About Smoothstack
Stacked for Success
Smoothstack is a leading workforce transformation company – stacked with people, enterprise, and technology to power meaningful careers and fuel enterprise growth.
IT Employment Equity Starts with Smoothstack
As an MBE-certified Business, Diversity is in our DNA
Creating real DEI change takes more than box-checking initiatives. It takes mission-driven, progressive partners passionate about creating bias-free opportunities.
Smoothstack’s merit-based approach to recruiting and training individuals fuels meaningful career growth for diverse talent – all while driving DEI progress for its clients.
72% of all Smoothstackers fall under one or more diversity groups.
Smoothstack’s tech talent is currently just over 51% minority.
What We Stand For
A purpose-driven, people-first approach to building talent, grounded in readiness, performance, and real-world impact.
Vision
A true meritocracy – where opportunity is unlocked by capability, readiness, and results.
Mission
To expand access to technology careers by turning potential into high-performing talent and raising the standard for what enterprises can expect from every hire.
The Smoothstack Story
Born from the gap we set out to close.
Founder John Akkara saw the talent gap from both sides – first watching his capable college roommate struggle to launch his career, and later as an IT consultant facing a shortage of engineers with the right skills. Like many, he once believed hard work and a college degree were the whole equation – but quickly realized the playing field wasn’t level. The problem wasn’t ability; it was opportunity.
That realization led to Smoothstack – a model built to identify aptitude, train for real-world impact, and close the gap between potential and opportunity. What began as a way to bridge the skills gap has evolved into developing AI-native engineers who multiply capability, not just capacity – creating access where there was none and helping talent thrive in ways they never thought possible.
Smoothstack has changed the trajectory of more than 2,500 technology careers – proving that when potential meets opportunity and preparation, people don’t just succeed – they redefine what’s possible.
The Values that Power the Smoothstack Team
We fuel our culture in three big ways.
Act with integrity
Be client obsessed
Take care of your colleagues
Let’s Build Your Team
Connect with the Smoothstack team to learn how to close your digital skills gap with a custom-trained team.