My Journey to Akamai and Back
Beijing is my home. Where I was born and raised. But APJ is my playground.
As a region, it's very diverse and dynamic, with a lot to experience. Although I'm based in the Beijing office, I have opportunities to collaborate closely with my colleagues in Japan, India, Singapore and Australia. We find synergies and uniqueness in each market, and constantly share ideas and best practices. It's fun, but it's also an enriching learning experience to live and work in such an exciting region.
To make it even more exciting, APJ is the fastest growing CDN and Cloud security market around the globe. And over the past decade, Akamai has become a key part of the eco-system that helps businesses to thrive.
This is actually one of the reasons why I joined Akamai. I also came for its technology around web and mobile acceleration. Which has a profound impact on the way people use the Internet. During the past years, Akamai has become a security company too, which is really exciting to me.
I was also drawn in by the fact that the China team only had six people when I started, and everyone played a key role in the business' success. We were encouraged to step out of our roles and make a bigger impact. And actually, that start-up type of energy and atmosphere is still here in Akamai, although we now have over 100 employees in Greater China - and a few thousand globally.
Once I was in, I stayed for a long while. I've been very lucky to have enjoyed such diverse professional experiences with Akamai. My first role change was from pre-sales to product marketing. I didn't actively pursue it. My manager back then proactively talked to me about the role and introduced me to the hiring manager. I think he believed I was a good fit for the role and saw that it could also give me more exposure to the business side of Akamai.
Years later, after I had been a people manager myself for a few years, I realized how selfless what he did was. He prioritized my career growth and the overall good of the company, over the short-term pain of losing a high performing team member. I was deeply touched.
My second role change was from product marketing to pre-sales management. This time I actively pursued it. Because after several years of business and technical training, I felt it was time to multiply my impact by building and running a great team.
As my career journey proves, Akamai has a great track record of promoting people internally. And there are plenty of opportunities to pursue. Especially in a fast-growing region like APJ.
The opportunities are so good in fact that after eight years at Akamai, I left briefly and returned. What attracted me back was still the inclusive culture. I really value the diverse and open working environment that the company provides and I'm very proud to be working for such a great organization.They made me feel very welcome once again. I was given a high level of trust based on my performance in the previous years. After onboarding, I got a lot of support from my colleagues, and my current and previous managers. It made me feel like I never left. And that's the great culture of Akamai. Something that I will always cherish!
