A good company that tries to do its best - Software Engineer Okta Employee Review

3.0
3 Nov 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Okta is a good company. The people mean well and try to live by it. Todd McKinnon and Freddy have done a phenomenal job building out the company to where it is now. The product is a leader in identity management. Quite frankly, if you have SSO, MFA, or just need a more extensible LDAP, you would be a fool to not consider Okta top-of-mind. The company is winning big and making money. The engineers are talented. Perhaps not the most talented group I've worked with, but they get the job done. The top-end of the talent is very high, and there are sufficient paths for growth in both engineering and management leadership. If you do your job, the promotions will come. Okta tries hard to be fair in compensating you according to the market. You will not be under-paid, but Okta will not go out-of-band to make sure you are exceptionally well-compensated. If you want to learn about how to grind out and build up an enterprise SaaS company, there is no better place. Okta will instill in you respect for process and why/when they get added. How to get a flock of engineers to march to the same drummer and build products. You will have fire-support whenever you need it, but you need to own your feature, own your product, and own your career. Okta is building a mini-brand and other companies know about Okta. I can personally say that I can use my experience and my reputation as having worked at Okta at other enterprise SaaS companies with a surprising amount of leverage.

Cons

The mobility team is a mess. The engineering management lacks leadership and vision for how to evolve the product, grow the team, and effectively compete with the other OMM vendors. This is made worse by the incompetent product management there. Okta should have a tremendous advantage over the existing OMM vendors because it's anchored by the premier identity management and SSO product. It's an incredibly opportunity missed to dominate that vertical and Todd needs to shake that area up. Engineering managers by-and-large are not great. Greg (the VP) tries to do well but is the more or less the only engineering manager who has the skills needed to help grow a team. There are a couple others as well, but most of engineering management either lacks the emotional intelligence to understand how to keep engineers happy and productive, hands-off to an extreme, is really an engineer promoted far too fast, or has some other major flaw that keeps them from being an effective manager. Despite the fact that we have career tracks, career development is basically nonexistent in-so-far as working with managers to acquire new skills and build up careers. Luckily Okta has some fairly good technical leads and product leads for the teams, otherwise engineers would just spin in circles. Some attrition in a fast-growing company is acceptable and perhaps even desirable to get fresh blood in and open positions for them to grow into, but a lot of the attrition at Okta comes from bad management. That is a real bummer.

Explore other reviews about Okta

5.0
26 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Well-structured and highly organized. Lots of learning and growth opportunities, autonomy and ownership. Companywide AI trainings and certification. Great people

Cons

Two-year limit on contractors and not a lot of headcount to convert contractors to FTE

1.0
4 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Smart, talented, and supportive colleagues. Interesting products and the opportunity to work on technology that impacts many customers. Good work-life balance in most teams. Collaborative culture with opportunities to learn from experienced peers. Strong brand recognition and valuable experience for your resume

Cons

Cons Recognition is lacking, especially for individual contributors. Strong performance and consistent delivery do not necessarily translate into career advancement, promotions, or meaningful salary increases. Growth opportunities appear limited for ICs, while management roles seem to receive a greater share of advancement and compensation opportunities. After several years, many individual contributors may find themselves reaching a career plateau with few clear paths for progression. If career growth, promotion opportunities, and compensation advancement are important priorities, it may be worth evaluating other opportunities once you’ve gained experience here

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