• Phil Eaton wrote “From Web Developer To Database Developer In 10 Years”. The author was inspired to write their own version.
• In high school, wanted to be a modern dancer but also a programmer. Fascinated by Pixar's Toy Story and learned 3D graphics with linear algebra and C++. Got books from the library and installed Borland Turbo C++ on a Tandy computer. Taught self basic C++ but didn't manage 3D graphics.
• Reached senior year, auditioned for Ohio State University's dance program and was on the waitlist. Saw a true dancer and decided to major in computer science and do 3D graphics for a living. Got a CS degree from Oberlin College focused on 3D graphics but didn't apply to Pixar. Worked for a tiny company making flight safety analysis software.
• Fast-forwarded to working in various places like a Zen monastery and an NYC education startup. Freelanced for a few years and joined MongoDB in 2011 as a developer advocate promoting MongoDB to the Python community. Became a minor celebrity in the Python world, working on PyMongo and creating Motor.
• After 7 years on the Drivers Team, hit a plateau and switched to the Replication Team. The team read and wrote research papers on distributed systems, and the author learned high-level concepts. Published first research paper about testing TLA+ specifications and implementations.
• In 2022, took a year off to climb and moved to New Paltz. Considered reentry and joined MongoDB's small research group led by Michael Cahill. Worked four days a week at four fifths of previous salary. Had some advantages to get the coveted position without a PhD, like previous boss's support, long tenure at MongoDB, a good published paper, and bringing ideas. Since then, Michael Cahill retired and the author hired Murat Demirbas to lead MongoDB's distributed systems research.