(bright music)
>> Hello everyone and welcome back to AWS re:Invent,
here in wonderful Las Vegas, Nevada.
We're theCUBE.
I am Savannah Peterson.
Joined with my co-host, Dave Vellante.
Day four, you look great.
Your voice has come back
somehow. >> Yeah, a little bit.
I don't know how.
I took last night off.
You guys, I know, were out partying all night,
but - >> I don't know
what you're talking about.
(Dave laughing)
>> Well, you were celebrating John's birthday.
John Furrier's birthday today.
>> Yes, happy birthday John!
>> He's on his way to England.
>> Yeah.
>> To attend his nephew's wedding.
Awesome family. And so good luck, John.
I hope you feel better, he's got a little cold.
>> I know, good luck to the newlyweds.
I love this.
I know we're both really excited for our next guest,
so I'm going to bring out,
Lena Smart from MongoDB.
Thank you so much for being here.
>> Thank you for having me.
>> How's the show going for you?
>> Good. It's been a long week.
And I just, not much voice left, so.
>> We'll be gentle on you.
>> I'll give you what's left of it.
>> All right, we'll take that.
>> Okay.
>> You had a fireside chat, at the show?
>> Lena: I did.
>> Can you tell us a little bit about that?
>> So we were talking about the Rise,
The developer is a platform.
In this massive theater.
I thought it would be
like an intimate, you know, fireside chat.
I keep believing them when they say to me
come and do these talks, it'll be intimate.
And you turn up and there's a stage
and a theater and it's like, oh my god.
But it was really interesting.
It was well attended.
Got some really good questions at the end as well.
Lots of follow up, which was interesting.
And it was really just about, you know,
how we've brought together this developer platform
that's got our integrated services.
It's just what developers want,
it gives them time to innovate and disrupt,
rather than worry about the minutia of management.
>> Savannah: Do the cool stuff.
>> Exactly.
>> Yeah, so you know Lena, it's funny
that you're saying that oh wow,
the lights came on and it was this big thing.
When when we were at re:Inforced, Lena was on stage
and it was so funny, Lena, you were self deprecating
like making jokes about the audience.
>> Savannah: (indistinct)
>> It was hilarious.
And so, but it was really endearing
to the audience and so we were like -
>> Lena: It was terrifying.
>> You got huge props for that, I'll tell you.
>> Absolutely terrifying.
Because they told me I wouldn't see anyone.
Because we did the rehearsal the day before,
and they were like, it's just going to be like -
>> Sometimes it just looks like blackness out there.
>> Yeah, yeah. It wasn't, they lied.
I could see eyeballs. It was terrifying.
>> Would you rather know that going in though?
Or is it better to be, is ignorance bliss in that moment?
>> Ignorance is bliss.
>> Yeah, yeah yeah.
>> Good call Savannah, right?
Yeah, just go.
>> The older I get, the more I'm just,
I'm on the ignorance is bliss train.
I just, I don't need to know anything
that's going to hurt my soul. >> Exactly.
>> One of the things that you mentioned,
and this has actually been a really frequent theme
here on the show this week, is you said that
this has been a transformative year for developers.
>> Lena: Yeah.
>> What did you mean by that?
>> So I think developers are starting to come
to the fore, if you like, the fore.
And I'm not in any way being deprecating
about developers 'cause I love them.
>> Savannah: I think everyone here does.
>> I was married to one, I live with one now.
It's like, they follow me everywhere.
They don't.
But, I think they, this is my opinion obviously
but I think that we're seeing more and more
the value that developers bring to the table.
They're not just code geeks anymore.
They're not just code monkeys, you know,
churning out lines and lines of code.
Some of the most interesting discussions
I've had this week have been with developers.
And that's why I'm so pleased that our developer
data platform is going to give these folks back time,
so that they can go and innovate.
And do super interesting things and do the next big thing.
It was interesting, I was talking to Mary,
our comms person earlier and she had said
that Dave I guess, my boss, was on your show -
>> Dave: Yeah, he was over here last night.
>> Yeah.
And he was saying that two thirds of the companies
that had been mentioned so far, within the whole
gamut of this conference use MongoDB.
And so take that, extrapolate that,
of all the developers >> Wow.
>> who are there.
I know, isn't that
awesome? >> That's awesome.
Congrats on that, that's like -
>> Did I hear that right now?
>> I know, I just had that moment.
>> I know she just told me, I'm like, really?
That's - >> That's so cool.
>> 'Cause the first thing I thought of was then,
oh my god, how many developers are we reaching then?
'Cause they're the ones.
I mean, it's kind of interesting.
So my job has kind of grown from,
over the years, being the security geek in the back room
that nobody talks to, to avoiding me in the lift,
to I've got a seat at the table now.
We meet with the board.
And I think that I can see that that's where
the developer mindset is moving towards.
It's like, give us the right tools
and we'll change your world.
>> And let the human capital go back
to doing the fun stuff and not just the maintenance stuff.
>> And, but then you say that,
you can't have everything automated.
I get that automation is also the buzzword of the week.
And I get that, trust me.
Someone has to write the code to do the automation.
>> Savannah: Right.
>> So, so yeah, definitely give these people
back time, so that they can work on ML,
AI, choose your buzzword.
You know, by giving people things
like queriable encryption for example,
you're going to free up a whole bunch of head space.
They don't have to worry about their data
being, you know harvested from memory
or harvested while at rest or in motion.
And it's like, okay, I don't have to worry about that now,
let me go do something fun.
>> How about the role of the developer
as it relates to SecOps, right?
They're being asked to do a lot.
You and I talked about this at re:Inforce.
You seem to have a pretty good handle on it.
Like a lot of companies I think are struggling with it.
I mean, the other thing you said said to me
is you don't have a lack of talent at Mongo, right?
'Cause you're Mongo.
But a lot of companies do.
But a lot of the developers, you know
we were just talking about this earlier
with Capgemini, the developer metrics
or the application development team's metrics
might not be aligned with the CSO's metrics.
How, what are you seeing there?
What, how do you deal with it within Mongo?
What do you advise your customers?
>> So in terms of internal,
I work very closely with our development group.
So I work with Tara Hernandez,
who's our new VP of developer productivity.
And she and her team are very much interested
in making developers more productive.
That's her job.
And so we get together because sometimes
security can definitely be seen as a blocker.
You know, funnily enough, I actually had
a Slack that I had to respond to
three seconds before I come on here.
And it was like, help, we need some help
getting this application through procurement,
because blah, blah, blah.
And it's weird the kind of change, the shift in mindset.
Whereas before they might have gone to
procurement or HR or someone to ask for this.
Now they're coming to the CSO.
'Cause they know if I say yes, it'll go through.
>> Talk about social engineering.
>> Exactly.
>> You were talking about -
>> But turn it around though.
If I say no, you know, I don't like to say no.
I prefer to be the CSO that says yes, but.
And so that's what we've done.
We've definitely got that culture of ask,
we'll tell you the risks, and then you can
go away and be innovative and do what you need to do.
And we basically do the same with our customers.
Here's what you can do.
Our application is secure out of the box.
Here's how we can help you make it even more,
you know, streamlined or bespoke to what you need.
>> So mobile was a big inflection point, you know,
I dunno, it seems like forever ago.
>> 2007.
>> 2007. Yeah, iPhone came out in 2007.
>> You remember your first iPhone?
>> Dave: Yeah.
>> Yeah? Same.
>> Yeah. It was pretty awesome,
actually. >> Yeah, I do too.
>> Yeah, I was on the train to Boston
going up to see some friends at MIT
on the consortium that I worked with.
And I had, it was the wee one, 'member?
But you thought it was massive.
>> Oh, it felt -
>> It felt big.
And I remember I was sitting on the train to Boston
it was like the Estella and there was
these people, these two women sitting beside me.
And they were all like glam, like you and unlike me.
>> Dave: That's awesome.
>> And they, you could see them like nudging each other.
And I'm being like, I'm just sitting like this.
>> You're chilling. >> Like please look
at my phone, come on just look at it.
Ask me about it. And eventually I'm like -
>> You're baiting them.
>> nonchalantly laid it on the table.
And you know, I'm like, and they're like, is that an iPhone?
And I'm like, yeah, you want to see it?
>> I thought you'd never ask.
>> I know. And I really played with it.
And I showed them all the cool stuff,
and they're like, oh we're going to buy iPhones.
And so I should have probably worked for Apple,
but I didn't. >> I was going to say,
where was your referral kickback on that?
Especially -
>> It was a little like Tesla, right?
When you first, we first saw Tesla,
it was Ray Wong, you know, Ray?
From Pasadena? >> It really was a moment
and going from the Blackberry keyboard to
that - >> He's like want to see my car?
And I'm like oh yeah sure, what's the big deal?
>> Yeah, then you see it and you're like, ooh.
>> Yeah, that really was such a pivotal moment.
>> Anyway, so we lost a track, 2007.
>> Yeah, what were we talking about?
2007 mobile. >> Mobile.
>> Key inflection point, is where you got us here.
Thank you. >> I gotchu Dave,
I gotchu. >> Bring us back here.
My mind needs help right now.
Day four.
Okay, so -
>> We're all getting here on day four,
we're - >> I'm socially engineering
you to end this, so I can go to bed and die quietly.
That's what me and Mary are,
we're counting down the minutes.
>> Holy. >> That's so sick.
>> You're breaking my heart right now.
I love it. I'm with you, sis, I'm with you.
>> So I dunno where I was, really where
I was going with this, but, okay, there's -
>> 2007.
Three things happened. >> Another inflection point.
Okay yeah, tell us what happened.
But no, tell us that, but then -
>> AWS, clones, 2006. >> Well 2006, 2007.
Right, okay.
>> 2007, the iPhone, the world blew up.
So you've already got this platform
ready to take all this data.
>> Dave: Right.
>> You've got this little slab
of gorgeousness called the iPhone,
ready to give you all that data.
And then MongoDB pops up, it's like, woo-hoo.
But what we could offer was, I mean back then was awesome,
but it was, we knew that we would have to
iterate and grow and grow and grow.
So that was kind of the three things
that came together in 2007.
>> Yeah, and then Cloud came in big time,
and now you've got this platform.
So what's the next inflection point do you think?
>> Oh...
>> Good question, Dave. >> Don't even ask me that.
>> I mean, is it Edge? Is it IOT?
Is there another disruptor out there?
>> I think it's going to be artificial intelligence.
>> Dave: Is it AI?
>> I mean I don't know enough about it
to talk about it, to any level,
so don't ask me any questions
about it. >> This is like one of
those ignorance is bliss moments.
It feels right. >> Yeah.
>> Well, does it scare you,
from a security perspective?
Or? >> Great question, Dave.
>> Yeah, it scares me more from a humanity standpoint.
Like -
>> More than social scared you?
'Cause social was so benign when it started.
>> Oh it was -
>> You're like, oh -
I remember, >> It was like a yearbook.
I was on the Estella and we were -
>> Shout out to Amtrak there.
>> I was with, we were starting basically
a wikibond, it was an open source.
>> Yeah, yeah.
>> Kind of, you know, technology community.
And we saw these and we were like enamored of Facebook.
And there were these two young kids on the train,
and we were at 'em, we were picking the brain.
Do you like Facebook?
"I love Facebook."
They're like "oh, Facebook's unbelievable."
Now, kids today, "I hate Facebook," right?
So, but social at the beginning it was kind of,
like I say, benign and now everybody's like -
>> Savannah: We didn't know what we were getting into.
>> Right.
>> I know. >> Exactly.
>> Can you imagine if you could
have seen into the future 20 years ago?
Well first of all, we'd have all
bought Facebook and Apple stock.
>> Savannah: Right. >> And Tesla stock.
But apart from, but yeah apart from that.
>> Okay, so what about Quantum?
Does that scare you at all?
>> I think the only thing that scares me about Quantum
is we have all this security in place today.
And I'm not an expert in Quantum,
but we have all this security in place
that's securing what we have today.
And my worry is, in 10 years, is it still going to be secure?
'Cause we're still going to be using
that data in some way, shape, or form.
And my question is to the quantum geniuses out there,
what do we do in 10 years like to retrofit
the stuff? >> Dave: Like a Y2K moment?
>> Kind of.
Although I think Y2K is coming in 2038, isn't it?
When the Linux date flips.
I'll be off the grid by then, I'll be living in Scotland.
>> Somebody else's problem.
I'll be with the sheep in Glasgow,
in Scotland. >> Y2K was a boondoggle
for tech, right? >> What a farce.
I mean, that whole -
>> I worked in the power industry in Y2K.
That was a nightmare. >> Dave: Oh I bet.
>> Savannah: Oh my God.
>> Yeah, 'cause we just assumed that the world
was going to stop and there been no power,
and we had nuclear power plants.
And it's like holy moly.
Yeah.
>> More than moly.
>> I was going to say, you did a good job holding that
other word in. >> I think I was going to,
in case my mom hears this.
>> I grew up near Diablo Canyon in, in California.
So you were, I mean we were legitimately worried
that that exactly was going to happen.
And what about the waste?
And yeah it was chaos.
We've covered a lot.
>> Well, what does worry you?
Like, it is culture?
Is it -
>> Why are you trying to freak her out?
>> No, no, because it's a CSO,
trying to get inside the CSO's head.
>> You don't think I have enough to worry about?
You want to keep piling on?
>> Well if it's not Quantum, you know?
Maybe it's spiders or like -
>> Oh but I like spiders, well spiders are okay.
I don't like bridges, that's my biggest fear.
Bridges. >> Seriously?
>> And I had to drive over the Tappan Zee bridge,
which is one of the longest,
for 17 years, every day, twice.
The last time I drove over it, I was crying
my heart out, and happy as anything.
>> Stay out of Oakland.
>> I've never driven over it since.
Stay out of where?
>> Stay out of Oakland.
>> I'm staying out of anywhere that's got lots of water.
'Cause it'll have bridges.
>> Savannah: Well it's good we're here in the desert.
>> Exactly.
So what scares me?
Bridges, there you go.
>> Yeah, right.
What? >> Well wait a minute.
So if I'm bridging technology, is that
the scary stuff? >> Oh God, that was not -
>> Was it really bad?
>> It was really bad. >> Wow.
Wow, the puns. >> There's a lot of seems
in those bridges. >> It is lit
on theCUBE A floor, we are all struggling.
I'm curious because I've seen, your team
is all over the place here on the show, of course.
Your booth has been packed the whole time.
>> Lena: Yes.
>> The fingerprint.
Talk to me about your shirt.
>> So, this was designed by my team in house.
It is the most wanted swag in the company,
because only my security people wear it.
So, we make it like, yeah, you could
maybe have one, if this turns out well.
>> I feel like we're on the right track.
>> Dave: If it turns out well.
>> Yeah, I just love it.
It's so, it's just brilliant.
I mean, it's the leaf, it's a fingerprint.
It's just brilliant.
>> That's why I wanted to call it out.
You know, you see a lot of shirts, a lot of swag shirts.
Some are really unfortunately sad,
or not funny, >> They are.
>> or they're just trying too hard.
Now there's like, with this one,
I thought oh I bet that's clever.
>> Lena: It is very cool.
Yes, I love it.
>> I saw a good one yesterday.
>> Yeah?
>> We fix shit, 'member?
>> Oh yeah, yeah.
>> That was pretty good.
>> I like when they're >> That's a pretty
good one. >> just straightforward,
like that, yeah yeah.
>> But the only thing with this is
when you're say in front of a green screen,
you look as though you've got
no tummy. >> A portal through your body.
>> And so, when we did our first -
>> That's a really good point,
actually. >> Yeah, it's like
the black hole to nothingless.
And I'm like wow, that's my soul.
>> I was just going to say, I don't want to see my soul like that.
I don't want to know.
>> But we had to do like, it was just when
the pandemic first started, so we had to do
our big presentation live announcement from home.
And so they shipped us all this camera equipment
for home and thank God my partner
knows how that works, so he set it all up.
And then he had me test with a green screen,
and he's like, you have no tummy.
I'm like, what the hell are you talking about?
He's like, come and see.
It's like this, I dunno what it was.
So I had to actually go upstairs
and felt tip with a magic marker and make it black.
>> Wow.
>> So that was why I did for two hours on a Friday, yeah.
>> Couldn't think of another alternative, huh?
>> Well no, 'cause I'm myopic when it comes to marketing
and I knew I had to keep the tshirt on, and I just did that.
>> Yeah. >> In hindsight,
yes I could have worn an "I Fix Shit" tshirt,
but I don't think my husband would've been very happy.
I secure shit?
>> There you go, yeah.
>> There you go.
>> Over to you, Savannah.
>> I was going to say, I got acquainted,
I don't know if I can say this, but I'm going to
say it 'cause we're here right now.
I got acquainted with theCUBE, wearing a shirt
that said "Unfuck Kubernetes,"
'cause it was a marketing campaign
that I was running for one of my clients
at Kim Con last year. >> That's so good.
>> Yeah, so -
>> Oh my God.
I'll give you one of these if you get me one of those.
>> I can, we can do a swapskee.
We can absolutely. >> We need a few edits
on this film, on the file.
>> Lena: Okay, this is nothing -
>> We're fallin' off the wheel.
Okay, on that note, I'm going to bring us
to our challenge that we discussed,
before we got started on this
really diverse discussion that we
have had in the last 15 minutes.
We've covered everything from felt tip markers
to nuclear power plants.
>> To the darkness of my soul.
>> To the darkness of all of our souls.
>> All of our souls, yes.
>> Which is perhaps a little too accurate,
especially at this stage in the conference.
You've obviously seen a lot Lena,
and you've been rockin' it,
I know John was in your suite
up here, at at at the Venetian.
What's your 30 second hot take?
Most important story, coming out of the show
or for you all at Mongo this year?
>> Genuinely, it was when I learned
that two-thirds of the customers that had
been mentioned, here, are MongoDB customers.
And that just exploded in my head.
'Cause now I'm thinking of all the numbers
and the metrics and how we can use that.
And I just think it's amazing, so.
>> Yeah, congratulations on that.
That's awesome. >> Yeah, I thought
it was amazing. >> And it makes sense actually,
'cause Mongo so easy to use.
We were talking about Tengen.
>> We knew you when, I feel that's our like,
we - >> Yeah, but it's true.
And so, Mongo was just really easy to use.
And people are like, ah, it doesn't scale.
It's like, turns out it actually does scale.
>> Lena: Turns out, it scales pretty well.
>> Well Lena, without question, this is
my favorite conversation of the show so far.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you so much for joining us.
>> Thank you very much for having me.
>> Dave: Great to see you. >> It's always a pleasure.
>> Dave: Thanks Lena. >> Thank you.
>> And thank you all, tuning in live,
for tolerating wherever we take these
conversations. >> Dave: Whatever that was.
>> I bet you weren't ready for this one, folks.
We're at AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas, Nevada.
With Dave Vellante, I'm Savannah Peterson.
You're washing theCUBE, the leader for high tech coverage.