Life at MongoDB
Inside and outside MongoDB - who we are
Leading by Example: Salvatore D’Auria is Taking MongoDB Italy to New Heights
Salvatore D’Auria, Regional Vice President for Italy, the Middle East, and Africa, discusses his career path at MongoDB and the incredible opportunities for sellers in Italy. Jackie Denner: What was your journey to MongoDB? Salvatore D’Auria: The first time I heard of MongoDB was in 2014, long before the company went public or opened its first offices in Milan. I was captured by MongoDB’s operating sales model, which was different from what I was used to while working at Oracle. I found the openness to developers and speed of development accompanied by a distributed architecture very interesting. I studied the growth plans, and in 2017 I invested as a private individual in the MongoDB IPO. In May 2018, I joined the company as the first employee in Rome with the aim of launching the Italian Government market. Our focus led to an enormous success in technological adoption, and this is well represented by the Green Pass developed by Sogei on MongoDB . Since 2021 we have created a team completely dedicated to public administration to support the tremendous growth of this segment. JD: Tell us about your expereince prior to joining the company. SD: I started my tech career at Oracle as an inside sales rep. I made all the classic growth steps up to managerial roles, changing locations, and gaining experience in the Data and Public sector. Then, in 2015, a pretty strategic project opened up at VMware in the development of their commercial team that allowed me to broaden my experience in the channel. Development of new markets and starting new teams while working with data platforms and software-defined infrastructures have been my focus areas over the past 15 years. JD: Why do you believe that Italy is such a strategic and important market for MongoDB? SD: MongoDB opened its first office in Milan in 2017 just before the IPO. The Italian team has always been characterized by organic growth over time, constant development of large customers, and a strong presence in public administration. Our selection process for the team is quite meticulous, albeit challenging, because each team member supports business development from all points of view: sales, pre-sales, consultancy, marketing, and channel. We work closely with our fantastic sales enablement, pre-sales, and marketing teams and take ownership of our role within the sales ecosystem. Our MongoDB values “build together” and “own what you do” are extremely relevant for our sales team. In the last four years, the growth in Italy has followed the hyper-grow our global business has experienced. We have an excellent foundation that allows us to seize further opportunities including the opening of the new Google and AWS data centers in our country, where MongoDB will be present with our developer data platform, MongoDB Atlas, as well as building momentum, availability, and success in the Italian Government sector. This makes our long-term outlook particularly favorable. The MongoDB Italy team JD: How would you describe your leadership style? SD: I have always believed in leading by example. In my experiences as a young Scout leader or as an instructor at Nunziatella Military School, I always believed that example was the key to developing rapid adoption of virtuous models. During my time at military school I learned this quote from Seneca, which still accompanies me today: “Imperare sibi, maximum imperium est” (“the greatest power is to have power over one’s self”). In large organizations, this model of leadership is essential for guiding teams towards common business and career development goals. I consider myself lucky to have learned from leaders with determination and a sense of responsibility, and I try to do the same for my team. JD: Why should someone join the team in Italy? SD: The opportunities at MongoDB are truly endless. As a member of our sales team, you’ll find a culture of transparency and meritocracy. We are focused on developing individuals to be great salespeople and like to think that we are the best technology sales school in Italy. In terms of career growth, there is an opportunity to develop yourself as a manager or individual contributor. For example, we had someone join the team as an Account Executive and after six quarters, be promoted to a Regional Director role overseeing a team. Following the MEDDIC sales methodology, there is also the opportunity to be promoted into the role of Key Account Director supporting a single customer to drive rapid adoption of MongoDB’s developer data platform. Our team is competitive, but there is a lot of camaraderie and support for one another. You’ll have the opportunity to express yourself at your best and know that you will be valued for your unique perspectives and experiences. I am excited about the impact our team in Italy will continue to make on the industry, and I’d love for you to join us. Our sales team is growing in EMEA and across the globe. View open roles on our careers site.
Women Leaders at MongoDB: Lena Smart Discusses Clarity and Goal Setting
March is Women’s History Month. Our women leaders series highlights MongoDB women who are leading teams and empowering others to own their career development and build together. Lena Smart, Chief Information Security Officer, explains why words matter, shares her thoughts on leadership, and discusses MongoDB’s internal mentorship program “MentorHER”. Tell me a bit about your team. My team is responsible for all aspects of security of MongoDB’s global offices and employees. Within my organization I have Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) and InfoSec (security engineering, physical security, etc.) under me. We are dedicated to making every effort to protect customer data, including continually improving security processes and controls. On top of that, we are committed to delivering the highest levels of standards conformance and regulatory compliance as part of our ongoing mission to address the most demanding security and privacy requirements of our customers. My goal is to build the best security and GRC team in the world. What characteristics make a good leader? In my opinion, good leaders are decisive and leave little room for ambiguity. They are understanding and know that people are depending on them for their careers, dreams, and aspirations. They make their work matter every day, are focused on continuous learning, and do not “rest on their laurels.” What has your experience been like as a woman growing your career in leadership? My experience as a woman leader has depended on the environment. It was very difficult as a CIO and CISO in the power industry. Every day I felt like I was being undermined by my peers, who (because they were all “power industry engineers”) felt they were the experts in everything to do with security (they were not). It was exhausting. I finally left and joined a FinTech company. That was better, but I still felt I could find an environment where women were actively encouraged to lead. Hence my move to MongoDB. I could not be happier here and love working with all our teams. Tell us about the biggest lesson you’ve learned throughout your career. The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that words matter. As a leader, people can interpret your words in many ways. Be clear in your message. I have a mantra on our team: “one voice, one message”. I encourage my team members to have all the internal discussion they want, but we do not ever air our dirty laundry in public. We stand with “one voice, one message”. People in general like clarity, and we try hard to enforce that idea within my team by encouraging each person to own what they do. What’s your advice for building and developing a team? I believe cultivating a supportive and positive team culture stems from the top down. I really embrace and follow MongoDB’s company values . Build Together is the main value I follow because, to me, people are everything. You need the right people in the right places owning what they do. I am also a huge advocate for people taking the initiative and building upon their own careers. I make sure to set aside a budget for training and certification programs for my team. This allows them to enhance their knowledge and helps them grow and develop into even stronger security and GRC professionals. I also started the Security Champions Program at MongoDB almost four years ago, a volunteer-based program that allows anyone who has an interest in security to join monthly meetings to learn more. Can you tell us a bit about the MentorHER program at MongoDB? I am honored to be the Executive Sponsor for a very important internal program called MentorHER. MentorHER aims to create diverse teams, develop female leaders, drive organizational changes, and enhance MongoDB’s reputation as an employer of choice. I’ve had a couple of mentors who made a positive impact on my career. I cherished our time together and made sure to have a clear understanding of the mentoring program I signed up for. There were goals, regular meetings, and a lot of positivity generated by mentoring. I hope we can replicate that at MongoDB with our MentorHER program. We have a very strong team leading the program, and I feel very confident that we will meet our goals and embrace the different experiences and perspectives of the women around us. What is your advice to women looking to grow their careers as leaders? My advice to other women is this: be clear and honest in what you want from a leadership role. At the C-suite level you will be pulled in many directions. Control that, from the start, where possible. It’s important to be intellectually honest and have clear goals that will help your team grow and mature, and the business flourish. Join a team that builds together every day. View open career opportunities at MongoDB.
Women Leaders at MongoDB: Why Kanika Khurana is Leading with Transparency
March is Women’s History Month. Our women leaders series highlights MongoDB women who are leading teams and empowering others to own their career development and build together. Kanika Khurana, Technical Services Manager, shares how she leads with transparency, the importance of taking smart risks, and enabling team members to have the “courage to fall and rise again”. Tell me a bit about your team. I oversee the Cloud Technical Services team in India. Our team provides technical advice and support to MongoDB customers by acting as subject matter experts to clear blockers and recommend best practices, enabling customers to build next-generation applications. What characteristics make a good leader? I think that a good leader comes to know and value their employees' unique skills and abilities. They determine how to capitalize on their team’s strengths and tweak the environment to meet their larger goals. By taking the time to understand each employee, a great manager shows that they see their people for who they are. Have you faced any challenges as a woman growing your career in leadership? One of the criticisms I’ve faced over the years is that I’m an emotional thinker, which somehow hampers my decision-making. However, while I tend to be a more relationally-oriented decision maker, I’ve used this characteristic to help advance my career. Listening to and involving team members in essential conversations has enabled me to make more logical, reasonable, and healthier decisions. What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned throughout your career? The best leaders are transparent. They admit mistakes, ask for forgiveness, and make bad situations right. These “failures” aren’t signs of weakness but rather strengths. Mistakes are inevitable, and what we learn from them is what determines the course of our success. Trying to look perfect isn’t authentic, creates stress, and models unhealthy perfectionism. Through transparency, you build stronger relationships and an environment where a commitment to doing the right thing impacts the culture and the bottom line. The best thing you could do is to offer an Eden to your team, which allows them to grow and thrive, rather than creating an environment where the fear of making a mistake overtakes the courage to fall and rise again. What’s your advice to other women looking to grow their careers as leaders? I advise other women to be brave and take risks. Sticking to the safest option can be tempting, but you are unlikely to achieve growth and innovation if you’re not open to new steps or strategies. Of course, risks should be calculated, but carefully considering risks can progress your career. Be a little risky, take a leap, give it a try, speak up, and be kind but convicted in your effort to take a seat at the table. Join us to make an impact on your career and the future of technology. Find open roles on our careers site today.
Why MongoDB’s Partner Team is Focused like a Laser, Not a Flashlight
Four years ago, I wrote an article about how our Partner and Sales teams work together to ensure success. Since then, our Partner organization has grown five times in size and become even more of a competitive differentiator for MongoDB. As we continue to build lasting relationships with our partners and become even more strategic in how we leverage our partnerships, I’m reflecting on how far the Partner organization has come and where we’re headed. The Partner organization is the x-factor for MongoDB It starts with the customers, but more specifically, developers. Developers are creating some of the most innovative and modern applications with MongoDB, but our developer data platform is only one component of their tech stack. That’s why it’s essential to have an ecosystem of companies who help developers write or modernize their software faster. For MongoDB, this could be system integrators, cloud providers, ISVs who embed MongoDB into their products, technology partners who want to integrate with us, or resellers who enable us to sell MongoDB in new markets and regions. Most companies have a strategy for each and a team that manages these relationships, but there are a few things that make MongoDB’s Partner organization different. First, the people we hire. We look for individuals who have a sales-first mentality, are willing and able to generate pipeline, and can position the value of MongoDB. It’s extremely important for our Partner team to show ROI to our Sales teams, and I’d argue that if your Partner organization can’t do that, you might not need them. As part of the Partner team at MongoDB, you have the opportunity to master your sales skills and be rewarded for your success in finding new partnerships. One of our core MongoDB values is “Own What You Do” and it’s embodied every day on the Partner team. We demand excellence from ourselves. We take accountability for our actions and our success. We are empowered to make things happen. The second thing that sets MongoDB apart is that we manage partnerships like a laser, not a flashlight. We do not measure success by the number of partners we have. We prefer to deeply invest resources in a handful of alliances while we create an ecosystem funnel to drive the next wave of investments. We look for partnerships with organizations that our customers have told us they’d like us to work better with. Though we have over 1,000 partners, we put most of our horsepower into the top 50 based on this feedback. Lastly, the opportunity at MongoDB is enormous. If you are looking to work with a product that people love, and you believe there is an opportunity to be well-compensated for selling and building full solutions around a product, you’ll find that at MongoDB. Driving focus via the Partner Specialist teams At the beginning of this year, we created dedicated specialist teams for Cloud, System Integrator, ISV, VAR, and Tech partners. Customers have told us time and time again that they wanted us to become more intimate with their use cases and the associated ecosystem, and we listened. For example, we now have specialized teams for each cloud partner who know their products inside out and focus on strengthening the relationship by sourcing new opportunities for our sales force. This isn’t something you find in most Partner organizations, as it’s more common for teams to be generalists opposed to specialists. We began experimenting with specialization in 2021, and a highlight of this specialization is our partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS). In the past, MongoDB and AWS were viewed as competitors rather than partners. In 2021, both sides realized that it’s better to work together and decided to dedicate individuals to build a partnership that has since resulted in an incredible number of co-sell wins. AWS has leaned into MongoDB and continues to position MongoDB Atlas as a preferred database for customers. This puts MongoDB as one of the top three data partners that AWS has globally, and AWS is now MongoDB’s largest partnership in the world . Scaling without diluting impact MongoDB’s Partner organization has quintupled in size since 2019. We have partners in almost every major location around the world and teams who provide regional coverage. With the ROI we’ve seen from specialization, we’ve invested in more specialists and therefore can provide more dedicated resources to each partner. MongoDB’s Partner organization is known as a place with a winning culture where people consistently deliver results. We’ve had many internal transfers from employees who joined MongoDB in Sales, Sales Development, or Marketing and decided to transition into a role on the Partner team. Similarly, our team is focused on providing opportunities for growth. The number of individuals who joined the Partner team as individual contributors and have since been promoted into Director and VP roles is extraordinary. For example, our VP of System Integrator Partner Specialists, Global Lead of Accenture Partner Specialists, RVP of Capgemini Partner Specialists, RVP of Cloud Programs, Global Lead of AWS Partner Specialists, and RVP of Azure Partner Specialists all began their careers as individual contributors here at MongoDB. As we grow our Partner organization, diversity of background, thought, and experiences will continue to be a key differentiator for us. We value different perspectives and view diversity as a way to better serve our customers. Diversity drives a culture of innovation and investing in inclusion helps us serve customers in all markets, giving us a competitive advantage. The future of MongoDB's Partner organization I’m very excited about our coming year. We continue to look for the next partnership to break records with. Whether it's Alibaba , IBM, Databricks , Carahsoft, Microsoft, or Google , working with partners to find new workloads is key to MongoB’s success. MongoDB plans to continue to invest directly in partners via MongoDB ventures as part of this strategy. We also take great pride in promoting folks into leadership positions and we expect even more of that in the year ahead. Our leaders and I live by one of John McMahon’s mottos: "Too many companies think culture is ping-pong, foosball, and beer taps. Helping people win is a culture. Teaching them how to win on their own is a culture. If people aren’t learning, earning, growing, and being promoted, they’re not staying around for the pool table.” This is why we hope you are interested in joining us. We have great products, specialized partnerships, and most importantly, a winning team of fantastic leaders. Want to be part of a team that takes ownership and makes their work matter? View our open roles today .
Women Leaders at MongoDB: Raising the Bar with May Petry
March is Women’s History Month. Our women leaders series highlights MongoDB women who are leading teams and empowering others to own their career development and build together. May Petry, Vice President of Digital and Growth Marketing, discusses the importance of defining your values, being authentic, and “getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.” Tell me a bit about your team. The Digital and Growth Marketing team is focused on finding the next best customer for MongoDB, helping them be wildly successful on Atlas, and accelerating their future growth on our platform. Our growth goals include driving awareness in net new audiences, generating revenue through our self-serve channel, delivering new digital experiences, and growing sales opportunities. What characteristics make a good leader? Good leaders have a clear set of personal values that guide their decisions and define their leadership style. They find joy in not just what their team does but how. A good leader is a ‘bar raiser’ and demonstrates mastery of all the company values. I value authenticity, integrity, empathy, accomplishment, and advocacy in leaders. What has your experience been like as a woman growing your career in leadership? There have been many occasions where I am the only woman and person of color in the room. Early in my career, this was intimidating and lonely, but finding allies helped. I also remember being told to “use my voice.” I was. I just wasn’t being heard. Focusing on how to speak so others listen is a skill to develop. The stakes just get higher as you advance your career. Tell us about some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned throughout your career. I’ll share two. First, I don’t have to be the best at what my team does. I have to be the best in helping my team do what they do best and excel at arranging their outputs, so it’s amplified, highly efficient, and ridiculously impactful. The second is that imposter syndrome doesn’t ever go away. It gets worse - use it to fuel your curiosity and empathy, drive collaboration, and help others grow. What’s your advice for building and developing a team? As a leader developing a team, you need to be a role model. Be authentic and vulnerable. Don’t just talk about learning and development - do something about it. Does everyone in your organization have an individual growth plan? Do they know what raising the bar looks like? Do they have regular conversations with their managers for feedback and recognition? That said, everyone is responsible for their own personal and professional growth. Take charge of your destiny by looking for mentors, coaches, and allies. What’s one piece of advice you have for women looking to grow their careers as leaders? Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Find a good circle of people to share, brainstorm, laugh, or cry with. We are our own worst critics, so be kind to yourself, stop apologizing, and go shine! Together, there’s nothing we can’t build. View current openings on our careers site.
Employee Benefits That Make a Difference at MongoDB
MongoDB employees are making a huge impact on their careers and the future of technology. But career development and doing work that matters aren’t the only perks of joining our team. Our goal is to provide employees with the resources they need to thrive in all aspects of their lives. From mental health resources to fertility assistance and an amazing parental leave policy, we want to support the emotional, physical, financial, and family wellbeing of all employees. Our formal wellness program, MongoDB Bloom, aims to fulfill these four pillars of wellbeing by ensuring MongoDB employees are aware of the resources available to them and providing monthly educational sessions on topics ranging from managing stress to nutrition. Read on to learn about some of the benefits we offer our employees. Family support programs We know that the journey to parenthood and raising a family is important to many of our employees, so we’re proud to offer a generous parental leave policy and back-up care program. New parents receive up to 20 weeks of fully paid parental leave, as well as an additional four weeks of fully paid flexible work arrangements to assist with returning to work. Parental leave eligibility varies depending on location and tenure with the company. We offer additional programs for expecting parents as well, like parenting workshops and Cleo , which provides employees with fully personalized and customizable counseling on their journey to parenthood. Our employees in the U.S. and Canada can also take advantage of 15 days of subsidized backup care per year. This initiative is meant to make it easier for employees to obtain care for their loved ones should their regular care fall through. Lead Software Engineer Andrew Giannotti was one of the first employees at MongoDB to utilize our revamped parental leave policy. This policy made a huge impact on his life as a new father. “Having this time off allowed my wife to recover and recuperate from the birth while I took on a lot of the parenting duties like getting up in the middle of the night and changing diapers. This time really allowed me to bond with our daughter. A lot of my male friends had to return back to work after only one or two weeks, and they hardly ever got to be involved in the fun moments when their babies were awake. I really got to experience all of the wonderful moments with my daughter and spend time with her. While on paternity leave, I was continuously told by my team not to come back to work too early and to stay off of my work email. I am so grateful that this part of my life was completely stress-free so I could be present with my family.” Fertility and adoption assistance We also understand that starting a family can be challenging, and we care about doing what we can to support our employees on their journey. MongoDB partners with Carrot globally to provide customized fertility benefits. This includes but is not limited to IVF treatments, genetic testing, egg freezing, donor eggs, donor sperm surrogacy, and adoption, regardless of whether an employee has an infertility diagnosis or not. It also includes coverage for all employees regardless of age, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status. All global MongoDB employees can sign up for Carrot, connect with a fertility expert, and find a clinic that is best for them. These services support our employees wherever they are on their journey, whether they want to have an exploratory conversation, or are in the middle of receiving treatments. Want to know the best part? For employees who undergo a fertility treatment or adoption, MongoDB reimburses 90% of covered costs, up to a $50,000 USD lifetime maximum for U.S. employees and the equivalent of $20,000 USD lifetime maximum for non-U.S. employees (this amount varies in different countries). To protect the privacy of our employees, Carrot handles the entire transaction. Global mobility Did you know that MongoDB has 40+ offices around the world? Each MongoDB employee has the opportunity to expand their personal and professional experiences and may have the option to relocate to another office depending on their role. We care about our employees’ individual growth and provide them with opportunities to apply for open roles within the company on other teams. Some of these internal transfers may also lead to relocations. Allison Easton joined MongoDB as an intern in our New York City headquarters. After her internship, she was offered a role on our Sharding team in Barcelona. “I knew that I wanted to go somewhere different after my internship, but didn’t really know where or what role. I talked to my recruiter and we discussed the possibility of me joining the newly started Sharding team in Barcelona. After interning for the Sharding team in NYC remotely, I was offered a position in Barcelona after graduation. Moving to Barcelona was pretty scary. I had never been to Spain before, and I didn’t (and still don’t really) speak any Spanish. MongoDB helped me get my visa and connected me with a local employee who suggested places to stay in the city while looking for apartments. Everyone has been super welcoming, and it’s been a great experience living in such a different place.” Flexible PTO Our flexible paid time off (PTO) ethos is applied globally to ensure employees take time to refresh, relax, and unwind. This policy is based on mutual trust and communication between every employee and their manager. It’s important for all employees to achieve a positive work-life blend, regardless of their role, team, or tenure. Charles Merrill, Sr. Technical Services Engineer, was able to take advantage of our flexible PTO policy to participate in the Joberg2c bike race in South Africa. “My wife and I participated in the 2022 Joberg2c race, a 9-day, 950 kilometer mountain bike stage race from Johannesburg to the Indian Ocean. As part of our participation we raised funds for Project Thorn , a non-profit focused on implementing K9 anti-poaching units in Northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. With MongoDB’s support and encouragement we were able to make a difference.” Talia Ayala-Feliciangeli, UX Researcher, used her flexible PTO time to visit family. “I planned a trip home to Paraguay to visit my family for the first time in two years. My manager encouraged me to make use of our PTO and spend three weeks fully present with my family. I’m super grateful our PTO policy allowed me to make up for so much lost time!” Employee resource groups It’s important for us to embody our core company values , especially when it comes to “Embrace the Power of Differences.” MongoDB’s employee resource groups and inclusion programs support our larger commitment to a diverse and inclusive community. Employee resource groups (ERGs) provide a valued, solutions-oriented safe space for employees to ideate, mentor, and connect with one another through a common interest or identity. If you’re an employee and you have an idea for a new group, we will provide you with the tools and support needed to build it. If you’d like to develop your leadership skills, joining an employee resource group leadership team can be a great way to explore different responsibilities and ways to have a company-wide impact. Our ERGs provide a space for individuals of the same or similar race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, veteran status, or interest to come together and build community. Learn more about our ERGs and Diversity & Inclusion at MongoDB Transgender benefits and support To further our commitment to building an inclusive culture and embracing the power of differences, we provide support to U.S. employees who are on their individual journeys to embracing their whole, true selves. MongoDB has expanded the available services related to WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Health) for employees who are enrolled in one of our Cigna plans and who identify as Transgender, Gender Nonconforming, or Transsexual. Benefits include services and procedures not covered under standard medical insurance policies. As part of the 5% of Cigna’s client companies that offer expanded WPATH Standards of Care services, we provide important resources for our Transgender employees. These benefits consist of: health plan coverage for medically necessary treatments, which may include hormone therapy, gender affirming surgery, blepharoplasty, and voice therapy; advocates to help employees navigate health care plans; resources to educate family and friends on LGBTQ+ topics; and support to help employees during their transition journey. Mental health Employee mental health and wellbeing is another core focus at MongoDB. It’s important for us to help break the stigma around mental health and provide our employees with the support they need, especially at work. We are dedicated to providing our employees with valuable tools to face all of life’s challenges and offer mental health programs that provide confidential assistance from qualified professionals. With our regional Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), employees are provided guidance for any personal issues that they may be facing. The EAP provides a 24/7 hotline, three free sessions with local mental health counselors, and more. We also offer Spring Health in the U.S., which is a mental health service that uses technology and top providers to offer patients a more personalized approach to care. Employees interested in using Spring receive a mental health screening and support from a specialist when they need them, and more. To help employees be more mindful and meditate, we offer Headspace to global employees for free. Headspace provides hundreds of themed meditation sessions on everything from sleep to focus to reducing stress. In an effort to strengthen the MongoDB community and help employees support each other, MongoDB has established a Mental Health First Aiders team. Our team is made up of MongoDB employees from all different teams and all different locations, to support our global workforce. Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is internationally recognised training, designed to teach people how to spot the signs and symptoms of mental ill health, guide individuals experiencing mental ill health to appropriate resources, and provide help on a first aid basis. Wellness events and programs We strive to offer an inclusive and holistic approach to health and wellbeing for our employees, their families, and the MongoDB community. We offer virtual yoga and bootcamp classes, meditation & mindfulness sessions, nutrition sessions, fitness challenges, and more. Throughout the year, MongoDB hosts wellness workshops for all of our employees around the world that cover topics like how to stay healthy while traveling, the ins and outs of holistic health, and how to improve your sleep habits. In addition to our wellness programs, we also empower our employees to give back to their communities by covering the transactional fees when employees donate to charities through Bright Funds , where employees can choose from over 300,000 vetted charities! All of these benefits are in addition to our comprehensive medical, dental, and vision health care packages, as well as our Employee Stock Purchase Program. The above list of benefits is not intended to be a comprehensive description of each benefit or plan nor does it represent a guarantee of benefits to any employee. MongoDB reserves the right to cancel, revise, or otherwise change benefits provided at any time. Interested in learning more about Life At MongoDB? Check out our careers site to find out more about our teams, values, and open roles.
Informing MongoDB Product Strategy Through Analytical Insights: Meet Natalya Furmanova
Natalya Furmanova joined MongoDB as a Product Manager in 2018. Since then, she’s had the opportunity to pursue her passions by making an internal transfer to our Data Analytics team where she produces quantitative insights that, simply put, help make our products better! Read on to learn more about how Natalya makes an impact in her role as a Data Analyst and what makes this team a great fit for someone who loves solving highly analytical problems. Jackie Denner: Thanks for taking the time to share a bit about your role and experience at MongoDB, Natalya. To start off, why did you decide to join MongoDB? Natalya Furmanova: At the time, MongoDB was transitioning from being a highly successful startup that created a popular open source technology to an established, publicly traded company. With my background in software engineering, I was fascinated at the prospect of making an impact on one of the core technology products that millions of developers use on a daily basis and that I myself was familiar with. The fact that the company produces a foundational technology that powers so many great applications was very attractive to me. I was looking forward to learning the intricacies of the distributed systems technology, the NoSQL paradigm, and the SaaS aspect of the product. JD: You were originally in Product Management and then moved to a Data Analyst role. What led you to make that transition? NF: I had joined MongoDB to help the Product team be more effective and data-driven by managing systems that support various product processes, with the main need rooted in the data systems (such as the data warehouse). As a Product Manager in Product Systems and Analytics, I found myself often performing analyses of the product usage patterns, establishing KPI systems, and democratizing data signals for the Product team’s use. I spearheaded several initiatives to centralize the scattered core technology usage signals in the data warehouse and led the analytical data platform technology transformation initiative for a while. After being promoted to Senior Product Manager, I realized that producing quantitative insights for the Product team was the most satisfying aspect of my role and decided I wanted to focus on it full time - there was so much to do! I had the opportunity to make an internal transfer and joined the Analytics and Business Operations team as a Staff Product Analyst while staying embedded with the Product and Engineering teams that I supported. I was de facto the first Product Analyst and have seen the team grow exponentially in the last two years. As a Staff-level team member, I have been supporting the team with my technology, data, and cross-product knowledge while performing planning activities and helping the team grow. JD: What is the culture like on the Data Analytics team? NF: First and foremost, I believe that every member of the Analytics team takes pride in providing high-quality quantitative insights.The level of talent inspires me to grow and learn. At the same time, the team puts emphasis on collaboration and knowledge sharing. Each analyst and data scientist works with a specific area of the business - be it product, technical support, or sales - which might lead to silos. In order to stay connected and collaborative, we form squads to tackle the problem from different perspectives, organize data hackathons which have resulted in several impactful projects, schedule weekly knowledge sharing sessions, and more. Curiosity and initiative are highly encouraged on our team - there are no wrong questions. JD: How does your team weave data and experimentation into the product roadmap? NF : The Product Analytics team works directly with the Product Managers, Lead Engineers, and Product Leadership team to set quantitative goals for the product’s adoption, test hypotheses by experimentation or causal analysis, find anomalies in the way our technology is used, provide supporting KPIs analysis for the state of the product updates, analyze the customer funnel in order to uncover the reasons for customer drop-off or churn, and more. We inject statistical rigor into the metrics and definition of KPIs and act as the thought partners to our Product and Engineering counterparts. Our quantitative findings power the product planning sessions, customer outreach, and marketing campaigns, and our projects range from defining KPIs to statistical modeling and feature engineering for machine learning problems. JD: How do you collaborate with other teams at MongoDB? NF: As Product Analysts, we are embedded in the processes of our respective Product and Engineering teams. For example, we review the scoping documentation in order to collaborate on defining the success metrics, meet regularly with our stakeholders and form squads for cross-team initiatives, and collaborate within the Product Analytics team and with other data teams to standardize and democratize the metrics that touch upon multiple products or features. JD: What are you most looking forward to over the next 6-12 months? NF: I am most looking forward to making an impact with several cross-team initiatives that are coming up, and contributing my expertise to solve some of the more challenging analytical problems that can help drive our business forward. JD: What makes working in analytics at MongoDB exciting and why should someone join the team? NF: To me, what’s most exciting is solving difficult analytical problems that require a combination of skills, from business acumen and analytical thinking to coding and math, and the ability to communicate the results to different stakeholder groups. There is so much work to do and so many exciting and highly technical product areas to support that anyone who joins can make an impact and be creative in their role. The last thing I’ll mention is how much I truly enjoy working with the people on my team. It’s an environment where you feel supported and know that everyone is working towards a common goal. Join a team that’s making it matter and building together. Find your next career opportunity at MongoDB .
Honoring Black History Month: How These MongoDB Employees Defied the Odds
February is Black History Month. It’s a time to reflect on and celebrate the struggles and triumphs of the black community and remember the importance of elevating black voices. Each year at MongoDB, we ask members of our employee resource group BEAM (Black Employees At MongoDB) if they’d like to share a personal story about their experiences and what this month means to them. This year, hear from Administrative Assistant Rita Henderson and Regional Director Daniel Hawthorne to learn more about their journeys into tech. Rita Henderson: Breaking Down Barriers and Owning Technology for Social Justice As we celebrate Black History Month, I am grateful for those who have paved the way for us to have a voice and fight for our rights. I am reminded of the struggles and achievements of black leaders throughout history. The fight for equal rights and justice is ongoing, and technology plays a crucial role in this fight. It is important to empower and uplift underrepresented communities in the tech industry to create a more inclusive and equitable future. I am a proud member of the Afro-Latinx community from North Philadelphia. Growing up in a neighborhood called Badlands, I witnessed first-hand the impact and struggles of poverty, high crime rates, and drugs. I am the youngest of six children, with parents who worked two jobs to make ends meet. Despite my parents' hard work and dedication to provide for their children, life was still a struggle for my family. At the age of 17, after completing my junior year of High School, I became a teen mom. Unfortunately, society tries to shame young mothers, especially teen moms of color. Many people reminded me that teen pregnancy is closely linked to single parenthood and that growing up in single-parent families remains the largest factor in increased poverty among children. Me (middle) and my sibling with our dad. Yes, I photoshopped myself in. As a teen mom, I was determined to break through the barriers society placed on me. With $200 in my pocket, I moved my daughter and I to western Pennsylvania and enrolled in Indiana University of Pennsylvania. There, I earned my bachelor's degree in Criminology and studied the school-to-prison pipeline in black communities. After the murder of the young unarmed black teenager, Mike Brown, and the Ferguson uprising, my sister and I collaborated with organizers in the Ferguson community to launch a free technology program to empower community organizers, educators, and youth with skill sets to create technology tools for social and economic justice. Graduating from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Pictured with my firstborn London Rae and my mom. I am influenced by the work of the Black Panther Party; specifically, the 10th Point of the party’s 10-Point Platform, “Community Control of Modern Technology”. For 45 years, the Black Panther Party included the right to learn, access, and control technology as a right. Huey said, "Knowing how to struggle is the essence of winning. Recognizing ills is fundamental; recognizing how to overcome ills is mandatory." That is why I believe it is critical for black and latinx people to understand the role technology plays in our society and the economy if we want to understand social justice and create tools for liberation. When I hear people talk about technology in black, latinx, and working-class communities, they often use it as a scare tactic. The fear of data and control and the feeling that technology is too advanced and that we lack the knowledge and tools to participate can be overwhelming. However, it is crucial for our community to claim our place in the tech world. We need to change our thinking and know there is a place for us, just like there is for anyone else. I am grateful for MongoDB's value "embrace the power of differences" and creating a platform where underrepresented communities can share their stories, bring their ideas to the forefront, and be heard in the tech industry. As we celebrate Black History Month, I am grateful for those who have paved the way for us to have a voice and fight for our rights. I am also thankful for the opportunities I have been given to make a difference in my community and empower others to do the same. With education and technology, we can continue breaking down barriers and striving for equality, justice, and liberation. In 2022, my partner and I welcomed our baby girl Lara Sky. Daniel Hawthorne: Building a Career as a Black Man in Tech Sales I was brought into the world with the odds against me, a black boy born in South Central Los Angeles in the 80s. However, I never felt that I was on my own. Throughout my entire life, God has choreographed my every step. At a very young age, my parents decided to move us to Austin, Texas where my grandparents were moving their church ministry. I was raised in Austin along with my two older brothers (Dante and Derrell), my younger sister (Amber), and my younger brother (Joseph). My siblings called me the “golden child” because I was a mama’s boy and kept to myself. The elementary and middle schools that I attended in Austin were fairly diverse, and I seldomly experienced racism. In the 7th grade, my family moved to a suburb of North Austin that wasn’t as diverse, and racist experiences became much more frequent. It was then that I began to acknowledge that being black brought different treatment. There were moments I embraced my blackness, but others where I was more focused on adapting myself into someone I thought those in my non-diverse environment wanted me to be. In middle school, the place to hang out was the Rec Center. I would run into kids from other schools, and we’d have the basketball gym to ourselves for a bit. Eventually, the older guys would take over the court, but I was good enough that I typically got to play with them. I remember observing them as they entered the gym. They’d be dressed in nice work clothes with Dell badges hanging from their shirts - the Rec Center was only five minutes from the Dell HQ - and that became an early image of what success looked like for me. In high school and college, I started my career in sales with a few small gigs. I enjoyed it because I was typically one of the top sellers no matter what I sold. I even sold women’s shoes at one point! After graduating with my M.B.A, I had no idea what my next move would be. But then, that image of success popped into my head. I focused my attention on getting a sales job at Dell. Despite not having any experience in tech, I knew I could excel. Who knew that 10 years after my days on the Rec Center courts, I would land my first job in tech. I joined the inside sales development team at Dell, and it was one of the most pivotal moments of my career. The job was intense. After a week of training, it was clear that I was the least technical in every room. But, I was determined to not let anyone outwork me. We were required to make over 100 outbound calls per day, but I quickly figured out how to achieve the true objective (10 scheduled virtual demonstrations in a week) in fewer calls. Through my efficiency, I helped form new standards and began to make a name for myself. Being in sales development wasn’t my end goal. I knew I wanted to get into outside sales, so I began building relationships with some of the Dell outside sellers I worked with. During a coaching session with one of my mentors, who was also a minority, he shared some guidance that I wasn’t ready for. He told me that if I truly wanted to be in outside sales, I needed to lose my earrings because professional men didn’t wear them. Even though he and I understood that earrings didn’t define me, his guidance was that being a person of color meant I was already playing from behind, and that I should exhaust all things within my control to create as level a playing field as I possibly could. This theme would continue throughout my career. Similar to when I was a kid in the non-diverse suburbs of Austin, as a black man in tech, I’ve felt heavy pressure to be a certain way to appease others. When I was first getting started, I hardly encountered sales folks that looked like me. I’d attend internal trainings and events where there might be one or two other black sellers out of 200+ people. In many ways, I felt that I was on an island and had to live through trial and error. I had a fear that being ‘too black’ would put me at an even greater disadvantage. I walked the line and was careful about what I said or did. I hardly engaged in extracurricular activities with co-workers, and when I did, I kept my guard up. So much of my energy and effort was exhausted into protecting my brand and trying to avoid negative stereotyping because of the color of my skin. I often think about how much more successful I could’ve been had I not felt obligated to focus on the things that never should’ve mattered. My wife and our two daughters at the apple orchards outside of St. Louis, Missouri. As I stated before, God has led my path in life. Numerous times when I was unsure of the next turn to make, He introduced someone to provide direction. I’m truly grateful for the people who may not have looked like me, but provided me with valuable coaching that helped guide my career in tech. I joined MongoDB to help customers with their data transformations, but I didn’t expect that I would go through a transformation myself. I’ve never felt more empowered to just be myself, and through that, I’ve reached new levels of individual and team accomplishments. I was a direct seller for my first two years with the company, and after receiving coaching from peers and leaders around me, I stepped into management a year ago. This wasn’t necessarily a milestone or goal that I had set out for myself, but I came to the realization that there was tremendous value in helping other sellers (and their families) achieve new levels of success. What better company to step into leadership than at MongoDB. Every company has employee resource groups nowadays, but the intentionality behind those groups at MongoDB is different. Our leadership team has leaned into those difficult, vulnerable discussions, sometimes simply to listen because they knew they didn’t have the answers. Even in those scenarios, they’d come up with relevant action that they could personally be responsible for. Despite the comfort zone I had created over the past 10+ years of watering down my blackness, our Sales team encourages individuality and has brought out the best version of me. It’s helped lift a giant weight off my back. I know I’m no longer starting from behind, and I don’t fear that folks are going to judge me. As I wrap-up my first year in sales leadership, I’ve noticed significant transformation in my personal development, and I’m excited that I get to continue taking on new challenges that will bring discomfort, but instill confidence that I can persevere. As we celebrate Black History Month, I think about the opportunity I have to expose other members of the black community to a profession in sales. Our experiences and our perspectives are highly valued and necessary in order to build a better tech-centric future. We’re passionate about cultivating a culture where people of all backgrounds, identities, and experiences feel valued and heard. Find your next career opportunity at MongoDB.
Turning Data Points Into Actionable Insights: Meet May Hoque
Imagine the interesting insights you could glean from combining multiple data sources with one tool that helps you easily analyze data over time. May Hoque is a senior software engineer on MongoDB’s Atlas Data Federation team where he helps create a distributed, federated query engine that can query across data stored in multiple sources. Keep reading to find out more about his experience joining MongoDB as an intern and new grad, then continuing to grow his career here over the last four and a half years. Jackie Denner: Thanks for sharing more about your experience today, May! To start, will you give an overview on your software engineering background and how you started working with MongoDB? May Hoque: I began exploring computer science in a high school class. The class was rudimentary but I had fun learning how to build programs. I chose computer science as my university major because it felt like a career I could grow with that both piqued my interest and offered long-term stability. I am currently a senior software engineer on MongoDB’s Atlas Data Federation team. I first joined MongoDB in 2017 as an intern, then returned after graduation to participate in the New Grad Program in 2018 which gave me an opportunity to rotate working between three different teams at MongoDB over our first six months. I originally joined the BI connector team, but then switched to the Atlas Data Federation team. JD: Tell me more about the Atlas Data Federation product. MH: Atlas Data Federation is a distributed, federated query engine at its core. This core enables users to query multiple data sources with a single query, from a single interface. Other MongoDB products, including Atlas Online Archive and Atlas Data Lake , use this core as a building block for their own functionality. The Atlas Data Lake product, for example, orders and organizes data to optimize for super fast queries even as the user's data sources grow in volume. The ability to perform complex queries, even across multiple data sources unlocks valuable benefits for a variety of use cases, for example maintaining the ability to easily query less frequently used data even after archiving it from pre-existing database clusters to less expensive locations. JD: What makes Atlas Data Federation unique? MH: We’re more than just a search function — we can also store your data and organize it in a way that makes it really fast to actually answer those questions. Its integration with Atlas and the larger MongoDB ecosystem widens the scope of the value users can get from their databases. It’s convenient and operationally simple to have all of your solutions to different challenges in the same place. MongoDB Atlas Data Lake allows developers to easily store and analyze large amounts of data in a cost-effective and scalable manner without having to worry about the underlying infrastructure. JD: Talk me through some example use cases your team supports. MH: The real value in large data sets lies in understanding the trends and relationships between the data points. There are endless possibilities of how organizations can use Atlas Data Federation to draw insights to motivate strategic business decisions, from answering questions about specific events, to aggregating insights across a group of data points. Atlas Data Lake stores and organizes your data in a way that makes it really fast to answer questions related to your collection of data. Teams across an organization can benefit from more insight into data learnings. A marketing team may want to know what percentage of their users have spent more than a specific amount on a single item, including supporting data like what the item was and when they purchased it. An investor may want to know how much profit an organization made over a specific time period. A product team may want to look at historical sales data from past product launches. Users can answer all of these questions and more with a query on Atlas Data Federation. JD: What projects are you currently working on? MH: I am contributing to a bigger MongoDB initiative to add more sources of data. Adding this support to Atlas Data Federation and Data Lake will make our service available to new clients who want to use the product, but currently can’t. I’m also working on a high level systems design challenge to rearchitect our systems to scale and improve our service for our customers. JD: Let’s talk about what it’s like to work at MongoDB. What makes the team and product exciting to work on? MH: The Atlas Data Federation team is primarily focused on problems relating to complex distributed systems and database engineering . These challenges aren’t often easy to work on, but the careful and rigorous thinking needed to solve them is exciting and rewarding. Plus, the solution to the data lake problem is in demand, and the projects we work on are relevant to the industry. JD: What is the overall engineering culture like at MongoDB? What opportunities have inspired you to grow here? MH: My experience on the team has contributed to my growth as an engineer. I’ve noticed a strong culture of learning, mentorship and diversity both on the Atlas Data Federation team and the company at large. I appreciate that our team has a wide spectrum of experience levels, from new grads to engineers with decades of experience. The team is collaborative and takes pride in supporting each other. Whether I work on a project independently or with a group of engineers, I’m never working solo. I always have the support of the team and people to bounce ideas off of throughout a project, which creates opportunity for growth. JD: Why should someone join the Atlas Data Federation team? MH: If you're someone who really likes technical challenges or you just want to solve really cool problems, we have no shortage of them to work on. If you’re focused on growth, we have opportunities for all levels of experience. It is possible to grow from an intern to a manager on our team because of the mentorship and breadth of projects available to work on, which I’ve seen happen for some of my colleagues. Our team environment is built on empathy and collaboration. JD: What stands out to you about your overall experience working at MongoDB compared to your past experiences? MH: After a few years on the team, I'm still consistently growing my skill set and working on interesting, fun projects – two primary reasons I continue to work at MongoDB. The problems the Atlas Data Federation team works on provide me useful experience that I can apply to future projects and challenges. If you’re looking to collaborate with forward-thinking teams and interesting use cases, MongoDB is one of the best tech companies to work for. Interested in transforming your career at MongoDB? View open roles on our teams across the globe.
MongoDB Is A Best Place to Work in 2023, According to Our Employees on Glassdoor
MongoDB is pleased to announce that we are among the winners of the annual Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Awards, a list of the Best Places to Work in 2023 . Unlike other workplace awards, there is no self-nomination or application process, instead it’s entirely based on the feedback our employees have voluntarily and anonymously shared on Glassdoor. To determine the winners of the awards, Glassdoor evaluates company reviews shared by current and former employees over the past year. This year, we are proud to be recognized as a Best Place to Work among U.S. companies with more than 1,000 employees. A huge thank you goes out to all our employees who took the time to share their perspective on what it’s like to work here. We appreciate all the valuable feedback as it only helps us improve. Below are just a few words employees shared on Glassdoor that contributed toward the award and make us feel incredibly honored: Senior Staff Engineer, Sydney “I have been working on the Storage Engine for MongoDB for over ten years now. In my tenure at MongoDB I have taken on a lot of different roles and responsibilities and am now a senior individual contributor. Working with my colleagues to build the best storage engine in the world as well as carefully crafting a diverse, inclusive, pragmatic, engaged and curious engineering culture. During my time here I've been able to actively contribute to its success, and have clearly understood the vision and pathway to that success. The company is continually growing and evolving to meet changing needs - it's an exciting place to work full of opportunity and challenges. Enterprise Account Executive, Tel-Aviv “Amazing tech and some of the most smart & experienced you'll ever have a chance to work with. Feedback is a big part of the culture and is given in an actionable, clear way that is intended to make you better in your craft and your results.” Deal Strategy Manager, Dublin “MongoDB is very passionate about culture and ensuring everyone who walks in the door fits the existing culture. This is a culture where openness, inclusiveness and respect are really important. Management wants to try as hard as they can to maintain the small company feel while the company scales. I have worked in some large companies where the term 'family' is used a lot but here there is truth in saying that there is a family feel amongst my team and in my office. I can attest to this as within my first year I have had to deal with two quite serious changes in my personal life and the team has been so supportive and nothing has ever been an issue. The Senior Leadership here is the strongest I have ever seen in my career and I have no doubt this company will continue to grow over the next 5 years. The offices are incredible and the employee benefits are exceptional.” Director, Developer Relations, Austin “The C-Suite management team is amazing. Dev is an amazing CEO who has surrounded himself with brilliant people who know how to execute. The market opportunity is incredible. MongoDB is the hands down leader in the NoSQL space and the "great replacement" of RDBMS is just getting started. Outstanding growth position in a turbulent market. The entire team is focused on one mission. MongoDB has one goal. We will extend our lead in the NoSQL technology sector as we disrupt the global database technology market and replace the RDBMS. Everyone here marches to the beat of the same drum.” We’re hiring in 2023 and would love for you to join us. View our current career opportunities .
5 Ways MongoDB Puts Customer Experience First
Here at MongoDB, we obsess over customer experience. Dedication to the customer experience is part of our culture and the way we do business at MongoDB. Even if you haven’t heard the term customer experience (or CX) before, you probably have an intuitive sense of what it means. CX is the sum of all the interactions someone has with a company and can encompass anything from navigating a website, to dealing with customer service, to learning how to use a product. MongoDB is not alone in thinking the customer experience is a big deal. Consumer sentimen t (both B2B and B2C) indicates that companies who do not mold their practices around their customers’ desires do so at their peril. For example: 74% of customers are likely to buy a product based on favorable CX 66% of customers want companies to understand and address their needs And, a whopping 96% of customers say that CX is crucial for loyalty to a business At MongoDB, across the organization and at all levels, there is an expectation to do everything we can to understand our customers’ technical and business goals and to help our users achieve those objectives. Here are five key ways MongoDB makes sure that customer needs come first: Dedicated customer success function MongoDB’s hundreds-strong Customer Success team is tasked with making sure you get the most from your investment in our products. Access to Customer Success is free of charge and part of the purchase when you sign on with MongoDB. Think of Customer Success as an extension of your own team. We’re equally invested in the impact MongoDB has on your development cycles and business outcomes, which means our partnership does not end when you purchase from us. Rather, we see your investment with us as the beginning of a trusted partnership. You’re on a journey with MongoDB, and we’re here to guide and support you throughout. Goal-focused onboarding When you do business with MongoDB, the first part of your journey will be the onboarding process. We consider onboarding to be the most critical phase. Onboarding is our opportunity to set you up for long-term success with your MongoDB products, right from the very beginning. Certainly, we want you to get tangible value from our products, but we also want to connect with a shared purpose. Although we understand that every deployment is unique, we find that a clear onboarding workflow – from planning to launch – can help you swiftly and successfully get your applications live. In-depth success planning Before your developers get to work, it’s crucial to define what you want to build with our products and to determine the best way to get there. We will take the time to understand your desired business and technical outcomes, as well as how you measure success. When you sign on with MongoDB, our team will work closely with yours to develop a formal success plan. Through shared accountability and ownership of the process, our teams will use that plan as a roadmap as you build, launch, run — and ultimately optimize — your apps. Open office hours To maintain open communication with our MongoDB community, our Customer Success team hosts regularly scheduled Office Hour sessions. Whether you’re going live for the first time, expanding your current MongoDB platform, or just considering MongoDB, these open meetings will help you learn more about available MongoDB resources and give you the opportunity to talk directly with our Customer Success experts. Register now for MongoDB Customer Success office hours. Information at your fingertips MongoDB also makes it easy to get the information you need through our online Success Center , where you can access guides, samples, references, and resources for building applications on the MongoDB developer data platform. Here are other ways to connect with MongoDB: Visit the MongoDB Developer Center for tutorials, videos, and code examples. Chat with your peers on the MongoDB Developer Community . Access free courses and certification paths at MongoDB University . Bookmark the Customer Success Center to access the MongoDB customer success program. These elements of customer experience do not capture the full scope of how MongoDB helps our customers achieve tangible value from our solutions. But, they provide noteworthy examples of how MongoDB is doubling down on your experience. Our Customer Success team is excited to work with you, offering the tools and knowledge to help you build the next big thing for your organization. Learn more about Customer Success at MongoDB .
How a MongoDB Internship Helped Sahi Muthyala Grow Her Skills
Sahi Muthyala Sahi Muthyala is a rising senior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who is working as a Product Management intern at MongoDB’s New York City office. Sahi is currently interning with the Atlas Growth team, where she is not only helping the Product Management department but also learning about product research, product culture, and connection. In this interview, you’ll read about the learning experience and culture at MongoDB that has made this program the perfect internship for Sahi. Sezzy Rodriguez: Thanks so much for speaking with me today, Sahi. The first thing I’m curious about is how did you hear about MongoDB's internship? Sahi Muthyala: I first heard about MongoDB's internship through one of my college mentors during my freshman year at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She had just interned on the Node Driver team and had a lot of great things to say about the program. The amount of ownership, collaboration, and mentorship that she got during the course of her internship, and the way she spoke of MongoDB's culture really stood out to me. SR: That was such a great connection. Why, besides what you heard from your mentor, did you decide to intern at MongoDB? SM: I decided to intern at MongoDB for a few reasons: First, the impact that MongoDB has excites me. The beauty of our end users being developers is that our technology supports them in building applications that can impact billions of people. There is no limit to the impact that MongoDB can have, and that gets me really pumped about the problems that I'm going to be working on. Second, staying technical was top-of-mind, and I knew that I would definitely be able to do that at MongoDB, regardless of the team that I was going to be on because of how our end users are developers and how technical our products are. Third, I wanted to work at a mid-sized company, because I wanted to learn from what MongoDB does well but also have the room to contribute outside the scope of my projects/role and move quickly without too much process. SR: I’m so glad you noticed all of these things even before interning. Speaking of, tell me about the team you are interning on. SM: I am interning on the Atlas Growth team, which was formed in 2018 to focus on growing the self-serve usage of Atlas by helping users become successful to reach their full potential on Atlas. The team is very cross-functional in that product, design, research, marketing, analytics, and engineering are all working together to brainstorm the experiments that we can run and how to iterate based on results. We also work with other teams like Atlas Search and App Services (formerly Realm), which is exciting. The Atlas Growth team is currently split into three squads — Activation & Engagement, Monetization, and Product-led Acquisition. I am working on Activation & Engagement this summer to reduce the time for new users to experience value in the product and increase their engagement with the platform. My favorite parts of the team are how quantitative and qualitative we are, and how we think about the big picture. We do lots of A/B testing and iterating and are very data-driven, but also talk to customers to understand their needs and broader user/development journey. In terms of big-picture thinking, our team is thinking about how we can improve an existing product that has a lot of cross-over with other products and subproducts, so we have to zoom out and think more long-term. Even if we are running smaller A/B tests, they are often tied to validating a certain larger vision or figuring out how we should go about doing something. There is also no such thing as a failed experiment because we gain insight from every experiment that we run, which helps us inform future decisions. SR: What a great team to have. What is your favorite project you have worked on so far? SM: Definitely product research on local development. Initially, I was focused on product research for Atlas CLI, which we announced at MongoDB World, but the scope of the project expanded to local development. The focus of my user interviews leaned toward understanding users' app building and local development journey so we could understand how Atlas CLI can fit into that journey, and when and where we can surface it to users. Learning more about what different users are trying to accomplish and how they leverage our different tools was really insightful. Other major parts of this research project included a competitive analysis, user survey, and data analysis, which I used to gather findings, identify parallels, and come up with experiments that we can run. SR: That’s so interesting. What is the culture like at MongoDB? SM: The culture at MongoDB is incredible. People not only care deeply about what they are working on, but also want to know all about what you are working on and how they can support you. I care a lot about being somewhere where people are passionate about what we are building, and I see that at MongoDB. Furthermore, I love the product culture at MongoDB. We are user-obsessed. Developers will not start using our products just because of all of the cool things we say about what we have to offer. They care about whether our products and tools address their needs. It is pretty simple, but looking deeper, developers are challenging users: Not all developers are the same, and they tend to have pretty different use cases and even use different combinations of our products. These differences really push us to think about the whole developer journey and work cross-team to make sure that our users truly have the best experience. SR: What is your favorite part about interning at MongoDB? SM: The people. I am so glad that I have been around such incredible people who really care about what we do and who make sure that I am well-supported and have a fruitful experience. This internship has enabled me to learn so much from them and grow in ways that I did not even foresee before my internship started — from energy management to how to frame meetings/presentations with different audiences, and so much more. I am glad that I have found such a great fit in my final college internship. I feel like I have already grown so much as a young professional and have a strong idea of what I want to focus on next in my full-time role. SR: I’m so happy you’ve had a great internship experience at MongoDB. How has your team/mentors helped you as an intern this summer? SM: My mentor Richa has made me feel incredibly connected, valued, and supported as an intern. Even with her busy schedule, she made the time to meet with me for at least 30 minutes every day for the first few weeks of the internship to answer the many questions that I had, and she always encouraged me to explore whatever sparked my interest. Even though I have only been here for a few weeks, I have been pleasantly surprised to see how seriously my feedback is taken, whether it is around a product or process. The Atlas Growth team has made me feel just like another member of the team, and some PMs on other teams have taken it upon themselves to make me feel included and help me as much as they can. SR: Anything else you'd like to share? SM: Please feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn if you have any questions about my experience. You can also follow me on Medium , where I write about product management among other topics.