Why I Love MarkLogic

It’s Valentine’s Day, and I’m here in the snowy, cold Washington, DC-area rather than at home in California with my family. Why? I’m spending some quality time with some of the greatest people in the industry, my fellow MarkLogicians at our annual sales kick-off. Two days ago was my third anniversary with MarkLogic, and as I stood on stage to talk about MarkLogic’s vision of the Data-Centered Data Center (topic for a future post), I started to think about how I came to MarkLogic, why I’m still here, and why I’m so passionate about the product, the company, and how we’re changing the world for the better.

When I decided to leave Microsoft, I had never heard of the San Carlos-based company. A friend who had worked here told me to check it out. He told me about its really smart people and how great they are. I’m used to working with really smart people. Microsoft is full of really smart people. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve never in my career been the smartest person in the room, and I love that. Despite having never worked in the database industry before, I decided to check this company out on the strength of my (very smart) friend’s recommendation.

I went to MarkLogic.com and found a whitepaper by Jason Hunter. About five pages in, I was thinking to myself: “These guys have really figured this problem out.” As a Systems Design Engineer, I’ve always appreciated things that are designed. Not just hacked together, but actually elegantly designed for their purpose. Reading this whitepaper, I could appreciate the magnitude of the problem MarkLogic was trying to solve, and the resulting market opportunity, and I could see the uniqueness and elegance of the solution that these people had created. I could see through the design that these were the kind of people I would admire and respect. I had to meet them. When I flew down to San Carlos to meet the team, my suspicions were confirmed. I immediately wanted to work here.

Three years later, here I am running engineering at MarkLogic. Every day I get to work with the smart, talented, passionate engineers who deliver and support this amazing technology. What’s more, I get to talk to customers 1-1 and sometimes stand in front of them at events and share with them just why I’m so passionate about MarkLogic and what it’s doing to change the world.

Three years ago I joined the company for three reasons: the smart and talented people, the unique and amazing technology, and the incredible market opportunity. Today, all three of these are even better than when I started, but I’ve learned over the years that there’s a fourth aspect of MarkLogic that is also amazing: our customers. We have the best customers in the business. They’re visionaries, leading their industries and doing incredible things with our technology to change the world. They’re generous in sharing their passion for their work with others. They’re a pleasure to partner with, and I learn from them every day.

I feel blessed to work here, and honored to be among the company of people delivering this amazing product to the world. That’s why I love MarkLogic.