Remote Work Realizes Better Work Life Balance: Conversation with Security Architect
Hi, this is Omar, in charge of TA in Akamai Japan.
Since 1998, Akamai Technologies has provided our CDN services to the world. In 2024, Akamai is now a leader in CDN, Security, and Cloud. We make life better for billions of people, trillions of times a day.
We are able to provide our services so effectively thanks to our many hardworking employees. At Akamai, our employees work on a Flexbase program, allowing our employees to work fully remote, hybrid, or at the office.
One of Japan’s employees who leverages this FlexBase system is Junya Yamaguchi. As one of our Security Architects, Junya helps to protect our lives online, every day. Junya joined our Tokyo team in January 2020, and once he joined, he quickly took advantage of the benefits of our FlexBase working style.
I had a chance to catch up with Junya and learn more about his experience working remotely at Akamai.
As a Security Architect, Junya works with a variety of different security products that Akamai offers. In particular, he has been supporting customers with our WAF and Bot Manager solutions. For example, he analyzes the detection logs of both WAF and Bot management solution (Bot Manager) used by our customers; he then creates reports, and proposes appropriate setting changes to the customer based on the report. He makes every effort to keep our customers’ environment protected.
Amazingly, Junya is able to handle all this from his living room. Interactions with customers are all done remotely, unless specified otherwise at the customer’s request – which may happen once every few months.
I asked Junya, “When was the last time you visited the office?” To my surprise, Junya visited the office fairly recently, in March 2024. Akamai just opened our brand new office in Tokyo Yaesu Midtown building, and all employees were invited to the Welcome Party. At this event, Junya met with many of his colleagues, both within his immediate team and from different divisions. Junya is able to decide which events he wishes to attend in person, such as the welcome party, end of year party, visits from our global CEO and co-founder, and so on.
“By working fully remote, I initially thought team building may be a challenge.” But Junya explained to me that he has been able to build great relationships with his colleagues. For example, each customer has an Internal Account Team assigned to them. This is a team made up of various members that support a customer, such as sales, pre-sales, security architects, project managers, and customer success. By the nature of this structure means you frequently get to interact with a variety of members actively on a daily basis.
Conversations about common goals, necessary tasks, and accomplishments naturally occur. Within these company calls, they have casual chats to get to know other team’s members too. Of course, there are also frequent catch-up meetings with all of Junya’s security department to connect. Most communication is done via our internal communication tool, video calls/chats, and email: all 100% remote-enabled channels.
Working remotely is one of the joys of working at Akamai for Junya. Junya is a very family-oriented person. With the choice to work 100% remotely, he has the flexibility to balance work and family life efficiently. “The best thing about working from home is being able to be around my family more. Without having to commute to and from the office, I can spend as much time as possible with my family.” By working remotely, work time can be flexible and employees are given the ability to balance work life and private life effectively.
Working at home, Junya is able to spend time with his kids throughout the day. He really enjoys working with his family around. He's arranged a workstation in his living room, allowing him to stay close to his family while he works. During important client calls, he moves and takes calls in another room. But the majority of the time, he can be in an open space and be an active parent throughout the day. When he started working remotely, he simply worked from his dining room table. As time passed on and remote work was established as the norm, he was able to set up a workstation at home. Akamai provided all employees with an expense to assist in creating a comfortable working space.
“I mainly work in the living room desk space that I have set up. It is great because I get to work and be a part of this active family environment. Being in an open workspace, I can easily attend to my crying child quickly and co-parent.”
I asked if being remote and around your family most of the time affects the efficiency of work. Were there distractions? Did he need to do other home tasks? Junya presented an alternative viewpoint. He strongly felt his performance and diligence has improved compared to before. Working onsite as an engineer, there are many tasks that have an “in-between'' time. This time can be seens as inefficient.
Junya says, “As a Security Architect, when we speak with clients in person, we must commute to and from the client’s office. We take in information in person, but have to wait to deliver or make any changes until we physically get back to our own desk. The commute time alone can take up to two hours depending on the location. By working remotely, we do not have any time lag. We can jump off a call and get to work. The information is still fresh and we can deliver in a speedy manner. Rather than spending time commuting, we can use the time to make system changes, create new proposals, and so on. The overall performance and efficiency increased.”
I asked if there is any worry about distractions working from home. Junya laughed and agreed. “Of course, there are some distractions at times, but by working at home, I do not need to focus on an 8-hours-a-day working model. I can really balance work and life. I can adjust flexibly, and feel like I am spending time with my family while working. Of course, I miss being able to see someone’s face at the office in person but I can still communicate with them remotely and for special events or gatherings. We still get together for dinner or for some drinks to catch up.
As my chat with Junya was ending, I asked one last question – what do you enjoy most about working from home? “With the flexibility of remote work, I am able to take and pick up my child from daycare. This is extremely important as it also allows me to promptly pick up my child in an emergency. Overall, I get to balance my life and spend the valuable time with my children from a young age.”
At Akamai, we value making life better for everyone online. This goes for our employees too, as it is important to make their life better online and at home. Our Flexbase program gives staff the ability to work, pursue their passions, spend time with family, and ultimately focus on their wellbeing.
If interested, be sure to view our open roles and apply now!
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