What Does Okta Mean? The Weather Word Behind the Name
Okta is not an acronym and has no full form. An okta is a unit used in weather reporting. It means one eighth of the sky covered by cloud.
Weather stations report cloud cover on a scale of 0 to 8 oktas. Zero oktas is a clear sky. Eight oktas is fully overcast.
The company chose the word because it sells cloud software. The name points at the cloud without using the word cloud.
The root is the Greek word for eight. The same root appears in octagon and octopus.
The Cloud Cover Scale
| Oktas | Sky condition | Plain description |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Clear | No cloud at all |
| 1 to 2 | Few | A small amount of cloud |
| 3 to 4 | Scattered | Up to half the sky |
| 5 to 7 | Broken | More cloud than clear sky |
| 8 | Overcast | Fully covered |
| 9 | Sky obscured | Fog or another blocked view |
The code 9 is used when the observer cannot see the sky. It is not a measure of cloud.
You will meet this scale in aviation weather reports and in station records. That is the original meaning of the word.
Why a Software Company Picked It
Okta sells identity and access management. That means single sign-on, multi-factor login and user directories delivered as a service.
All of that runs in the cloud. A weather term for cloud cover gave the company a short, unusual name that hinted at the product.
The Name Change
The company did not start as Okta. It was founded under the name Saasure Inc.
That earlier name joined SaaS, meaning software as a service, with the word sure. The founders later said it was awkward to say and easy to mishear, so they changed it.
The founders are Todd McKinnon and Frederic Kerrest. Both had worked at Salesforce before starting the company.
Some retellings add a numerology story about the number eight. Treat that as reported, not confirmed. The cloud cover meaning is the explanation the company itself gives.
What Okta Does Now
Okta is a public company that trades under the ticker OKTA. Its products sit between users and the applications they log into.
The main parts are these.
- Single sign-on. One login opens many applications.
- Multi-factor authentication. A second check, such as a push or a code.
- Universal Directory. One store of user records and attributes.
- Lifecycle management. Accounts are created and removed as people join and leave.
- Auth0. A developer product Okta acquired, used to add login to custom applications.
Okta Meaning in Other Places
Searching for okta returns several different things. It helps to keep them apart.
- The weather unit. One eighth of sky cloud cover, as above.
- The company. Okta, Inc., the identity software firm.
- Okta in Dutch and German text. Often a translation question about the same weather unit.
- The Okta Expression Language. A small language inside the Okta product for transforming user attributes.
Should You Mention This in an Interview?
Knowing the name origin will not get you hired. It is still a small, cheap signal of interest.
A better use of the same research time is the product itself. Be ready to explain single sign-on in one sentence.
Try this one. Single sign-on lets a user log in once and then open many applications without logging in again.
Then be ready for the follow-up. Identity interviews often move from that sentence into tokens, sessions and what happens when a login is revoked.
How to Prepare
- Learn how login systems work. Sessions, tokens and access control appear in most Okta rounds. Grokking System Design Fundamentals covers the building blocks.
- Practice the design round. Grokking the System Design Interview includes the distributed pieces an identity service needs.
- Read the company pages. See what Okta is famous for and the role of Okta.
- Know the loop. Read the Okta interview process round by round before your recruiter call.
- Prepare the coding round. See which Okta coding interview questions to prepare.
- Have a real answer for why Okta. Our page on why you want to join Okta shows what a specific answer looks like.
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