From Tamagotchi Pets to IoT Factories: Digging In at MongoDB World’s Builder’s Fest

Adam Hughes
May 26, 2022 | Updated: January 4, 2023

Everyone loves to build — whether it’s a child playing with LEGO Bricks or a startup founder building an app from scratch. At MongoDB World 2022, attendees will have the chance to build something truly unique.

Builder’s Fest, which takes place on June 9, 2022, at MongoDB World in New York, gives attendees the opportunity to get involved in hands-on workshops and coding competitions. The event will help developers learn how to master features of MongoDB — and also have a lot of fun.

“Builder’s Fest is a place where builders get together and feed off each other’s vibes and collaborate,” says Karen Huaulme, a principal developer advocate at MongoDB. “People are coming in from all different levels; we have something for everyone.”

*A session at Builder’s Fest at MongoDB World 2019. “At Builder’s Fest, we get our hands dirty and see MongoDB in action,” says MongoDB principal consulting engineer Dawid Esterhuizen.*

MongoDB experts will lead workshops and coding competitions to showcase their work, show off their skill sets, and reveal their secret passions. After more than two years of remote conferences, these engineers are excited to build something in person, together with colleagues and peers.

After delivering his keynote earlier in the week, MongoDB CTO Mark Porter will host four sessions during Builder’s Fest. Porter’s four sessions are: MongoDB’s Architectural Advantages, Safe Software Deployments, Engineering Culture at MongoDB, and Is Relational the New COBOL?

Builder’s Pods

*Attendees at Builder's Fest 2019 gather around to share different ideas with each other.*

Much of the action at Builder’s Fest takes place in the Builder’s Pods, which will be spread throughout MongoDB World’s Partner Promenade. The Pods are set up for hands-on learning and tutorials, and they will host the mini workshops led by MongoDB experts and others.

David Bradford is an engineer at MongoDB who is hosting a session in the Builder’s Pod. “For Builder’s Fest, I’m really excited to see the breadth of ways that MongoDB can be used to build unique and novel tooling and solutions,” he says. Bradford’s session will detail how to use MongoDB to export Git history.

“I’m looking forward to showing off some exploration I have been doing around leveraging MongoDB to explore trends and patterns hidden in Git repositories,” Bradford says. “I’m excited to be able to show how features like the aggregation framework and MongoDB Atlas Charts can be used to quickly build powerful analysis tools.”

During 2019’s Builder’s Fest, some of the Builder’s Pod topics included using MongoDB Atlas and Stitch, getting a Raspberry Pi to send IoT data to MongoDB, and creating visualizations using MongoDB Charts.

New sessions this year will begin every half hour at each pod around the space. Workshops will cover a wide spectrum, from building custom Tamagotchi hardware to tinkering with our model-size IIoT smart factory.

John Page, a distinguished engineer at MongoDB, is hosting the session on building custom Tamagotchi hardware. “I'm excited to show off my passion projects and to introduce people to the joy of coding for tiny computers,” Page says. “If you’ve never programmed hardware directly before, you get a chance to try it.”

Says Dawid Esterhuizen, a principal consulting engineer at MongoDB: “I plan to visit the IoT and Tamagotchi pods as my first stop. I like getting involved in the technical bits," he says, "and at Builder’s Fest we get our hands dirty and see MongoDB in action.” The security topics are always of interest, Esterhuizen says, as well as the various coding challenges.

At Builder’s Fest, there really is something for everyone. On two large stages at either end of the Partner Promenade, MongoDB World 2022 participants can take part in coding challenges and gaming competitions. Attendees can go head-to-head and show off their skills.

Coding experts and gamers will not want to miss out on this electric activation on Day 3 of MongoDB World.

Builder’s Fest will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m inside the Partner Promenade. Be sure to check out the full Builder’s Fest agenda within the MongoDB World app for iOS or Android to find workshops that are right for you.

Register today for MongoDB World, and use code MDBW22BLOG to save 25% off your tickets. We hope to see you in NYC from June 7 to June 9!

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How Two MongoDB Employees Are Reflecting on Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is a time to reflect on and celebrate the many communities and cultures that make up this group of individuals. Each community has its own history, struggles, and achievements, and it’s important to recognize that the experiences of individuals who belong to them may differ greatly. This year, two MongoDB employees share their personal stories and how they’re reflecting on Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Zaira Pirzada , senior strategy manager for governance, risk, and compliance I live in the hyphen. Indian-Pakistani-American. Pakistani-Indian-American. Oh, I’m also Muslim. There are layers to unpack when I think about my identity and the places that define me. So I live somewhere in the hyphen, trying to figure out what it is to love the India, Pakistan, and the United States that I know. This is reflected in everything I am and I do. My Indian mother and Pakistani father came to this country when they were 5 and 6 years old, so the motherland is a faint memory for them. My mother grew up loving hip-hop, rock, and R&B. She bought me my first cassette tapes. My father introduced me to classic rock. I thank him for showing me the brilliance of Queen and Ozzy. My mother's Bismillah ceremony (she's the one covered in flowers) Today in our family, we hold on to our culture in the ways we can. Our culture sits on our tongue when we speak Urdu mixed with English. I hope we never lose our language. That culture lives in our stomachs in what we crave when we cook and when we eat (even on Thanksgiving). I hope we never lose the taste for our spices. That culture is music to our ears and color to our eyes when we watch South Asian movies (with subtitles). My mother and grandmother could never have been in a position of leadership in a corporate environment. But here I am, exploring a world that is entirely different from the world I came from and that my family has ever known. My parents provided me the opportunity to explore whatever I wanted to be and however I wanted to be it. I do it boldly, and I do it with privilege that I recognize. Me and some of my cousins (all offspring of the people in the previous picture) in American clothing. Me and the same cousins, but in traditional clothing Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month means a lot to many people. To me, it’s a time to reflect on the journey of being American while still being Indian and Pakistani. Especially as the previous generation ages, we must reflect on who we are now while also remembering our roots. We are all living another chapter in the book of humanity’s becoming. This is a part of my chapter. Kailie Yuan , education engineer As I scroll through the web reading stories for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, I can’t help but wonder: Why does it seem like everyone had such a fun, supporting, and loving childhood? As sad as it sounds, I never felt that I was enough. In most Chinese families, you are expected to be exceptional and flawless. My family was no different and always tried to make me go the extra mile with all that I do. But how many kids spend Saturdays in school trying to perform better in class, get their free time taken away and replaced with reading and studying, and are constantly told they need to put more effort into school when they don’t know what more they can do? I grew up with the expectation that to be successful, I needed to become a doctor or a lawyer. I was disappointed in myself when I couldn’t deliver on the high standards that my parents held. Because of that, I despised this Chinese stereotype of perfectionism — and still do. I didn’t want to be judged or feel like I wasn’t enough anymore, and this caused me to distance myself from Chinese culture and people outside of my family. That changed when the COVID-19 pandemic happened. Although I don’t support most traditional Chinese views, I realized that I still care tremendously about Chinese people. Several times, I cried out of anger after hearing reports of Asian people being targeted and blamed for the pandemic. I wondered what would happen if those experiencing discrimination were my parents or grandparents? For me, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month now means shining light on what it’s really like for many Asian Americans and the tragedy that has been happening since the COVID-19 pandemic started. So many people don’t acknowledge the horrors some Asians have been dealing with or the fear they have when they leave their homes. By sharing my story, I hope it helps others realize that things have been tough for us. Interested in joining MongoDB? We have hundreds of open roles on our teams across the globe and would love to help you transform your career.

May 25, 2022

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MongoDB Database Observability: Integrating with Monitoring Tools

This post is the final in a three-part series on leveraging database observability. Welcome back to our series on Leveraging Database Observability! Our previous post showcased a real-world use case highlighting how MongoDB Atlas’s observability tools effectively tackle database performance challenges. Whether you’re a developer, DBA, or DevOps engineer, our mission is to empower you to harness the full potential of your data through our observability suite . Integrating Atlas metrics with your central enterprise observability tools can simplify your operations. By seamlessly working with popular observability tools, our approach helps teams streamline workflows and enhance visibility across systems. Integrating MongoDB Atlas with third-party monitoring tools MongoDB’s developer data platform combines all essential data services for building modern applications within a unified experience. Our purpose-built observability tools for Atlas environments offer automatic monitoring and optimization, guiding diagnostics tailored specifically for MongoDB. Additionally, we extend Atlas metrics into your existing enterprise observability stack, enabling seamless integration without replacing your current tools. This creates a consolidated, single-pane view that unifies Atlas telemetry with other tech and application metrics, ensuring comprehensive visibility into both database and full-stack performance. This integration empowers you to monitor, receive alerts, and make data-driven decisions within your existing workflows, driving greater efficiency. Below is a quick guide to modifying integration settings through the Atlas UI and the popular integrations we support: Navigate to the Project Integrations page in Atlas. Choose the organization and project you want to configure from the navigation bar. On the Project Integrations page, select the third-party services you’d like to integrate. Configure the chosen services with the required API keys and regions. Critical integrations for your observability platform With Atlas’s Datadog and Prometheus integrations, you can send critical MongoDB metrics to these platforms, empowering detailed, real-time monitoring. Through Datadog , you can track database operation counts, query efficiency, and resource usage, ideal for pinpointing bottlenecks and managing resources. Similarly, Prometheus enables you to monitor essential metrics like query times, connection rates, and memory usage, supporting flexible tracking of database health and performance. Both integrations facilitate proactive detection of issues, alert configuration for resource thresholds, and a cohesive view of Atlas data when visualized in Grafana. Atlas’s integration with PagerDuty streamlines incident management by sending metrics like performance alerts, billing anomalies, and security events directly to PagerDuty. This integration records incidents automatically, notifies teams upon alerts, and supports two-way syncing, ensuring resolved alerts in Atlas are reflected in PagerDuty. It enables efficient incident response and resource allocation to maintain system stability. With Atlas integrations for Microsoft Teams and Slack, you can route key metrics—such as query latency, disk usage, and throughput—to these channels for timely updates. Teams can use these insights for real-time performance monitoring, incident response, and collaboration. Notifications through these platforms ensure your team stays informed on database performance, storage health, and user activity changes as they occur. Use case: Centralized observability with MongoDB Atlas, Datadog, and Slack Let’s walk through a hypothetical scenario for ShopSmart, an e-commerce company that leverages MongoDB Atlas to manage its product catalog and customer data. As traffic surges, the DevOps team faces challenges in monitoring application performance and database health effectively. To tackle these challenges, the team leverages MongoDB Atlas’ integration with Datadog and Slack, creating a powerful observability ecosystem. Integrating MongoDB Atlas with Datadog: The team pushes key MongoDB Atlas metrics into Datadog, such as query performance, connection counts, and Atlas Vector Search metrics. With Datadog, they can visualize these metrics and correlate overall MongoDB performance with their other applications. Out-of-the-box monitors and dedicated dashboards allow the team to track metrics like throughput, average read/write latency, and current connections. This visibility helps pinpoint bottlenecks in real time, ensuring optimal database performance and improving overall application responsiveness. Setting up alerts in Datadog: The team configures alerts for critical metrics like high query latency and increased error rates. When thresholds are breached, Datadog instantly notifies the team. This proactive approach allows the team to address potential performance issues before they impact customers. Integrating Datadog with Slack: To ensure fast communication, alerts are sent directly to the dedicated Slack channel, “ShopSmart-Alerts.” This integration fosters seamless collaboration, enabling the team to discuss and resolve issues in real-time. With these integrations, ShopSmart’s engineering team can monitor performance quickly and address issues efficiently. The unified observability approach enhances operational efficiency, improves the customer experience, and supports ShopSmart’s competitive edge in the e-commerce industry. By leveraging MongoDB Atlas, Datadog, and Slack, the team ensures scalable performance and drives continuous innovation. Conclusion MongoDB Atlas empowers developers and organizations to achieve unparalleled observability and control over their database environments. By seamlessly integrating with central enterprise observability tools, Atlas enhances your ability to monitor performance metrics and ensures you can do so within your existing workflows. This means you can focus on building modern applications confidently, knowing you have the insights and alerts necessary to maintain optimal performance. Embrace the power of MongoDB Atlas and transform your approach to database management—because your applications can thrive when your data is observable. And that wraps up our Leveraging Database Observability series! We hope you learned something new and found value in these discussions. Sign up for MongoDB Atlas , our cloud database service, to see database observability in action. To dive deeper and expand your knowledge, check out this learning byte for more insights on the MongoDB observability suite and how it can enhance your database performance.

November 14, 2024