promote inclusion and diversity in the global technology industry. If ATA were to be a catalyst for these changes, it would need to scale. As they prepared for their meeting, the ATA executives grappled with whether and how to scale the ATA to meet growing internal demand, while also building the platform to transform Akamai and the global technology industry.

Keywords

Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Diversity; Talent and Talent Management; Technology Industry; United States; Boston

Citation

Stanton, Christopher, Lynda M. Applegate, Allison Ciechanover, Emily Grandjean, and Sophie Beck. "Akamai Technologies: Expanding the Talent Pipeline." Harvard Business School Case 823-101, March 2023. (Revised May 2023.)
  • Educators

About The Authors

Christopher T. Stanton

Entrepreneurial Management
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Lynda M. Applegate

Entrepreneurial Management
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Related Work

    • March 2023 (Revised May 2023)
    • Faculty Research

    Akamai Technologies: Expanding the Talent Pipeline

    By: Christopher Stanton, Lynda M. Applegate, Allison Ciechanover, Emily Grandjean and Sophie Beck
Related Work
  • Akamai Technologies: Expanding the Talent Pipeline By: Christopher Stanton, Lynda M. Applegate, Allison Ciechanover, Emily Grandjean and Sophie Beck
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