Title

AWS re:Invent 2022 - 10 things you didn’t know your data could do for you (PRT313)

Summary

• Karen, a Principal Developer Advocate at MongoDB, shares her journey from gaming to databases and emphasizes the evolution of databases from simple storage systems to powerful tools that can actively support developers.
• She presents 10 key capabilities of modern databases:
  1. Data can change with flexible schemas and guardrails for validation.
  2. Data can connect and combine from various sources, including federated data access.
  3. Data can drive diverse workloads, such as time series, search, and analytics.
  4. Data can drive application functionality, triggering events based on data changes.
  5. Data can drive deeper user engagement through personalized experiences.
  6. Data can inspire and inform other teams, such as UX designers and game logic designers.
  7. Data can grow with your application, scaling globally with low latency.
  8. Data can go with the flow, syncing across clusters and devices.
  9. Data can protect users with robust security measures, including encryption.
  10. Data can automate many processes, simplifying development and operations.
• Karen demonstrates these capabilities using MongoDB Atlas, showcasing features like global clusters, serverless functions, and queryable encryption.
• She concludes by inviting attendees to MongoDB's Desert Disco event and a talk by Rick Houlihan on SQL vs. NoSQL.

Insights

• The evolution of databases reflects a shift from passive storage to active engagement with data, where databases are not just queried but also perform functions and trigger events.
• The flexibility of NoSQL databases, particularly MongoDB, in handling schema changes and data validation is crucial for modern applications that need to adapt quickly to changing requirements.
• Data federation is a powerful feature that allows for querying and combining data from multiple sources without the need to move or duplicate data, which can save time and resources.
• The ability to drive diverse workloads from a single dataset, such as search and analytics, without setting up separate systems, is a significant advantage for developers.
• Real-time data and analytics are becoming increasingly important for modern applications, necessitating tools and APIs that can bring analytics closer to the database.
• Global clusters and serverless offerings in MongoDB Atlas enable applications to scale and adapt to user demand worldwide, providing low latency and cost-effective solutions.
• Security remains a top priority, and MongoDB's client-side field level encryption and queryable encryption offer strong protection for sensitive data.
• Automation is a recurring theme, with MongoDB Atlas providing APIs for automating various tasks, which aligns with developers' desires for streamlined and efficient workflows.
• The talk demonstrates the importance of databases in the broader ecosystem of application development, where they play a critical role in performance, user experience, and security.