Akamai Technical Interview Experience: What Every Developer Should Know
Hi_CS
2203
Aug 27, 2025
codingTechnical InterviewBackendInterview

Company : Akamai
Location : India Remote
Role : Software Engineer II
Sub Role : Backend

I recently had the chance to interview with Akamai for the position of Software Engineer II. An overview of my interview experience can be found below:

Step1:

The Talent Acquisition team emailed me to let me know that my resume shortlisted. When they inquired about my availability, I gave them every date that might work.

Step 2:

The 'HackerRank' platform was used to schedule the initial interview. After a brief introduction, I was asked questions based on my resume, with special attention to the most recent projects I had worked on. My work's security-related components piqued the interviewer's interest the most.

Later, he gave me a coding question:

Problem: Given a linked list, return a new linked list containing only odd numbers.
Input: 1 → 2 → 3 → 4 → 5 → 6 → 7 → 8
Output: 1 → 3 → 5 → 7

In addition to explaining the time and space complexity, I was able to solve it fast. He inquired further about circular linked lists and related variants.

The interviewer moved on to conceptual questions after coding, such as:

  1. The distinction between HTTP and HTTPS
  2. The application of HTTP protocols in development
  3. What is JWT? What are its elements and functions?
  4. The significance of the JWT signature element
  5. Public and private keys' function in token signing
  6. OAuth token functionality
  7. The distinction between a refresh token and an access token
  8. Deadlock: Semaphore vs. Mutex
  9. CAP theorem and ACID properties
  10. The distinctions between CAP and ACID
  11. Concepts of Phantom Read and Dirty Read
  12. Inquiries about my prior work were also experience-based.

The interviewer said he enjoyed our conversation and valued my confidence at the conclusion of the session.

Step 3:

The HR staff called me shortly after to let me know that I had passed the round. A senior team member was chosen for the upcoming interview.

Step 4 (Twist):

Regretfully, I discovered later that the position had already been filled because of a shortage of personnel. However, the HR staff promised to contact me about any future suitable positions, and they confirmed this to me via email.

Having said that, we will have your profile updated in the “Silver medalist” community at Akamai. Next time we have a relevant opportunity for you. You will be given priority.

Even though the outcome wasn’t in my favor this time, I truly value the experience and the knowledge I gained. Every interview makes me better prepared for the next one.

Thanks for reading! If you found this helpful, feel free to drop an upvote and let’s chat in the comments if you have any queries.

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