{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-tag-jsx","path":"/blog/tag/culture/","result":{"data":{"prismic":{"allFeaturedblogs":{"edges":[{"node":{"featured_blogs_enabled":true,"heading":[{"type":"paragraph","text":"Featured posts","spans":[]}],"featured_blog_1":{"__typename":"PRISMIC_Blog","_linkType":"Link.document","blog_header_image":{"dimensions":{"width":790,"height":395},"alt":null,"copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/6d8d81b1-971a-4313-b033-b4e125cb14a0_MondoDB-blog-header-790x395.PNG?auto=compress,format"},"blog_headline":[{"type":"heading1","text":"Introducing DigitalOcean Managed MongoDB – a fully managed, database as a service for modern apps","spans":[]}],"blog_post_date":"2021-06-29","blog_post_content":[{"type":"paragraph","text":"MongoDB is one of the most popular databases, and it’s ideal for apps that evolve rapidly and need to handle huge volumes of data and traffic. It offers advantages like flexible document schemas, code-native data access, change-friendly design, and easy horizontal scale-out.","spans":[{"start":22,"end":44,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://db-engines.com/en/ranking","target":"_blank"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"However, building and maintaining MongoDB clusters from the ground up can be a huge undertaking. Developers often complain that they have to spend their valuable time and resources on database management. Well, we’ve been listening and have some great news: accessing and managing MongoDB on DigitalOcean just got a lot simpler!","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"We are excited to announce that DigitalOcean Managed MongoDB is now in General Availability. Managed MongoDB is a fully managed, database as a service (DBaaS) offering from DigitalOcean, built in partnership with and certified by MongoDB Inc. It provides you all the technical capabilities that make MongoDB so beloved in the developer community. Together we have ensured that you will get access to all the latest releases of the MongoDB document database as they become available.","spans":[{"start":32,"end":91,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.digitalocean.com/products/managed-databases-mongodb/"}},{"start":230,"end":241,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.mongodb.com/","target":"_blank"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Managed MongoDB simplifies the MongoDB administration. Developers of all skill levels, even those who do not have prior experience in databases, can spin up MongoDB clusters in just a few minutes. We handle the provisioning, managing, scaling, updates, backups, and security of your MongoDB clusters, allowing you to offload the complex, time consuming –yet critical – database administration tasks to us. This empowers you to focus on what really matters: building awesome apps.","spans":[]},{"type":"embed","oembed":{"height":113,"width":200,"embed_url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvHQSV7jnKA","type":"video","version":"1.0","title":"Create a MongoDB Database on DigitalOcean","author_name":"DigitalOcean","author_url":"https://www.youtube.com/c/Digitalocean","provider_name":"YouTube","provider_url":"https://www.youtube.com/","cache_age":null,"thumbnail_url":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NvHQSV7jnKA/hqdefault.jpg","thumbnail_width":480,"thumbnail_height":360,"html":""}},{"type":"heading2","text":"Benefits of Managed MongoDB","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"","spans":[]},{"type":"list-item","text":"Easy set up and maintenance: We create the database clusters for you. Simply choose the cluster configuration (e.g., memory, disk size, number of nodes, etc.), and the data center in which you want to host the database. Follow a few simple steps and your database cluster will be up and running in a matter of minutes. You can spin up clusters using the cloud control panel, CLI, or API.\n\n","spans":[{"start":0,"end":28,"type":"strong"}]},{"type":"list-item","text":"Automatic daily backups with point in time recovery: Data is one of the most important assets of an app, so it’s critical to backup your database. We take backups of your entire clusters automatically on a daily basis, for free. We also provide a point in time recovery for 7 days, that way if things go wrong due to human error, machine error, or some combination of both, you can easily restore the database as it was at any point in the previous 7 days. \n\n","spans":[{"start":0,"end":52,"type":"strong"}]},{"type":"list-item","text":"Automatic updates and access to latest MongoDB releases: You get access to MongoDB 4.4. This is the latest release of MongoDB and comes packed with numerous enhancements like hedged reads, rust, and swift drivers. Since we have developed Managed MongoDB in partnership with MongoDB Inc, you will always get access to new releases as they become available. With Managed MongoDB, the updates happen automatically. Just select a date and time for the updates and we take care of the rest. This makes it easy to stay up to date with MongoDB releases without disrupting your business.\n\n","spans":[{"start":0,"end":56,"type":"strong"},{"start":148,"end":169,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.mongodb.com/new","target":"_blank"}}]},{"type":"list-item","text":"High availability with automated failover: If your database goes down, it can take down the entire app, leading to bad customer experiences. With Managed MongoDB, you can easily minimize the downtime for your database and make it highly available with standby nodes. Standby nodes add redundancy, so if for example the primary node fails, the standby node is immediately promoted to primary and begins serving requests while we provision a replacement standby node in the background.\n\n","spans":[{"start":0,"end":42,"type":"strong"}]},{"type":"list-item","text":"Scale up easily to handle traffic spikes: As your app gains traction and the usage grows, it’s important to have a database that can keep up with the increased demand. With Managed MongoDB, you can easily scale up the size of database nodes when needed.\n\n","spans":[{"start":0,"end":41,"type":"strong"}]},{"type":"list-item","text":"Secure by default: Since data is critical, it also needs to be secure. We encrypt data at rest with LUKS and in transit with SSL. When you create a new cluster, it’s placed in a VPC network by default that provides a more secure connection between resources. You can also restrict access to your nodes to prevent brute-force password and denial-of-service attacks.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":18,"type":"strong"},{"start":178,"end":189,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.digitalocean.com/docs/networking/vpc/"}}]},{"type":"heading2","text":"The need for Managed Databases","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"DigitalOcean’s mission is to simplify cloud computing so developers, startups, and SMBs can spend more time building software that changes the world. While databases are a critical component to any application, building, maintaining, and scaling them can be complex and time consuming. For developers that are building apps for their business, database administration is often not a core focus area. But it’s quite common to find developers that write the code and then also roll up their sleeves to maintain databases. Such users would rather offload the tedious database administration and focus their limited time and energy on building and enhancing their apps. ","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"With this in mind, we introduced Managed Databases a couple of years ago and are excited to add Managed MongoDB to our portfolio. With this release, DigitalOcean Managed Databases now supports the following engines:","spans":[{"start":33,"end":50,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.digitalocean.com/products/managed-databases/"}}]},{"type":"image","url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/87745cc1-1c5f-4463-b104-104b7fc30dc7_managed-databases-logos.png?auto=compress,format","alt":null,"copyright":null,"dimensions":{"width":849,"height":104}},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Managed MongoDB launch comes on the heels of DigitalOcean App Platform, a modern, reimagined PaaS (Platform as a Service) that we released a few months ago. App Platform makes it very easy to build, deploy, and scale apps and static sites. You can deploy code by simply pointing to your GitHub and GitLab repos, and App Platform will do all the heavy lifting of managing infrastructure, app runtimes, and dependencies. App Platform, along with Managed Databases, helps fulfill DigitalOcean’s mission by empowering developers, startups, and SMBs to focus more on their apps, and less on the underlying infrastructure and databases.","spans":[{"start":45,"end":70,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.digitalocean.com/products/app-platform/"}}]},{"type":"heading2","text":"How Managed MongoDB works","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"DigitalOcean provides you with various compute options to build your apps like:","spans":[]},{"type":"list-item","text":"Droplets: On-demand, Linux virtual machines suitable for production business applications and personal passion projects.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":8,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.digitalocean.com/products/droplets/"}}]},{"type":"list-item","text":"DigitalOcean Kubernetes: Managed Kubernetes with automatic scaling, upgrades, and a free control plane.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":23,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.digitalocean.com/products/kubernetes/"}}]},{"type":"list-item","text":"DigitalOcean App Platform: A fully managed Platform as a Service.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":25,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.digitalocean.com/products/app-platform/"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"No matter which compute option you choose to build your apps, you can easily add Managed MongoDB to it. In addition to this, Managed MongoDB also integrates with the Node.js 1-Click App from DigitalOcean Marketplace making it a lot easier to build Node.js apps.","spans":[{"start":166,"end":215,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://marketplace.digitalocean.com/apps/nodejs"}}]},{"type":"heading2","text":"Simple, predictable pricing","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Just like all DigitalOcean products, Managed MongoDB provides simple, predictable pricing that allows you to control costs and prevent any surprise bills. You can spin up a database cluster for just $15/month, or a highly available three-node replica set for $45/month. Click here for more information.","spans":[{"start":270,"end":301,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.digitalocean.com/pricing/#managed-databases"}}]},{"type":"heading2","text":"Regional availability","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Managed MongoDB is currently available in the following regions:","spans":[]},{"type":"list-item","text":"NYC3 (New York, USA)","spans":[]},{"type":"list-item","text":"FRA1 (Frankfurt, Germany)","spans":[]},{"type":"list-item","text":"AMS3 (Amsterdam, Netherlands)","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"We will be making Managed Mongo available in other regions soon. Please check out the release notes for most up to date information on regional availability.","spans":[{"start":86,"end":99,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.digitalocean.com/docs/release-notes/"}}]},{"type":"heading2","text":"Join us at deploy, DigitalOcean’s virtual user conference","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Today we have deploy, DigitalOcean’s signature user conference, which focuses on celebrating, educating, and connecting awesome builders from all over the world.","spans":[{"start":14,"end":20,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://deploy.digitalocean.com/home"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Check out the keynote session from DigitalOcean's CEO, Yancey Spruill, in which he talks about where we're headed as a company and shares some exciting product updates. His keynote will be followed by sessions from community members, engineers, customers, and other experts that are building technologies and businesses powered by the cloud. With live Q&A and an active Discord server, there’s ample opportunity to engage and learn something new. Click here to attend the deploy conference.","spans":[{"start":14,"end":69,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://deploy.digitalocean.com/agenda/session/552806"}},{"start":347,"end":384,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"http://do.co/deploy-discord"}},{"start":461,"end":489,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"http://do.co/deploy"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"We are also launching a hackathon for DigitalOcean Managed MongoDB. Learn how you can participate, submit an app and get a t-shirt.","spans":[{"start":24,"end":66,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.digitalocean.com/mongodb-hackathon"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"We hope you will give Managed MongoDB a try. Here are some sample datasets and sample apps that you can use to kick the tires. Check out the docs and let us know what you think!","spans":[{"start":22,"end":43,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://cloud.digitalocean.com/databases/new?engine=mongodb"}},{"start":59,"end":90,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://github.com/do-community/mongodb-resources","target":"_blank"}},{"start":141,"end":145,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/databases/mongodb/"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"If you’d like to have a conversation about using DigitalOcean and Managed MongoDB in your business, please feel free to contact our sales team.","spans":[{"start":120,"end":142,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.digitalocean.com/company/contact/sales/"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Happy coding!","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"André Bearfield","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Director of Product Management","spans":[]}],"tags":[{"tag1":{"__typename":"PRISMIC_Tag","tag":"Product Updates","_linkType":"Link.document","_meta":{"uid":"product-updates"}}}],"author":{"__typename":"PRISMIC_Author","author_name":"André Bearfield","author_image":{"dimensions":{"width":553,"height":547},"alt":"André Bearfield","copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/fdc7c85186f0a850b04083e1d4306bd1c19772e8_andre-bearfield.png?auto=compress,format"},"_meta":{"uid":"andre-bearfield"}},"_meta":{"uid":"introducing-digitalocean-managed-mongodb"}},"featured_blog_2":{"__typename":"PRISMIC_Blog","_linkType":"Link.document","blog_header_image":{"dimensions":{"width":790,"height":400},"alt":"Droplet Console","copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/710499ae-78cc-4179-afc1-15793637b200_DODX3727-790x400-logo-2.jpg?auto=compress,format"},"blog_headline":[{"type":"heading1","text":"Securely connect to Droplets with SSH key pairs using a new Droplet Console","spans":[]}],"blog_post_date":"2021-08-10","blog_post_content":[{"type":"paragraph","text":"The famous author Ken Blanchard once said, “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.\" This is something we truly believe at DigitalOcean, and we always strive to enhance our products based on customer feedback.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"With this goal in mind, we are excited to introduce a new Droplet Console that will make it much easier to connect to your Droplets securely. The new Droplet Console provides one-click SSH access to your Droplets through a native-like SSH/Terminal experience. It also eliminates the need for a password or manual configuration of SSH keys. Starting today, we’re pleased to announce that the new Droplet Console is now available to all Droplet users.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading2","text":"Why you should be using Secure Shell (SSH) ","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Password-based security is notoriously insecure due to password fatigue and the overuse of passwords such as ‘123456’. Secure Shell or SSH is a network communication protocol that solves this by using passwordless solutions for encryption, enabling two computers to communicate and securely share data. At a high level, SSH works by creating cryptographic key pairs consisting of a public and private key, which are computer generated and stored separately to ensure their security. ","spans":[{"start":80,"end":117,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://cybernews.com/best-password-managers/most-common-passwords/"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"SSH has become the default encryption protocol for many industries, but it was difficult to use SSH keys with DigitalOcean’s current Recovery (VNC) console, which is why we developed our new Droplet Console. The new Droplet Console is backed by an agent that security supervises the key pair, while also providing one-click SSH access to our users. You can see the full list of features below.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading2","text":"The new Droplet Console: More time saving, less time wasting ","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"The new Droplet Console is for everyone who is looking to build fast, secure apps and avoid hassles with SSH access & usability issues.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"In addition to easier SSH access, the new Droplet Console comes with:","spans":[]},{"type":"list-item","text":"Copy/paste text: Instead of typing lengthy key pairs and text manually, you can use copy/paste to save time. ","spans":[{"start":0,"end":17,"type":"strong"}]},{"type":"list-item","text":"Multi-color support: Multi-color support makes the console more useful and intuitive, and breaks the conventional standard appearance which is black text on a white background. ","spans":[{"start":0,"end":41,"type":"strong"}]},{"type":"list-item","text":"Multi-language support: DigitalOcean’s new Droplet Console supports multiple languages, meaning you can now type and view any content in any language that is supported by UTF-8","spans":[{"start":0,"end":24,"type":"strong"}]},{"type":"list-item","text":"OS/images supported: Linux distributions (Ubuntu(16.04 - 20.04), Fedora (32 & 33), Debian (9), CentOS (7.6 & 8.3), CentOS 8 Stream, Rocky Linux and Marketplace images.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":20,"type":"strong"},{"start":148,"end":159,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://marketplace.digitalocean.com/"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"The new Droplet Console is available by default on any new Droplets you spin up. You can also enable it manually on older Droplets. Click here to learn more!","spans":[{"start":132,"end":157,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/droplets/how-to/connect-with-console/"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Check out this short walkthrough video that shows the new Droplet Console in action: ","spans":[]},{"type":"embed","oembed":{"type":"video","embed_url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt7QihVuxiE","title":"Access Your Droplet Terminal Through the Web Console","provider_name":"YouTube","thumbnail_url":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Qt7QihVuxiE/hqdefault.jpg","provider_url":"https://www.youtube.com/","author_name":"DigitalOcean","author_url":"https://www.youtube.com/c/Digitalocean","height":113,"width":200,"version":"1.0","thumbnail_height":360,"thumbnail_width":480,"html":""}},{"type":"paragraph","text":"We hope you’re excited about the new Droplet Console. You’re welcome to spin some Droplets up right now, and try out the new Droplet Console – why wait?","spans":[{"start":72,"end":103,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://cloud.digitalocean.com/droplets/new"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Happy coding!","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Harsh Banwait, Senior Product Manager","spans":[]}],"tags":[{"tag1":{"__typename":"PRISMIC_Tag","tag":"Product Updates","_linkType":"Link.document","_meta":{"uid":"product-updates"}}}],"author":{"__typename":"PRISMIC_Author","author_name":"Harsh Banwait","author_image":{"dimensions":{"width":600,"height":399},"alt":null,"copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/e83ff690-b20c-4d88-a2b6-57e562558cd6_download.png?auto=compress,format"},"_meta":{"uid":"harsh-banwait"}},"_meta":{"uid":"new-droplet-console-ssh-support"}},"featured_blog_3":{"__typename":"PRISMIC_Blog","_linkType":"Link.document","blog_header_image":{"dimensions":{"width":790,"height":400},"alt":null,"copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/588e28d3-d41e-480b-937b-8c3b19201f6e_DODX3568-790x400-Blog.jpg?auto=compress,format"},"blog_headline":[{"type":"heading1","text":"How to scale your SaaS product without breaking the bank","spans":[]}],"blog_post_date":"2021-06-22","blog_post_content":[{"type":"paragraph","text":"These days, if you are in the business of software, chances are you are delivering or plan to deliver your services using a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. A combination of internet-based delivery, subscription-based pricing, and low-friction product experiences have made SaaS solutions valuable tools for their users, and an excellent vehicle for software builders looking to distribute their products.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"These factors have made SaaS solutions ubiquitous; SaaS is the largest segment in the public cloud market, and is used to provide functionality ranging from personal finance apps for consumers, to productivity software for businesses, and even tools and services for software developers themselves to compose their applications and simplify their workflows. It is also not uncommon to find micro-SaaS applications being built for specific industries such as retail, job functions such as accounting or marketing, or tasks such as event management. ","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"The best thing about this SaaS wave has been that it has allowed a new generation of software builders to build and monetize applications and participate in the digital economy. Previously, you had to be a big company with lots of resources, name recognition and distribution networks to successfully sell software products. Now, irrespective of whether you are a single person working on a passion project, a small team of developers in a startup, or a small and medium-sized business (SMB), the SaaS model enables you to express your ideas in the form of software and deliver them to customers anywhere in the world.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading2","text":"The unique challenges of building SaaS solutions","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Despite the opportunities that come with the widespread adoption of SaaS products, software builders still have to answer key questions in their journey to building successful SaaS products. Understanding what customers to target, features to prioritize, how to price your product, and how to acquire customers are all critical questions to figure out while you are also doing the important job of actually building and operating the product. ","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Writing the code, testing, deployment, monitoring the usage in production, and ensuring that your apps are able to handle the additional demand when customer base and usage grows are all essential and time-consuming tasks.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Additionally, being able to test multiple ideas, pivot, and double down on the ideas that actually work is critical in early stages of SaaS development. Once growth comes, it is equally important to scale up without compromising on performance or reliability. Needless to say, all of this needs to be economically viable as well, since not everyone has the resources of large SaaS providers like Salesforce or Adobe.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading2","text":"Cloud Computing enables builders but also poses challenges","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Fortunately, for the act of building and operating your apps, cloud computing can help take some load off your shoulders. Unless you have the scale and resources of Facebook, chances are you are not going to set up your own data centers to host the computing infrastructure that powers your SaaS company. Public cloud infrastructure providers can bring great value to SaaS builders by providing on-demand computing services with usage-based pricing. However, just like how the legacy software companies weren't built for the SaaS model, the early (and big) cloud computing services were not optimized for the unique needs of small SaaS building teams. ","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Smaller SaaS teams face challenges with large cloud computing providers, including:","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"Too many technology options","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"There are just too many options for tech stacks on which to build your SaaS - programming languages, application development frameworks, libraries, runtime environments, architectural patterns, and deployment models - and the list is growing by the day.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"Complexity of cloud computing services","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Even when you have decided on a technology stack, there is a lot of cloud vendor-specific terminology you need to learn and heavy lifting you need to do to build on the cloud, not all of which contributes to making your SaaS applications successful.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"Unpredictable costs","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"The experimentation necessary in early stages of SaaS development, as well as the scaling of applications required during the growth phase, call for affordable and predictable pricing from your cloud provider. The last thing SaaS teams want is surprising and indecipherable bills from your cloud provider. Unfortunately, smaller businesses often experience unpredictable costs with cloud providers who are busy serving only the large enterprises.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading2","text":"DigitalOcean provides a simple, cost effective solution for SaaS builders","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Fortunately, at DigitalOcean we have a laser focus on small software development teams, who are trying to build the next generation of applications. Today, DigitalOcean customers are already building SaaS applications which serve all kinds of customers.","spans":[{"start":191,"end":217,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.digitalocean.com/solutions/saas/"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"We believe SaaS builders should focus on building apps that power their business, and not spend their valuable time on managing infrastructure. That is exactly what we have been able to enable through our intuitive products that are built for scale and reliability.","spans":[{"start":205,"end":223,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.digitalocean.com/products/"}}]},{"type":"list-item","text":"Vidazoo is an advertising technology company specializing in video streaming and serving. It serves video ads to thousands of websites and handles close to 10 billion requests per day. \n\n“We are as much a data company as an adtech company. Our business relies on speedy and accurate data processing at massive scale. DigitalOcean provides us the perfect set of tools to operate our SaaS business profitably, while not making us feel the need to become full time system administrators. We plan to move a lot of our apps to DigitalOcean App Platform and other fully managed products.” - Roman Svichar, CTO of Vidazoo","spans":[{"start":0,"end":7,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://vidazoo.com/"}},{"start":187,"end":583,"type":"em"}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"We believe in meeting customers where they are. If they already have an understanding of cloud infrastructure technologies, they should be able to leverage that knowledge and get started with our products without any further ramp up.","spans":[]},{"type":"list-item","text":"Whatfix is an enterprise SaaS provider that offers a digital adoption platform to businesses. The company helps enterprises gain the full value of their investments in enterprise applications by providing real-time, interactive, and contextual guidance to users of those applications. \n\n“What we really love about the DigitalOcean platform is the ease of use. We feel like we know infrastructure and can handle most of the configuration and management. What we needed from a cloud was not bells and whistles but efficiency and reliability. DigitalOcean provides us a platform to build our apps and then gets out of the way. Just how we like it.” - Achyuth Krishna, Director of Engineering of Whatfix","spans":[{"start":0,"end":7,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://whatfix.com/blog/driving-the-future-now-were-excited-to-announce-our-90-million-series-d-funding/"}},{"start":287,"end":648,"type":"em"}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"We understand that scaling while maintaining reliability of applications and profitability of business is important, so we provide robust solutions which minimize downtime.","spans":[]},{"type":"list-item","text":"Centra is a SaaS-based e-commerce platform for global direct-to-consumer and wholesale e-commerce brands. Centra provides a powerful e-commerce backend that lets brands build pixel-perfect, custom designed, online flagship stores. \n\n“How do we enable our customers to create differentiated online experiences? How do we ensure their e-commerce apps stay up and running at all times? How do we scale on-demand when traffic grows or new customers come in? These are the questions that we ask ourselves every day. Thankfully, we have a partner in DigitalOcean that provides just the platform to answer those questions enabling us to guarantee 99.9% uptime for our clients.” - Martin Jensen, CEO of Centra","spans":[{"start":0,"end":6,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://centra.com/"}},{"start":233,"end":673,"type":"em"}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"These are just a few examples of SaaS businesses finding success on DigitalOcean. We are constantly amazed by the creativity and innovation that software builders are utilizing our platform for. If you are interested in learning more about product updates, technical deep-dives and best practices for building SaaS products and businesses, please contact us to learn how we can help you get started. ","spans":[{"start":340,"end":357,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.digitalocean.com/migrate/?utmmedium=blog","target":"_blank"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Come build with DigitalOcean!","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Looking to migrate your SaaS to DigitalOcean? Leverage free infrastructure credits, robust training, and technical support to ensure a worry-free migration.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":156,"type":"strong"},{"start":0,"end":156,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.digitalocean.com/migrate/?utmmedium=blog","target":"_blank"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Raman Sharma","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Vice President, Product & Programs Marketing","spans":[]}],"tags":[{"tag1":{"__typename":"PRISMIC_Tag","tag":"Developer Relations","_linkType":"Link.document","_meta":{"uid":"developer-relations"}}}],"author":{"__typename":"PRISMIC_Author","author_name":"Raman Sharma","author_image":{"dimensions":{"width":512,"height":512},"alt":null,"copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/497b4b14-d192-493a-8b66-7ae176ba99f3_raman.png?auto=compress,format"},"_meta":{"uid":"raman-sharma"}},"_meta":{"uid":"how-to-scale-your-saas-product-without-breaking-the-bank"}}}}]}}},"pageContext":{"limit":12,"skip":0,"numTagPages":2,"currentPage":1,"uid":"culture","data":[{"node":{"author":{"_linkType":"Link.document","author_name":"Yancey Spruill","author_image":{"dimensions":{"width":6016,"height":4016},"alt":null,"copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/5108518f-e9f6-4361-931e-64c8a848160d_YanceySpruill.jpg?auto=compress,format"},"_meta":{"uid":"yancey_spruill"}},"blog_header_image":{"dimensions":{"width":1920,"height":1080},"alt":null,"copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/5036ebe6-a85d-4fc8-b9ac-859c2780410e_DO-mission-statement+%281%29.png?auto=compress,format"},"blog_headline":[{"type":"heading1","text":"CEO's reflections on 2 years at DigitalOcean","spans":[]}],"blog_post_content":[{"type":"paragraph","text":"As I approach my second anniversary at DigitalOcean, I have even more excitement than on my first day at DO.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"The core of what makes DigitalOcean a magical company has stayed the same. We remain focused on our mission to simplify cloud computing so developers and businesses can spend more time creating software that changes the world. Our mission to serve you, our customers, has never been more important to us, and we are all-in for you.","spans":[{"start":17,"end":53,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.digitalocean.com/blog/introducing-digitaloceans-new-ceo-why-im-so-excited-to-join-do/"}},{"start":108,"end":225,"type":"em"}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"We have made quite a bit of change in the last year to better serve you, we have improved our processes, we have launched new features and products to evolve our capabilities to support your growth. Importantly, we are laying the foundation to be here for you for the next decade, just as we have supported you in our first decade. ","spans":[{"start":42,"end":71,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.digitalocean.com/blog/a-year-in-review-ceos-reflections"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Earlier this year, we were able to provide our founders and early investors with a path to liquidity for their investment by taking DigitalOcean public. We are now set up with significant financial strength and a public investor base that supports the next phase of our story, and we will use these assets to heavily invest to support your growth aspirations.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Over the past two years, I’ve been so lucky to spend time with many of you, to get your perspective on why you came to DO and why you stay, and how we can serve you better. Your feedback has been invaluable to me, as we look to prioritize our initiatives to best meet your needs as you test your ideas and build your businesses on DigitalOcean.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Before ending, I want to acknowledge how hard life has been for us all these past 16 months. I’m proud that we’ve worked together to support our customers, despite the hardship, including in our own family. Earlier in 2021, we lost two beloved employees, Hollie Haggans and Peeyush Gupta, and I want to thank our team for coming together and surrounding their families with love. During this most difficult time - there’s been no more powerful demonstration by our DigitalOcean team that Love is at our core.","spans":[{"start":488,"end":508,"type":"em"}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Thank you to our customers and our broader DO team, for making this past year so impactful and rewarding. I look forward to many more together, as we’re just getting started!!","spans":[]},{"type":"embed","oembed":{"type":"video","embed_url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLEuujM0Sp0","title":"Yancey Spruill on His 2-year DigitalOcean Anniversary","provider_name":"YouTube","thumbnail_url":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vLEuujM0Sp0/hqdefault.jpg","provider_url":"https://www.youtube.com/","author_name":"DigitalOcean","author_url":"https://www.youtube.com/c/Digitalocean","height":113,"width":200,"version":"1.0","thumbnail_height":360,"thumbnail_width":480,"html":""}}],"blog_post_date":"2021-08-25","tags":[{"tag1":{"tag":"Culture","_linkType":"Link.document","_meta":{"uid":"culture"}}}],"_meta":{"uid":"ceo-reflections-2-years-at-digitalocean"}}},{"node":{"author":{"_linkType":"Link.document","author_name":"Yancey Spruill","author_image":{"dimensions":{"width":6016,"height":4016},"alt":null,"copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/5108518f-e9f6-4361-931e-64c8a848160d_YanceySpruill.jpg?auto=compress,format"},"_meta":{"uid":"yancey_spruill"}},"blog_header_image":{"dimensions":{"width":300,"height":150},"alt":null,"copyright":null,"url":"https://www-static.cdn.prismic.io/www-static/8bf52aff-041b-469b-bf7b-f36525f086bd_D%26I_blog.svg"},"blog_headline":[{"type":"heading1","text":"Announcing DigitalOcean's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Report","spans":[]}],"blog_post_content":[{"type":"paragraph","text":"I am incredibly proud to share DigitalOcean’s first-ever diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) report that highlights our employee workforce data for 2020. We are committed to publishing our diversity numbers annually, as well as improving towards our targets over time. This year’s report will serve as a baseline as we make progress, and like all areas of our business, we strive for progress, because there’s always room to improve.","spans":[{"start":46,"end":102,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://digitalocean.com/diversity/diversity-equity-inclusion-report-2020"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"At DigitalOcean, we have a strong commitment to building a diverse workforce that reflects our values and the needs of our global customer base. One of our core values is We speak up when we have something to say, and listen when others do. This is about transparency and inclusion, and is our stake in the ground that our company is one where everyone feels welcome as themselves, can raise their hand and they are valued. We understand that the only way we can realize this incredible opportunity to serve the 130+ million entrepreneurs and developers, around the world, is for all of us to work together, regardless of our backgrounds, our business opportunity is simply too important and massive, to have a culture where all people aren’t contributing as equals. ","spans":[{"start":171,"end":239,"type":"em"}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"As part of this report, we are committed to the following goals around diversity, inclusion, and equity:","spans":[]},{"type":"list-item","text":"By 2025 in the U.S., we will reflect the communities we serve in our employee population in both race/ethnicity and gender, using the U.S. census as our indicator. ","spans":[]},{"type":"list-item","text":"Globally, by 2022 we aim to have a zero differential in sentiment across all employees regardless of gender or ethnicity when conducting our annual TIDE employee survey. ","spans":[]},{"type":"list-item","text":"In evaluating equity, we will continue to ensure equal total rewards opportunities for all employees regardless of gender identity, ethnicity, location, sexual orientation, disability status, and more.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Why now? Our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is ingrained in our values and we are accountable to deliver on our commitments, including sharing our dedication and progress towards diversity. We want DigitalOcean to be a transparent and inclusive place where you know where we stand and no matter your background or experiences, you have a voice and you are heard.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"A diverse workforce is vital for DigitalOcean to reach our significant potential. As I like to say, it’s not just what we do, it’s also how we do it. Valuing and creating a diverse team to serve our customers is a key aspect to how we will do it, and I am excited for us to release this report today, and look forward to updating you on our progress each and every year from now. ","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"View the full report and more information on our diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives on this page.","spans":[{"start":94,"end":106,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://digitalocean.com/diversity/diversity-equity-inclusion-report-2020"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"-Yancey Spruill","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"CEO, DigitalOcean","spans":[]}],"blog_post_date":"2021-08-16","tags":[{"tag1":{"tag":"Culture","_linkType":"Link.document","_meta":{"uid":"culture"}}},{"tag1":{"tag":"News","_linkType":"Link.document","_meta":{"uid":"news"}}}],"_meta":{"uid":"diversity-equity-inclusion-2021"}}},{"node":{"author":{"_linkType":"Link.document","author_name":"DigitalOcean","author_image":{"dimensions":{"width":600,"height":600},"alt":"Sammy avatar","copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/a10e3c2eb15b74ee43f872be3044313423b1c9a9_sammy_avatar.png?auto=compress,format"},"_meta":{"uid":"digitalocean"}},"blog_header_image":null,"blog_headline":[{"type":"heading1","text":"Helping Remote Developers Avoid Burnout","spans":[]}],"blog_post_content":[{"type":"paragraph","text":"This is a guest post from Debbie Chew of Arc.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":45,"type":"em"},{"start":41,"end":44,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://arc.dev/"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Ever feel like the code you write is never good enough? Or that you’re constantly tired from working, but your workload doesn’t seem to ever decrease?","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"You’re not alone! Being a developer can be exhausting. To help rebuild your willpower and rediscover your sense of identity, there are lots of ways you can manage, overcome, and avoid burnout.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Burnout is a reality for thousands of developers, and it also affects those working remotely. In fact, DigitalOcean's recently published report, Currents: A Seasonal Report on Developer Trends in the Cloud – Remote Work Edition, revealed that 66% of remote developers suffer from burnout symptoms. And the percentage is even higher (82%) for developers in the United States.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":48,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://hn.algolia.com/?query=burnout&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=1&dateRange=all&type=story"}},{"start":145,"end":227,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.digitalocean.com/currents/july-2019/"}}]},{"type":"heading2","text":"The burnout problem is real","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"The report is worrying. It reveals that burnout is a slightly higher risk (+2%) for remote developers than for in-house developers. Fortunately, working remotely can improve work-life balance, with remote developers rating their work-life balance at 7.02 out of 10 on average (as opposed to on-site developers, who score lower at 6.95).","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"So what are the biggest contributors to burnout?","spans":[]},{"type":"list-item","text":"Working longer hours than expected","spans":[]},{"type":"list-item","text":"Feeling like management expects you to contribute more than in-house developers","spans":[]},{"type":"list-item","text":"Increased levels of stress and anxiety","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"The most significant danger is that burnout can creep in slowly and unannounced. You find yourself working longer hours, spending more time on work, feeling more stressed, and not knowing when (or how) to stop.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"If you think this might be happening to you or someone you know, there is help available. This guide will help you understand burnout and give you practical tips that will allow you to prevent or overcome it.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading2","text":"Solving the problem of burnout","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"These tips will help you protect your passion for coding, be more productive, and avoid burnout:","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"1. Assume responsibility for your time","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"When working in-house, someone else is often responsible for directly managing you. But when you work remotely, this responsibility falls on you. If you don't manage your time, no one will (at least until it’s time for your performance review). Don't be your own worst enemy!","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Everything your manager previously did for you, you must now do for yourself. This includes setting your schedule – deciding when you work and for how long, when you take breaks, and more. What's most important is sticking to the decisions you make: without being disciplined, you will create additional stress for yourself.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"2. Set clear boundaries","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"You must understand your nonnegotiables. What are the things that, as a remote developer, you would not be happy doing? Maybe working in the middle of the night is one of them. Or perhaps you're not happy with your employer demanding that you work during specific hours.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"In \"A Programmer Burnout Story,\" Lorenzo Pasqualis recommends active communication to help remote developers remain on the same page as the rest of their team. This will help combat any potential expectation that you have to contribute more than you physically can.","spans":[{"start":3,"end":32,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.coderhood.com/a-programmer-burnout-story-how-to-recognize-it-and-avoid-it/"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Communicating nonnegotiables with your team will help set boundaries in regards to your availability and what you're willing to do.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"3. Set a fixed working schedule & stick to it","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"DigitalOcean's report also reveals that 52% of remote developers find themselves working longer hours than they thought they would. One of the reasons may be a lack of time management skills.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"The best thing to do to start learning how to manage your time better is to begin setting a fixed schedule. After you communicate your working times to your remote team, diligently stick to them. By doing so, you will avoid straying from what you need to do.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Also resist the urge to check email or lurk on Slack outside your working schedule. You may feel that doing so means you're contributing more, but usually this isn't the case.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"4. Create a routine","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"If you don't establish a routine to help reduce the amount of information you have to process, your stress levels may increase. A routine helps you always know what you need to be doing next.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"It's good to have a routine in the early morning when you wake up, and also before going to bed. This helps your mind separate work from other activities, while helping you maintain work-life balance.","spans":[{"start":13,"end":27,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://zapier.com/blog/daily-routines/"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Another good practice is not checking your email first thing in the morning. It's better to wake up and prepare your breakfast, and only then check email. You can also use this time to prioritize your tasks for the day.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"5. Take multiple breaks","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Making time for multiple scheduled breaks from coding during the day is essential to increase productivity and reduce stress levels. Planning these breaks will help you develop the discipline to actually sign off when the time comes. Even going for a short walk around the block or doing a small task in the home can help.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"6. Exercise daily","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Daily exercise is phenomenal for your health. You should set aside 30 minutes to an hour every day for exercise. It's a great way to de-stress and unplug – 61% of developers find that physical activity lowers their stress levels. Science backs this up. So take advantage of those endorphins!","spans":[{"start":230,"end":252,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/exercise-and-stress/art-20044469"}}]},{"type":"heading4","text":"7. Don't eat while you're working","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Cooking and eating are great activities to save for your breaks. Taking the time to eat will help your mind unplug from work and relax. Enjoy the process of making your food, and take a moment to savor it. You'll find that you return to your monitor more refreshed and ready to take on the challenges that await.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"It's also a good idea to prepare healthy food, which gives you an energy boost and keeps your mind sharp.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"8. Don't forget about friends & family","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"When you're in work mode, it's easy to forget to set time aside for friends and family. To avoid this, try to schedule social events ahead of time. They will help you disconnect from work and make your life about more than just what pays the bills.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"It’s important to remember that keeping in touch with loved ones will make you more fulfilled, help prevent stress, and ultimately make you happier and more productive at work. According to the DigitalOcean Currents report, 67% of developers say spending time with friends and family is the best way for developers to de-stress. (And let’s not forget pets too!)","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"9. Make time for yourself","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Don’t forget to have some \"me time\" too. Leaving some time in the day for yourself will help you do other things that you enjoy. Playing video games, reading, or listening to music are all great de-stressors.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Another thing to consider is pursuing a hobby or other creative endeavor and learn more in this time. You can even study a different tech stack and improve your skills – even if you’re an experienced developer.","spans":[{"start":170,"end":209,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.codementor.io/blog/updating-your-best-practices-7gzzfh3vrx"}}]},{"type":"heading4","text":"10. Take vacations","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Lastly, taking a vacation is a very effective way to disconnect from work and recharge your batteries.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Unfortunately, most remote workers take limited vacation, often out of fear that they are not working enough compared to their counterparts.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"You should take a vacation if you feel like you need one. Your productivity will actually increase after taking necessary time off, making it a win-win for you and your employer.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading2","text":"Remote work should be enjoyable","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"By establishing healthy routines and boundaries, along with prioritizing your wellness, health, and both personal and professional relationships, you’ll learn to manage and overcome burnout – which will help you become a happier, more productive developer. You’ll get to truly enjoy remote work and all its benefits (flexible schedule, no commuting, ability to work from anywhere, and more) without the downside.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Arc (formerly CodementorX) is a platform that connects developers with top companies hiring great developer talent. If you're a remote developer looking for your next opportunity, consider joining the Arc network.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":213,"type":"em"},{"start":180,"end":212,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"http://bit.ly/2lYPQUQ"}}]}],"blog_post_date":"2019-09-18","tags":[{"tag1":{"tag":"Culture","_linkType":"Link.document","_meta":{"uid":"culture"}}},{"tag1":{"tag":"Engineering","_linkType":"Link.document","_meta":{"uid":"engineering"}}},{"tag1":{"tag":"Community","_linkType":"Link.document","_meta":{"uid":"community"}}}],"_meta":{"uid":"avoiding-burnout"}}},{"node":{"author":{"_linkType":"Link.document","author_name":"Yancey Spruill","author_image":{"dimensions":{"width":6016,"height":4016},"alt":null,"copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/5108518f-e9f6-4361-931e-64c8a848160d_YanceySpruill.jpg?auto=compress,format"},"_meta":{"uid":"yancey_spruill"}},"blog_header_image":null,"blog_headline":[{"type":"heading1","text":"Introducing DigitalOcean’s New CEO: \"Why I'm So Excited to Join DO!\"","spans":[]}],"blog_post_content":[{"type":"paragraph","text":"Hi, my name is Yancey, and as the incoming CEO of DigitalOcean, I wanted to take the opportunity to introduce myself to all of you – the developer community who helped make DigitalOcean what it is today.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"I’m thrilled to be joining this amazing team and even happier to lead the company through its next phase of growth – with a vision of serving many millions of developers, like you, all around the world.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"I started my career as a manufacturing engineer. I was responsible for integrating third-party hardware and software tools to enable factories to produce products faster, more efficiently, and with better quality. In this role, I truly came to appreciate the things that helped make my job a little bit easier, and I see many parallels in my experience then to the role of today’s developer.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Later on I spent a number of years as an investment banker focusing on mergers and acquisitions to help technology, media, healthcare, and energy companies with their inorganic growth strategies to meet the needs of their customers. I learned a lot, but ultimately found my way back to my roots in the technology industry, helping to scale two rapidly growing companies, DigitalGlobe and SendGrid. What I loved most about these companies was their focus and passion for customer and employee experience, which I believe were critical elements leading to our ability to deliver strong financial results and returns for our investors.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"So why does this matter for DigitalOcean?","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"I’ve worked with many companies at various stages of their growth, but regardless of industry or size, there’s always one constant: the need to identify what makes a company “magical” and to preserve it at all costs.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"At DigitalOcean, we have experienced incredible success by showering our customers and the broader developer community with “DO Love.” It is a pillar of our culture and something we will never abandon. Frankly, that was a critical element for me in deciding to join the team here. Seeing our team’s passion for customers and developers is inspiring, because any company that leads with genuine focus on its customer is a company that can endure for decades. DigitalOcean is one of those companies.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Additionally, we have a product that truly makes an impact. Simplifying software allows everyone to integrate multiple tools much more easily, saving time, friction, and money. Making it so much simpler for new businesses and new ideas to get off the ground is our goal at DO. We want to make app development seamless, so you can spend less effort building and instead focus on growing your core business.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"As we focus on our own core business, DO Love will continue to be at the center of everything we do. We will continue to provide the simple-to-use tools, tutorials, documentation, and support as we always have, adding more of them over time. We will continue to provide our services in a scalable, reliable and secure way, even as we grow our numbers of products and expand our current 500,000 customer base. My aspiration is for us to continue to provide everything you love about DO now, but to also enhance our offerings in a way that is meaningful, strategic and most helpful for you over time.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"It’s incredibly exciting to be joining DO, where so many customers come to build their dream business, or just to follow their passion. It's vitally important to me as CEO to make sure that as our customers grow, and therefore we grow, we remain focused on ensuring that our products are always enabling and perpetuating our customers’ success.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"I look forward to meeting many of you in the coming days, months, and years. I look forward to your perspectives on how we can make things better for you today and how we can better serve you in the future.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Finally, and most important to me, I look forward to DigitalOcean delivering for you as you evolve, grow, and realize your potential and your dreams.","spans":[]}],"blog_post_date":"2019-07-30","tags":[{"tag1":{"tag":"News","_linkType":"Link.document","_meta":{"uid":"news"}}},{"tag1":{"tag":"Culture","_linkType":"Link.document","_meta":{"uid":"culture"}}},{"tag1":{"tag":"Community","_linkType":"Link.document","_meta":{"uid":"community"}}}],"_meta":{"uid":"introducing-digitaloceans-new-ceo-why-im-so-excited-to-join-do"}}},{"node":{"author":{"_linkType":"Link.document","author_name":"DigitalOcean","author_image":{"dimensions":{"width":600,"height":600},"alt":"Sammy avatar","copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/a10e3c2eb15b74ee43f872be3044313423b1c9a9_sammy_avatar.png?auto=compress,format"},"_meta":{"uid":"digitalocean"}},"blog_header_image":null,"blog_headline":[{"type":"heading1","text":"Creating a Parent-Inclusive Workplace","spans":[]}],"blog_post_content":[{"type":"paragraph","text":"This is a guest post from Laurel Kiskanyan, Senior Recruiter here at DigitalOcean.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":82,"type":"em"}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"This Mother’s Day I’m also celebrating my daughter’s first birthday. Whereas this time last year I was struggling to keep a tiny human (and myself for that matter) alive, this year I’ve had a chance to reflect on what is important to me as a working parent in the tech industry.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"DigitalOcean’s culture of inclusivity makes us all feel like real people (not just employees). As a new parent, here are some aspects of our company culture that I've found particularly welcome.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading2","text":"A no judgement zone","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Didn’t have time to throw anything on today other than jeans and a sweatshirt? Is every weekday a bad hair day? Have to miss happy hour? Need to run out in the middle of that 5pm meeting to get to daycare before closing?","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"It's all good. Enforcing a dress code isn't a priority for anyone at the company. We ensure that there are plenty of ways to bond with colleagues, such as over (free!) lunch every day overlooking our beautiful neighborhood, or during a virtual coffee hangout with employees around the world. And results are what matter: being the last one in the office isn’t seen as the one true sign of hard work (apparently this is mind-blowing in NYC).","spans":[]},{"type":"heading2","text":"Flexibility","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Parents know that having a child helps with time management and multitasking more than almost anything else imaginable. Being efficient is key as a parent, and because DigitalOcean gives you true ownership over your schedule, we parents are just as kick ass as our peers at getting our work done. As Stefania Lagna, Manager of Tax, put it, “It’s great to work at a company where the level of flexibility – such as working remotely and an unlimited time off policy – makes it easier to be a great parent and be good at your profession.”","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Recently, at lunch I reflected over a recent New York Times article with Lisa Montin, our Director of Business Operations. The gist of the article was that many women feel forced to work part time to support their families and their partners' careers. Reacting to this, Lisa said, “We're so lucky that DigitalOcean doesn't force us to make this tradeoff. Moms can have interesting and challenging roles that also allow us to complete our work within business hours.”","spans":[{"start":38,"end":67,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/26/upshot/women-long-hours-greedy-professions.html"}}]},{"type":"heading2","text":"A comfortable work environment","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"As we all know, sometimes it can feel less hectic at the office than at home. We’re set up for all different work styles. An open office format doesn’t work for everyone, so we have a quiet room called The Reef, lots of comfy chairs and couches, and a roof deck to catch some sun midday. If you’re still nursing or pumping, our Mother’s Room might become your new office – it certainly rivals the executive offices in style.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading2","text":"Generous parental leave","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Everyone needs time for baby bonding – but let’s face it, parental leave might be even more about recovery and adjustment. DigitalOcean sent me everything I needed for baby’s first bathtime delivered right to my door – baby shark outfit and all! Knowing my company cares for me as a person and a parent was especially meaningful during those challenging first few days.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"The standard maternity policy at DO includes four months of leave plus a two-month transition period of part-time work (all fully paid). Most new moms would agree with Shweta Saraf, our Director of Network Engineering, who took advantage of six months of maternity leave which she felt “allowed for a natural transition back to work.”","spans":[]},{"type":"heading2","text":"A sense of real community","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"There are various #parents slack channels to browse and share in, where new and veteran parents alike can share war stories. And, when you're tired of talking about pediatricians and nighttime routines and just want to browse cute pups, there's always #dogpix to release some stress.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"In the end, inclusion is about belonging. This Mother's Day, I'm proud to be part of a workplace that treats me – and all parents – as though we truly belong and our experiences matter.","spans":[]}],"blog_post_date":"2019-05-12","tags":[{"tag1":{"tag":"Culture","_linkType":"Link.document","_meta":{"uid":"culture"}}}],"_meta":{"uid":"creating-a-parent-inclusive-workplace"}}},{"node":{"author":{"_linkType":"Link.document","author_name":"Tom Spiegelman","author_image":{"dimensions":{"width":892,"height":772},"alt":"Tom Spiegelman","copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/ae5336e19ec28b1509eb6321c57124f56704d81f_screen-shot-2017-09-25-at-12.18.13-pm.png?auto=compress,format"},"_meta":{"uid":"tom_spiegelman"}},"blog_header_image":{"dimensions":{"width":784,"height":418},"alt":"Woman and Male Developers talking illustration","copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/c46ee9ed2681cc2f82facb789cb95fd7f05de1b0_mentoringengineers_blog-1.png?auto=compress,format"},"blog_headline":[{"type":"heading1","text":"Mentoring Engineers Through An Engineering Fellowship Program","spans":[]}],"blog_post_content":[{"type":"paragraph","text":"For two years, I’ve managed the Infrastructure Engineering (“Infra”) team at DigitalOcean. We’re responsible for managing all servers and machines up to the application layer. This includes hardware spec, firmware, component validation, base OS, configuration management, and hardware management (hardware management database).","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"In addition to my core responsibilities managing the Infra team, I wanted to foster an environment where mentorship was possible and worked with colleagues to create the Infrastructure Engineering Fellowship Program. It’s an immersive program where DigitalOcean employees from other teams “join” the Infra team for two weeks. Employees with fundamental Linux knowledge and some configuration management experience are eligible to participate.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"“Fellows”—as they are known—are invited to a private Slack channel with fellowship alum. They work through JIRA tickets assigned to the team (all while pairing with Infra team engineers), attend team stand-ups, and finally, pick a project to work on for the two week duration. Additionally, fellows meet with me at the start and end of each week to discuss what they worked on and to answer questions they have. To date, we’ve had nine people complete the fellowship and we continue to open the fellowship up to other engineers at DO.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading3","text":"How the Fellowship Started","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"This program started as a cross-team training experience between my team and the Tier-2 Cloud Operations team (the 24/7 team responsible for uptime on our servers and services), since both of our teams interacted with each other on a daily basis. After a few successful trials with the Cloud Operations team, we realized that there were several other teams that were interested in learning what we do and wanted to take advantage of the fellowship program. We have now had people from five different teams sign up and participate in the program.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"My team gets so much more out of the fellowship than we put in. First, we build comradery between the wider organization and my team. Individuals we only worked with through JIRA and Slack now have a personal relationship with the team and are more eager to engage and work with us. My team gains a better perspective of what other teams go through and work on a daily basis which helps us build better tools and workflows to support them. Finally, it is a great way to recruit. Engineers that have been hired for my team came through the fellowship program.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Growing people internally is one of the greatest things I have done with my career. I have had three people join my team from inside the company and have been very successful in their new roles. In a perfect world, we would pair every senior engineer on the team with one engineer still early in their career. In my experience, when looking at the “Tuckman's stages of group development” you will have the best performing team when you have mentors and mentees going through the four stages together as a team:","spans":[]},{"type":"image","url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/9e553fc24522dfde4c08d234d1e805766b24aca3_tuckman_team_development-large1.png?auto=compress,format","alt":"Tuckman 4-stages of group development","copyright":null,"dimensions":{"width":600,"height":324}},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Tuckman's stages of group development. Photo credit: Tutorials Point","spans":[{"start":0,"end":68,"type":"em"},{"start":53,"end":68,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.tutorialspoint.com/individual_and_group_behavior/five_stage_model_group_development.htm"}}]},{"type":"heading3","text":"Managing the Fellowship Program","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"One of the things that we keep top of mind is sustainability. Although two weeks isn’t very long, properly mentoring someone takes a lot of time, and we want to make sure no one feels overwhelmed by the experience. We currently take on just one fellow at a time, and we cater the program to each participant. For example, if a fellow is more interested in hardware than big data, they might pair with our integration team who is charged with managing hardware and firmware, rather than our DevOps-focused team.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"There are a few benefits of managing the fellowship this way. One, we can iterate quickly since the program lasts just two weeks. And two, we can focus our energies on mentoring just one person at a time to limit straining the team’s bandwidth. Based on feedback from past fellows, we’ve changed how we handle our 1:1s with engineers and code pairing sessions. We now conduct 1:1s with specific goals in mind. Each fellow is asked to give feedback at the very end of the program to help us guide future fellows.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"That said, the same benefits are in some ways ongoing challenges. Working with each fellow individually takes up my time, but it also affects the engineers on my team. They need to take time out of their busy schedules to pair with the fellow by breaking their usual workflow and compelling them to walk through projects step by step. This means something that may take them an hour ends up taking most of a day.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"That said, we’re able to make this work because we work on a number of tasks and projects at any given time. If a team is working on one long-term project, the time it takes to explain the project to someone won’t actually yield any benefit in a two-week long program. The fellowship program (and programs like it) really need to be catered to the participant and the team that they are embedding with.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading3","text":"What Makes It Worthwhile","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"As I pointed out earlier, pairing engineers with more senior engineers leads to better performing teams. Furthermore, there is an even stronger connection when you pair engineers that have proprietary or historical knowledge from inside the company. I am a firm believer that if strong minded, eager-to-learn engineers exist within the company, you shouldn’t hire from outside the company. Creating infrastructure that supports mentorship leads to strong engineers, strong teams, and a strong company.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"I love seeing people continue to have conversations and work on projects with my team after the fellowship is over. It is simply amazing to see, and I give all the credit to the engineers on my team. Every one of them is eager to pass on knowledge that they have, and they’ve embraced the fellowship and its goals. The fellowship wouldn’t have been successful if my team didn’t share the same beliefs around mentorship and its cross-team benefits that I have.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading3","text":"Future of the Fellowship","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"When I started my career in IT, I had an amazing mentor (shout out to Rob Lahnemann) who really took me under his wing and taught me everything he could about programming, Linux, and networking. My manager at the time (shout out to Eric Austin) set this up and put me in a place to succeed as a mentee. This experience really influenced what I believe it means to be a good manager. Pairing engineers eager to learn with senior engineers is huge key factor in any successful team. In the current engineering community, it is not uncommon to find engineers who are not influenced to share their knowledge or are not given the time to be a mentor. But in my opinion, growing as an engineer means being a mentor.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"In the future, I would love to see the program more of a revolving door of people doing more work with the Infrastructure Engineering team and doing the fellowship program multiple times (hopefully sometimes for longer than two weeks). I also would love to influence programs like this more often inside DigitalOcean and outside DigitalOcean. One of my biggest goals and drivers in writing this is to influence similar programs in the industry as a whole. My career and pace of growth was directly influenced by a strong mentor, so my passion here for influencing more mentor/mentee relations in the industry is high.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Tom Spiegelman is an Infrastructure Engineering Manager at DigitalOcean. He has an awesome dog, a great team, and is married to the amazing Chantal Spiegelman. He is passionate about all things tech, specifically infrastructure. You can find him on LinkedIn or on Twitter.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":272,"type":"em"},{"start":249,"end":257,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/tspiegs/"}},{"start":264,"end":271,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://twitter.com/tspeegs"}}]}],"blog_post_date":"2018-04-03","tags":[{"tag1":{"tag":"Engineering","_linkType":"Link.document","_meta":{"uid":"engineering"}}},{"tag1":{"tag":"Culture","_linkType":"Link.document","_meta":{"uid":"culture"}}}],"_meta":{"uid":"mentoring-engineers-through-an-engineering-fellowship-program"}}},{"node":{"author":{"_linkType":"Link.document","author_name":"Amanda Brazzell","author_image":{"dimensions":{"width":572,"height":657},"alt":"Amanda Brazzell","copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/6af55a5a023502f4750be92df823a6edd32b3897_11055254_10200392298167803_8685793855303694114_n-1.jpg?auto=compress,format"},"_meta":{"uid":"amanda_brazzell"}},"blog_header_image":{"dimensions":{"width":1024,"height":512},"alt":"Two developers highfiving illustration","copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/e20ccb82d0fe87761c57073b40c7b7db3c54b7f5_remote_culture_social.png?auto=compress,format"},"blog_headline":[{"type":"heading1","text":"How We Support Remote Employees at DigitalOcean","spans":[]}],"blog_post_content":[{"type":"paragraph","text":"Remote culture at DigitalOcean is one of my favorite things to talk about when discussing my job. When I first joined the company in June of 2015, there was already a substantial percentage of existing remote employees (better known as our “remotees”). Working with the remotees wasn’t initially a part of my function, but as a member of the Employee Experience Team, I gradually found myself getting to know many of them more personally. I learned about their experiences as distributed employees, some of their pain points, and how it influences their engagement.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Since I've never been remote, I educated myself on best practices for companies with remote employees and how we could expand our top-notch employee experience to those outside of our HQ.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Two and a half years later, our remotee population totals over 200 employees, making up over 50% of our employees, and our program has grown to support both the needs of our business and those who work remotely. To date, remotees score higher in engagement than any other subgroup at the company. This has been attributed to the attention and effort we have actively given to support the remotee experience.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Here’s what we learned and how we adjusted our efforts to better support the remotee experience:","spans":[]},{"type":"heading3","text":"Remote Communication","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"“Watercooler talk” is an important aspect of working in-office, and it’s a practice that companies seeking to become more remote-friendly have trouble replicating. Being able to easily communicate with other colleagues helps improve team bonds and makes people feel part of the company fabric. At DO, we use several different mediums to avoid having remotees excluded from conversation and risking having information fall through the cracks:","spans":[]},{"type":"list-item","text":"Slack: The entire company uses Slack extensively for communication, whether you’re located across from each other or across time zones. We have a dedicated Slack channel specifically for our remotees, and we use that channel to make all remote-specific announcements (not to mention, for a lot of watercooler conversations). Additionally, we recently started a “Coffee Buds” program that pairs participants in our #coffeebuds Slack channel each week. Remotees have the chance to meet other colleagues—remote and in-office alike—and “hang out” over Hangouts!","spans":[{"start":0,"end":5,"type":"strong"}]},{"type":"list-item","text":"Google Hangouts: It is common practice at DigitalOcean to have all our meetings hosted on Google Hangouts. All of our conference rooms include screens where remote employees join the meeting, making it possible for them to always be a contributor in team conversations.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":15,"type":"strong"}]},{"type":"list-item","text":"Zoom: Hangouts can be limiting depending on the amount of people you have on a call. All of our company-wide, internal meetings are hosted on Zoom, and all remotees use it to join our biweekly All Hands Meeting. (It’s always fun seeing all of our remotees tune in at the same time.)","spans":[{"start":0,"end":4,"type":"strong"}]},{"type":"list-item","text":"Google Drive: But what about time zone differences? Because we have an office in Bangalore, India and other remotees globally, all of our company-wide meetings are recorded and filed in a Google Drive for anyone to access at their convenience.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":12,"type":"strong"}]},{"type":"list-item","text":"Who’s in HQ: Our weekly, internal newsletter goes out to the entire company on Monday mornings and a recurring section in it is called “Who’s in HQ”. This section has pictures of all the remotees who are visiting either our New York or our Cambridge office that week. This gives our in-office employees visibility into the visiting remotees so they can be sure to take the opportunity to meet them.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":11,"type":"strong"}]},{"type":"heading3","text":"Remote-inclusive Programs","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"While most of our teams at DigitalOcean are comprised of both in-office and remote employees, there is definite value in giving teams the opportunity to get together in person at different times during the year. Here are the processes we have in place to ensure teams get face time:","spans":[]},{"type":"list-item","text":"DO Docking In: The \"DO Docking In\" program supports remote employees joining the rest of their team in the office all at once. We arrange leadership meetings, team dinners and activities, reserve workspace or conference room space, and host a Meet and Treat (a midday gathering between in-office employees and remotees) for them. In addition, teams also have the opportunity to participate in facilitation or meeting preparation by our internal Talent Development Team to serve the team’s goals for getting everyone together in person.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":13,"type":"strong"}]},{"type":"list-item","text":"DO Out To Sea: Considering that we have employees dispersed domestically and internationally, some teams prefer to have their entire team get together in locations more local to where they work remotely from. This program is essentially the same as DO Docking In except that any team member who works from the office will fly out to meet with their remote team members. We help to arrange all of the offsite logistics and activities to support that team’s objectives for the visit.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":13,"type":"strong"}]},{"type":"list-item","text":"DO Local: This program is the newest addition to our remote experience effort. This program parallels all major events or activities that are occurring in our office for our remotees. An example of this is our holiday party: we host our holiday party in New York and give the option for remotees who work in near proximity to other remotees to get together locally and enjoy a DigitalOcean sponsored dinner.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":8,"type":"strong"}]},{"type":"list-item","text":"Shark Week: Shark Week is our annual family gathering. Essentially it’s structured like an internal conference providing team time, workshops, team activities, shared meals, and an entire week of quality time together. DigitalOcean covers the flights and the accommodations for all the remotees to join us for that week.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":10,"type":"strong"}]},{"type":"heading3","text":"Perks for Remotees","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"While some companies see working from home as a perk in and of itself, we recreate many of the in-office perks and make them available to remotees. This is key to building a cohesive company culture and experience, and one where remotees feel engaged with the company at large.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Our remotes are able to participate in our workstation program, where they get access to different monitors, mouse/keyboards, and trackpads for their home offices, as well as credit up to $100 for headphones of their choice. The equivalent of our commuter benefit for in-house employees is providing remotes a credit toward the cost of either their monthly internet bill or their monthly coworking space membership. Additionally, remotes can opt into a monthly subscription snack box (because snacks are awesome!). Finally, DO covers travel and per diem costs, and provides accommodation at our corporate apartments for remotee visits to HQ.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading3","text":"\"Love is What Makes Us Great\"","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"DigitalOcean’s employee experience programs strives to be inclusive of all of our employees. We do this by keeping both the needs of in-office and remote employees in mind, and by adjusting our programs as needed to ensure they can change and scale with our growing organization. Removing obstacles to communication between people in our offices and remotes is essential for building cohesion across teams and to help everyone be the most productive employee they can be, no matter where they’re located.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"Apply For a Job @ DO","spans":[{"start":0,"end":20,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.digitalocean.com/company/careers/#current-openings"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Amanda Brazzell is DigitalOcean’s Office Experience Team Lead. She has helped build an effective Remote Experience program that drives dispersed employee engagement and job satisfaction. Amanda is a California native who moved to NYC without having ever visited the city before, and has been at DO since 2015.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":309,"type":"em"}]}],"blog_post_date":"2018-03-14","tags":[{"tag1":{"tag":"Culture","_linkType":"Link.document","_meta":{"uid":"culture"}}}],"_meta":{"uid":"how-we-support-remote-employees-at-digitalocean"}}},{"node":{"author":{"_linkType":"Link.document","author_name":"Stephanie Morillo","author_image":{"dimensions":{"width":188,"height":188},"alt":"Stephanie Morillo","copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/88c5ec7b08345ce34cc82af6a32619bee69b1dae_stephanie_morillo-abc491ab.png?auto=compress,format"},"_meta":{"uid":"stephanie_morillo"}},"blog_header_image":{"dimensions":{"width":784,"height":418},"alt":"BDT letters illustration ","copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/40637c77831e8024beeb48d04f3052a0c9d6fd89_bdt-blog.png?auto=compress,format"},"blog_headline":[{"type":"heading1","text":"Meet the DigitalOcean Brand Design Team","spans":[]}],"blog_post_content":[{"type":"paragraph","text":"As a company, we’ve always cared about contributing to developer culture in an authentic way, and one of the ways we do that is by adding moments of visual delight to everything we do, whether it's a Community tutorial, an interaction in the control panel, or a T-shirt at a conference. That is why, from the very beginning, DigitalOcean put an emphasis on building out a Brand Design team comprised of not just proficient graphic designers, but brilliant illustrators as well.","spans":[{"start":200,"end":218,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"http://www.digitalocean.com/community"}},{"start":262,"end":285,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"http://store.digitalocean.com/"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"The Brand Designers at DigitalOcean are challenged every single day to transform extremely technical and esoteric content into approachable and friendly touch points. Lead Visual Designer Masami Kubo says, “We believe these technologies should be accessible to everyone, and a part of that is acknowledging and celebrating the diverse and quirky personality behind the humans that build these amazing things. Visuals and branding throughout the cloud computing industry are often disregarded or unconsidered, so it’s a unique opportunity for us as designers to bring that culture to life.”","spans":[{"start":0,"end":35,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://dribbble.com/digitalocean"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"We interviewed DO’s Brand (Visual) Designers Kasia Bojanowska, Masami Kubo, Pat Raubo, and Alex Mostov to learn more about their design process, how they illustrate technical concepts, and where they turn to for inspiration.","spans":[{"start":45,"end":61,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://dribbble.com/kabojanowska"}},{"start":63,"end":74,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://dribbble.com/masamikubo"}},{"start":76,"end":85,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://dribbble.com/patraubo"}},{"start":91,"end":102,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://dribbble.com/amostov"}}]},{"type":"heading4","text":"How do you approach technical topics as illustrators?","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Masami: We’ve been illustrating technical topics for years, so the challenge now is how to keep it fresh and relevant. However, if we push the imagery too conceptual or meta, we run the risk of none of it making any sense to our audience. My approach now is to identify the primary action or message behind complex concepts, and focus on making that one thing really clear. I like to start minimal, then add elements sparingly to not distract from the primary message.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Alex: I came to the DigitalOcean team without much technical knowledge. In some ways I think this has actually been an advantage in creating conceptual illustrations. I create images that help me understand the concepts. I think and hope that inherently makes them more intuitive to others, too.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"Where do you draw inspiration from for your designs?","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Kasia: When starting a new project I definitely try to spend a good chunk of time looking for inspirations. Google image search, Pinterest, Dribbble, Behance are all wonderful resources for that. We have a few shared pinterest boards with stuff we like. I also get really inspired when I see great work being made by others on our team.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Pat: One of the benefits of working with a team of such enormously talented designers is that I draw inspiration from them and their work all the time. Masami and Kasia both do amazing work, and I’ve learned a great deal from both of them, as well as from Alex. I try to seek out inspiration from a number of things. Some have a pretty clear association with the kind of work we do at DO, like design and illustration done specifically for tech, but I also draw from editorial illustration, film, comics, and book covers, among other sources.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Illustrations by Kasia Bojanowska, Patricia Raubo, & Alex Mostov","spans":[{"start":0,"end":64,"type":"em"}]},{"type":"image","url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/Nzg4N2NmNzgtNTUyMS00OWIyLTlhNzYtZTU3YmE1M2NiM2I0_bdt-socialmedia.gif?auto=compress,format","alt":"Illustrations by Kasia Bojanowska, Patricia Raubo, & Alex Mostov","copyright":null,"dimensions":{"width":1024,"height":512}},{"type":"heading4","text":"How do you come up with new ideas for similar technical topics?","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Masami: I think it actually helps for imagery with similar technical topics to have a common thread of imagery, so as to build a visual association. We have strict style guides for most of our platforms and campaigns, but some of these style guides allow for permutation in aesthetics to avoid looking too repetitive over time.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Pat: I like to first do some research to understand the basic concept of what I’m going to illustrate, and then add to my notes with simple schematics and/or sketches to see if there’s anything I can pull from those for the final visuals.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Alex: I will often try to think about representing a topic in a different kind of space or world. For examples if I create an image for a topic in a 2D space, the next time I will try to figure out how I could represent that same concept in a 3D space or from a different perspective.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"What is one of your favorite projects you’ve worked on at DO thus far?","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Pat: I worked on a series of illustrations for our Employee Handbook, which meant drawing a team of cute sea creatures in an office setting. I really enjoyed working on that project, and it was great to see people respond to the illustrations in such a positive way.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Masami: My favorite projects are often also the most challenging ones. And usually the more ambitious they are, the more compromises on vision I’ve had to make. But some of the most exciting stuff I’ve worked on here is the art direction and design of our office spaces, in collaboration with architects, fabricators, and our People team. I was expected to transform the space into a branded and navigable experience. It’s still a work in progress, but I love the challenge of designing for physical spaces.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Murals by Alex Mostov & Masami Kubo","spans":[{"start":0,"end":35,"type":"em"}]},{"type":"image","url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/MjA4NWI0ZTYtZDU2Yi00YzQ3LWJjODctN2Q3NGE2ZDRjZjcw_bdt-office.gif?auto=compress,format","alt":"Murals by Alex Mostov & Masami Kubo","copyright":null,"dimensions":{"width":1024,"height":512}},{"type":"heading4","text":"What was one of the most challenging projects you’ve worked on at DO?","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Kasia: Redesigning the DO logo was definitely the biggest challenge for me. The process was pretty high pressure but I was allowed enough time to really let myself explore and dig in deep. In this case having a supportive team to brainstorm and keep motivation high through all of the iterations was essential.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Masami: We did a design refresh of the marketing site a year ago, and it went through a lot of changes and push backs. The task was simple—refresh the designs and clean up the performance—but it involved approval from every department and stakeholder in the company. I was doing everything from art direction, web design layouts, and spot illustration. I learned a ton about project management and designing within web accessibility standards, thanks to Una Kravets. I felt creatively drained after the project was finished, and didn’t think it would be possible to revisit it with new ideas. Surprisingly, I am now leading a complete design overhaul for the marketing site, and I feel more equipped than ever to tackle all the challenges and make something more beautiful and smart than last year.","spans":[]},{"type":"image","url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/MTVjMDg5OTEtYWM3YS00ZWE4LTkwM2UtNjliYTkxMTNiMzM5_bdt-website.gif?auto=compress,format","alt":"Illustration by Masami Kubo","copyright":null,"dimensions":{"width":1024,"height":512}},{"type":"heading4","text":"Sometimes you create visual assets that are targeted at a very specific audience, and you have to balance things like humor with cultural sensitivities. How does localization factor into your designs?","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Masami: Part of our job is being aware and sensitive to any imagery that might have harmful or negative impacts to our community. We are fortunate to have a diverse employee base that cares about these things, so the more opinions we can gather, the better. We try to treat branding the same in any other countries as we do here. However, we do want to highlight our growing global coverage, so one way we approach this is to celebrate the unique design culture local to these countries. For example, the Frankfurt datacenter launch campaign featured designs inspired by Bauhaus Constructivist design. For the Bangalore datacenter launch, we created stylized renditions of local architecture. Being a developer from another country doesn’t necessarily mean you have vastly different tastes or interests, so it’s important for companies and designers to address these things authentically.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"How do you create different kinds of content while maintaining brand consistency?","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Kasia: For illustrations, we keep a consistent color palette. We have a list of prompts to help us throughout the process, but we do not have a very strict style guide when it comes to editorial illustration. We tend to have more fun and variation with all of our community and conference designs. However, we are definitely more strict about stylistic consistency when it comes to our website design.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Like much of DO, the Brand Design team is distributed across the world. What systems or processes do you have in place that allow for open communication and collaboration?","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Pat: One of our team members, Kasia, is based in Poland, so we have a time difference of six hours between us. We started to make a habit of doing our daily stand ups and critiques early in the day to make sure we were all able to benefit from them. We have a private Slack channel which we use to stay in contact, to brainstorm, and to share ideas on projects.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"Where do you see the DO brand going?","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Masami: When I first joined DigitalOcean in 2014, the company was breaking into the cloud computing world by differentiating itself as friendly and accessible. At the time that meant being extra illustrative and bubbly with our designs. We wanted to let the developer community know that their content and culture deserves this kind of attention. That attitude and core value is still what drives every decision, but our aesthetics have matured and evolved just as our products and features have grown. The brand now has a diverse voice ranging from playful and young to mature and sophisticated, all under the same goal of enabling the developer community. I think this range directly reflects the diversity of users we want to speak to.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Alex: I really like DO’s brand evolution because I feel like the changes are made based on need and effectiveness rather than just trying to make a splash. I think the brand will continue to change in this deliberate way as the community and product develop. I also hope it will always maintain the sense of playfulness that I think makes DO special.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"What is your best advice for designers just starting out?","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Pat: I would encourage aspiring creative folks of any stripe to always stay curious (as cliched as it may sound, it’s advice I’ve followed that I feel has served me well) and seek out inspiration from a range of sources (museums, books, online communities, whatever floats your boat!), because you never know what’s going to be the seed that becomes the root of a fantastic idea. Feeding your mind will give you perspective and enrich your work.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"That said, don’t wait around for inspiration to strike, either! It’s best not to be too precious about your work. Just sit down, make the thing, and make it to suit your standards. Then, when you think it’s done, work on it just a little bit more. Keep learning, and push yourself a bit more with each new project.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Do you enjoy our designers' creations? Download desktop wallpapers from some of their favorite illustrations.","spans":[{"start":39,"end":66,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"http://do.co/wallpapers"}}]}],"blog_post_date":"2018-02-20","tags":[{"tag1":{"tag":"Culture","_linkType":"Link.document","_meta":{"uid":"culture"}}},{"tag1":{"tag":"Design","_linkType":"Link.document","_meta":{"uid":"design"}}}],"_meta":{"uid":"meet-the-digitalocean-brand-design-team"}}},{"node":{"author":{"_linkType":"Link.document","author_name":"Olivia Melman","author_image":{"dimensions":{"width":188,"height":188},"alt":"Olivia Melman","copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/97e5d587f18906403012119062c207ae04ec0d5e_olivia_melman-c8621a2d.png?auto=compress,format"},"_meta":{"uid":"olivia_melman"}},"blog_header_image":{"dimensions":{"width":784,"height":418},"alt":"Sailors on a ship illustration","copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/24c68c1a5ba18ce7d3bb8689635b64b15c1995bc_turninggreatemployeesintogreatinterviewers_blog_pat.png?auto=compress,format"},"blog_headline":[{"type":"heading1","text":"How to Turn Great Employees into Great Interviewers","spans":[]}],"blog_post_content":[{"type":"paragraph","text":"As a follow up to our last post on candidate experience, this post will explore how we’re impacting employees and candidates with our approach to optimizing the interview experience.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":182,"type":"em"},{"start":18,"end":55,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://blog.digitalocean.com/people-first-hiring-experience/"}}]},{"type":"heading3","text":"Good Interviewers Aren’t Born; They’re Made","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"In early September, we launched the DigitalOcean Sailor Certification Program, which consisted of a two-hour interactive training session on DO’s hiring processes and best practices for interviews. With our rapid growth comes rapid hiring, and we’ve recognized that the best way to scale, bring in amazing talent, keep the bar high, and continue to optimize for culture add is to have a consistent approach to how we hire.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Here are some of the things that were top of mind for us as we built out the interviewer training program:","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"Establishing a Process","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"How could we ensure that interviewers, managers, and even recruiters were following a consistent process that mirrored the efficiency of DO’s daily workflow and ensured timely, repeatable, and scalable hiring decisions? As a starting point, we worked closely with our executives to agree upon shared expectations for each stage within the recruitment process. This informed our creation of the DigitalOcean Recruiting Coordinates (because everything here must have a nautical pun), which is a playbook for all things hiring. This document quickly became the required pre-read for the Sailor Program itself.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"Minimizing Unconscious Bias","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"We needed to coach and educate interviewers on ways to minimize unconscious bias, fairly evaluate candidates, and foster meaningful interview discussions to ultimately make excellent hiring decisions. Fortunately, our Talent Development team hosts Unconscious Bias training at team offsites and implemented a standalone training for all new hires in April of last year. In 2017 alone, the team hosted 22 sessions with roughly 200 attendees. During the Sailor Program, we discuss ways to minimize unconscious bias in the interview process and put these learnings into practice with mock interview activities. Often, the best way to minimize bias in the interview process is to ensure a consistent set of thoughtful interview questions and an equally consistent framework for measuring candidate aptitude, making sure we are fairly evaluating candidates on relevant and meaningful attributes. One of the many follow up resources to the Sailor Program is a living and breathing question bank housed on Google Drive with questions vetted and approved by the People team.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"Providing a Great Candidate Experience","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"If you read my first post, you’ll know how passionate we are about providing candidates with a positive and meaningful experience as they explore joining DO. We think we have one of the best company cultures and employee experiences around, and we want that to be reflected in the interview process as well so candidates know what to expect (and get excited!). By improving the techniques and consistency of our approach to interviewing, we hope to create a more predictable and comfortable environment for our candidates.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading3","text":"Program Logistics","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"We’ve also tailored the program content for different populations to ensure we’re offering relevant best practices for each employee group (Remote, In-Office, Managers, Individual Contributors, and a blended \"Refresh Program\" for experienced interviewers). We’re requiring that all DO interviewers get “Sailor Certified” in order to conduct interviews moving forward. By completing the Sailor Program, our employees will be able to more quickly and effectively assess talent, make great hires, and maintain the positive candidate experience we’ve always strived for. Upon completion of the program, participants gain access to a dedicated Slack channel, in which certified sailors share success stories, interview wins, and relevant articles. Our Brand Design team even got involved in helping us make a dedicated Sailor Sammy, which, backed by popular demand, we had printed on sailor hats to garnish the heads and desks of our certified interviewers.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"New \"Sailor Certified\" DO Employees","spans":[{"start":0,"end":35,"type":"em"}]},{"type":"image","url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/aabd0802d2d18af3c8ce994f07b5b6b5eec06bd4_img_1992.jpeg?auto=compress,format","alt":"Sailor Certified "Sharks"","copyright":null,"dimensions":{"width":1600,"height":1200}},{"type":"paragraph","text":"In less than 4 months, we’ve put exactly 200 interviewers through the Sailor Program, and the internal reaction to the program has been overwhelmingly positive. We distribute a survey following each session to all participants. Here’s a snapshot of our results:","spans":[]},{"type":"image","url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/0be9377dccaf30500ca732ea882d428041d5ad4b_imagelikeembed.png?auto=compress,format","alt":"Slide","copyright":null,"dimensions":{"width":1200,"height":742}},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Folks are proud to demonstrate new interview techniques and share success stories with their fellow interviewers in Slack:","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"“The STAR concept was one of my top takeaways from the training. Simple concept, but having it put explicitly was enlightening for me.” Cole Tuininga, Senior Engineer","spans":[{"start":0,"end":166,"type":"em"}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"“I'll be looking to redo our interview questions for support interviews, based on the advice given in the training.” Jarland Donnell, Team Lead, Customer Support","spans":[{"start":0,"end":161,"type":"em"}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"“I have been conducting interviews at DO since we were a single-digit number of engineers, and I learned quite a bit throughout the Sailor Program. Lots of takeaways on things to improve on going forward. ” Vaibhav Bhembre, Senior Software Engineer & Tech Lead, Spaces","spans":[{"start":0,"end":268,"type":"em"}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"We’ve evolved the program for 2018 based on feedback and with scalability in mind to best accommodate our continuous growth, and ensure new interviewers can get up to speed quickly. The program now consists of two modules: the first is a self-paced e-learning course, and the second, an instructor-led session with an even larger emphasis on practice in the classroom.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"I’m thrilled to sit with a team that works tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that anyone who interacts with DO—as a candidate, an employee or in the community at large—walks away with a positive experience. If you’re interested in becoming part of the DigitalOcean family, I encourage you to check out our open positions. Questions, thoughts, and feedback are always welcomed, so feel free to leave a comment below.","spans":[{"start":307,"end":325,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.digitalocean.com/company/careers/?gh_src=n4trdo1"}}]},{"type":"heading3","text":"View Open Positions at DigitalOcean","spans":[{"start":0,"end":35,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.digitalocean.com/company/careers/?gh_src=n4trdo1"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Olivia joined DigitalOcean in March 2017 as the People team’s first Program Manager. She is heavily focused on automation and collaboration within the full-cycle recruitment process, strengthening external partnerships to promote DO’s employment brand, and leveraging data to drive Recruiting strategy.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":304,"type":"em"}]}],"blog_post_date":"2018-01-30","tags":[{"tag1":{"tag":"Culture","_linkType":"Link.document","_meta":{"uid":"culture"}}}],"_meta":{"uid":"turning-great-employees-into-great-interviewers"}}},{"node":{"author":{"_linkType":"Link.document","author_name":"Danny Arango","author_image":{"dimensions":{"width":639,"height":532},"alt":"Danny Arango","copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/2a71f76a56ff0dd23e1c0d72a7ab688e434c23fe_13912913_10104133684160610_7874376075980757732_n-1.jpg?auto=compress,format"},"_meta":{"uid":"danny_arango"}},"blog_header_image":{"dimensions":{"width":784,"height":418},"alt":"Illustration of people wearing shirts with one letter on them standing together they spell out interns","copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/46d70b47b1b2af3007c2472ff03b7e213733ec8e_interns_blog.png?auto=compress,format"},"blog_headline":[{"type":"heading1","text":"Meet the Minnows: Stories from DigitalOcean's Inaugural Intern Program","spans":[]}],"blog_post_content":[{"type":"paragraph","text":"This is the second installment in a two-part series about DigitalOcean’s first internship program. In this post, we share more stories from interns in our inaugural class. (Read the first installment here.)","spans":[{"start":0,"end":206,"type":"em"},{"start":173,"end":205,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://blog.digitalocean.com/interns/"}}]},{"type":"heading4","text":"Alisha KC, Cloud Engineering Team intern","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"During my internship, I worked on an event error monitoring system which is used internally by the teams at DO. I owned many parts of the product from data discovery and data collection to metrics presentation. My manager always supported and encouraged me to make my own decisions about the project while teaching me how to use new tools and navigate the codebase. My service tracks event information as it progresses across the cloud with the help of some information from DO’s datastore. It then stores the metrics in the Prometheus server. These metrics are then visualized in a dashboard in various ways, using Grafana, allowing users to quickly and easily recognize different relationships between the events. The service provides better insight into event processing failures and paves the way for additional metrics collection.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"My manager was conscious in making sure that I was using tools and technologies that are recognizable in the real world instead of using just DO’s internal tools. I got the opportunity to learn and work with the Go programming language, protocol buffers, Prometheus, SQL, and Grafana, among others. Working with so many technologies in such a short period of time has given me the confidence to pick up and try new technologies that I was previously nervous to use.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"Anand Vyas, SWE-NET (Cloud Engineering-Networking) Team intern","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"My team and I worked on a project for isolating private customer networks that involves building overlay tunnels. The design requires more active control of the network using SDN, as opposed to legacy network infrastructure like traditional routers and switches. I worked on the ping responder in IPv6. Because Echo requests and NS (Neighbor Solicitation) messages both use ICMP in IPv6, I've laid the foundation for an IPv6 Neighbor Discovery service as well. With this added control, we can eliminate excess traffic from traversing our physical network by creating a service the responds to ARPs and pings closer to the requesting Droplets.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"A challenge for me was having to learn the Go programming language from scratch. It is quite different from the programming languages I had experience in. It was difficult to adapt at first, but now I feel quite comfortable using it and can also see a lot of benefits in its design. Also, learning the technical details of software-based networking and having a deep understanding of the project's architecture and how each part functions was a challenge I had to overcome for the success of this project.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"DO wasn’t afraid to entrust the responsibility of such a complex project to an intern. Everyone has a singular goal: the success of the project(s) at hand. And they will do anything and everything to achieve that. All in all, the team has been very supportive and they sincerely cared about my growth. This makes me feel very fortunate to have been a part of this amazing team.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"Jordan Shea, Frontend Infrastructure Team intern","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"I was placed in the Frontend Infrastructure team under Phil Tobias. Unlike me, Phil is a remote employee working out of California, so I was initially unsure about how we would collaborate effectively. But DO has seemingly mastered remote work, because I don’t think I could’ve asked for a better or more supportive manager.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"With the guidance of Phil and my DigitalOcean mentor, Iheanyi, I was able to construct a timeline that would map out the milestones for my internship project: the ChatOps system. The ChatOps system would serve as an alternative means for DO users to spin up or destroy Droplets through the use of a Slackbot named Sammy (Sammy the Shark is DO’s mascot). For Slack and other similar applications, bots can be called upon to perform special commands, such as reminding a user about a meeting or for silly things like posting GIFs. The hope was that by the end of my internship, I would have a working product that could be inherited by another team and eventually deployed to the public. I didn’t want to create something that would simply be put to the side, but rather something that would have real value to a customer. Whether it be managing Droplets, searching through community articles to answer user questions, or providing the user access to speed tests, I wanted the ChatOps system to be the jack of all trades.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"The ChatOps system served as a creative catalyst for me, and it gave me the chance to see the evolution of something that I had built from the ground up. Furthermore, it inspired me to design other Slackbots for DigitalOcean, such as creating a Daily Stand-up bot for the Frontend Infrastructure team. For both of these products, I can say the most enjoyable experience was seeing my team members get excited when they saw the requested features or improvements implemented the very next day. For me, that was the most valuable part of my internship: feeling the joy and support from the consumers that you code for.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"Andrew Rouditchenko, Compute Engineering Team intern","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"As DigitalOcean scales to support new customers and products, we need reliable tools to monitor our internal services. On the Compute Team, a subset of us focus on our fleet of hypervisor services. Hypervisors manage all kinds of Droplet events, including creates, destroys, and resizing. We collect and monitor tons of aggregated information about our hypervisors that allow us to ensure their health. While we previously had a method to survey hypervisor performance across the board, we lacked the tools to provide introspection to specific hypervisors. Given a problem with a hypervisor, it took specific domain knowledge to gain access to it and retrieve helpful information.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"During my internship, I was responsible for improving our services and creating new tools to make this information more readily available. My new tools provide a straightforward way for engineers to observe the status of events and Droplet configuration on any hypervisor. This functionality reduces the time it takes to debug hypervisor problems. The new interfaces will help engineers transition our services to new internal architectures. These tools provide immediate value to our team, and they leave a framework for future extensions. It will be straightforward to expose this information in a GUI so that support teams can also benefit from it.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"When I applied for this internship, I sought a technical and applied experience at a fast-paced company. This internship was a great fit for me as I was able to get an in-depth experience on an engineering team and learn more about my excitement for industry and research. From each conversation I’ve had with people on my team, I’ve been able to sample the kinds of exciting challenges that each person solves. In particular, I was able to speak with several engineers with research backgrounds. These conversations have been instrumental in helping me shape my career goals and decide what experiences I need to pursue in the future to reach them.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"Kevin Wei, Demand Generation and User Growth (Marketing) Team intern","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"I’ve always been interested in tech startups and the VC scene. As a VC-backed startup, DigitalOcean was a perfect opportunity for me to get a look inside what it’s like to work for a late-stage startup. Additionally, DigitalOcean competes against large market incumbents, so it’s been very enlightening to see DO’s strategy and differentiation strategy as an “upstart” in the cloud infrastructure market.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"I was definitely interested in working on the business side of a startup to get a handle for strategy, business models, and scaling. I think working in marketing here has definitely given me that experience, since I’ve been able to work on nitty-gritty details of user acquisition and help with community projects as well as remember marketing’s broader goals of market positioning and business strategy. My team—David, Hollie, Michelle, Andy, Mitch, and countless others—were always very willing to help me learn new things and understand how my projects would be useful for the organization as a whole.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Unlike other interns, I worked on a large variety of projects. The bulk of my work was with Hatch, our startup success program. I streamlined various parts of the Hatch process (such as onboarding and communications) and I worked on a lot of other projects such as our net neutrality activism. Interning at DO has given me a lot of experience with both Excel and Google Sheets. I’ve been using spreadsheets non-stop for various things, learning to script in both VBA (for Excel) and Google Scripts (for Google Sheets), and this is definitely a skill that will be very useful for me going forward.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"Sasha Krutiy, Data Team intern","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"I was on a search to find an internship that would allow me to accomplish a few things, like working alongside people who are good at—and love—what they do, being able to use new software or technologies, and working on something notable. I sought an environment that would give me the chance to see what the industry is really like, expose me to the type of work that I would want to do for my career, and the type of people I would work with.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"At DO, I met a lot of people who enjoy what they do, and are always willing to help me in any way possible, whether it is by giving me an overview of something I don’t know much about, helping me with an issue I may be stuck on, or just helping me find the right resources. I feel as if I’ve gained a lot from the people alone, whether it be tips on using a certain tool or learning more about how to better work with others. In addition, I got the opportunity to use and in turn, learn, new tools that I had only heard of before. From starting to pick up a new coding language (Python), to figuring out how to write an automation script (Ansible), I definitely have many more much needed skills under my belt.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Having one big project for the entire duration of my internship taught me the importance of pushing through no matter what. I am now less intimidated by bigger projects, those that will take at least a few weeks to complete. This was an amazing opportunity because I received help from a passionate and intelligent group of people and I also given the chance to create something that has the potential to be of use to a sizable customer base.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Interested in becoming one of our interns? Apply for a spot in our 2018 intern class.","spans":[{"start":43,"end":84,"type":"strong"},{"start":43,"end":84,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.digitalocean.com/company/careers/#summer-engineering-interns-2018"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Danny Arango is a Senior Tech Recruiter at DigitalOcean. He’s passionate about building diverse teams and finding the right fit for the right people at the right time. He’s also a raging Arsenal fan (both in the positive and negative sense) and will debate anyone on the merits of 1994 being the best year in hip hop history. Follow Danny on Twitter @ElPibe627.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":361,"type":"em"},{"start":350,"end":360,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.twitter.com/ELPibe627"}}]}],"blog_post_date":"2017-12-12","tags":[{"tag1":{"tag":"Culture","_linkType":"Link.document","_meta":{"uid":"culture"}}}],"_meta":{"uid":"interns-part-2"}}},{"node":{"author":{"_linkType":"Link.document","author_name":"Jackie De La Rosa","author_image":{"dimensions":{"width":2000,"height":3000},"alt":"Jackie De La Rosa","copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/121b1771614e0abec4db5f081a1782f4957f2a61_delarosa-j-photo--1-.jpg?auto=compress,format"},"_meta":{"uid":"jackie_de_la_rosa"}},"blog_header_image":{"dimensions":{"width":784,"height":418},"alt":"laptop with hands illustration","copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/587063ed5e2e34670ac8e0232f2e9543e0854ab8_hackathon_blog.png?auto=compress,format"},"blog_headline":[{"type":"heading1","text":"Lessons from Organizing Company-wide Hackathons","spans":[]}],"blog_post_content":[{"type":"paragraph","text":"When I joined DigitalOcean in October 2016 as Chief of Staff to our CTO, one of my first tasks was to organize a company-wide Hackathon. I was intrigued as to why our leadership was so excited about a Hackathon; in my mind, it was an event for employees to work together and collaborate similar to a DO basketball game or dinner outing. Why were they so interested in the company-wide participation?","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"I did not get my answer until after the Hackathon. I realized not only were there positive outcomes around collaboration and team-building, but the actual outputs were extremely innovative, intelligent, and productive. As our VP of Engineering Greg Warden put it, “I love seeing the passion and ideas from people I don’t always interact with. The best ideas come from the most curious of places.” Enough said!","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Over the past year, we’ve successfully hosted three Hackathons. From our initial Hackathon of 120 participants, we’ve successfully increased our participation to over 40% of our 380+ employee company. In order to achieve this growth, we constantly iterated each event. We’ve added guest technical judges to help evaluate the more complicated projects, extended the pitching time from 120 seconds to 5 minutes, and brought in fun extras like a barista, late night pizza, and happy hour. To foster a healthy sense of friendly competition, we give awards in categories like \"Best Business Solution\", \"Best Technology\", \"Most Cross-functional Team\", and \"People’s Choice\". All of our Hackathon participants get fun swag, too!","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"One of the best parts of the Hackathon is seeing projects that end up becoming a part of our internal toolset. Some notable past winners include:","spans":[]},{"type":"list-item","text":"Porthole, a design-centric search engine for our Control Panel, which will be considered for our future roadmap.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":8,"type":"strong"}]},{"type":"list-item","text":"Food Ratings, an app that allows users to quickly rate the day’s lunch (we offer catered lunches to employees in our NYC HQ and Cambridge, MA offices). You can rate either the specific meal you just ate (i.e. falafel, or a rice dish) and/or amount of protein available:","spans":[{"start":0,"end":12,"type":"strong"}]},{"type":"image","url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/478f020067d9d4b40a16446d9ce3f682018a9a6e_screen-shot-2017-11-13-at-12.03.42-pm.png?auto=compress,format","alt":"Food ratings screenshot","copyright":null,"dimensions":{"width":398,"height":99}},{"type":"list-item","text":"Plankton, a complex project that demonstrated how a large number of tiny Droplets (\"plankton\") could be used to divide and conquer a large task. The plankton were designed to be as small and lightweight as possible, making it easy to spin up hundreds or thousands of them at a time. See the benefits below:","spans":[{"start":0,"end":8,"type":"strong"}]},{"type":"image","url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/494f78debece9cef6bfcb306297b8a43f6500699_screen-shot-2017-11-13-at-11.31.12-am.png?auto=compress,format","alt":"Plankton","copyright":null,"dimensions":{"width":288,"height":227}},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Many projects, including those mentioned above, focus not only on customer-facing tools, but they also optimize the employee experience. It was a unique balance, whereas some people focused on how they could improve their everyday life, while others looked to cloud computing.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Here are five tips to consider for hosting a successful Hackathon.","spans":[]},{"type":"o-list-item","text":"Leadership support. Our CEO Ben Uretsky constantly sends company-wide emails weeks before the actual Hackathons to express his excitement and support. He encourages all employees to participate, and encourages managers to support team participation by setting aside time specifically for the Hackathon.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":18,"type":"strong"}]},{"type":"o-list-item","text":"Cross-functional participation. The teams that have created truly innovative products and addressed real, practical problems are cross-functional teams with members from all across the company. We put procedures in place to assure that both technical and non-technical people participate. Since Hackathons are technical in nature, it should be of the utmost importance to encourage non-technical colleagues to join teams. Their skills are desperately needed. Because our workforce is 50% remote, this also added another complexity. How can we make it feel like one, centralized Hackathon all over the world? We encourage remote teams to all meet at one central location, even if it’s not our office in NYC. If that was not practical, we encouraged teams to hack via Google Hangout. Pitches are also live streamed so everyone can participate (and even pitch) to our remote employees.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":30,"type":"strong"}]},{"type":"o-list-item","text":"A work embargo. There are actually two parts to this point: 1) Make sure you get approval for a company-wide work embargo and get manager buy-in, and 2) Confirm you communicate that bottoms-up and top-down. When people are busy with work, teams are discouraged, lop-sided and usually s-t-r-e-s-s-e-d. To truly have focused teams, you need to cut out the noise (the noise being your routine daily responsibilities).","spans":[{"start":0,"end":14,"type":"strong"}]},{"type":"o-list-item","text":"No limitations on project ideas. If your Hackathon’s true mission is to support innovation within your company, the best rule is to have no (or very few) rules around projects. Allow your employees to work on whatever they want, whatever problem they have witnessed, or pain point that needs addressing. The only rules we had were to disallow leadership from participating (because they were judges and resources), and for projects to be somehow relevant to DO.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":31,"type":"strong"}]},{"type":"o-list-item","text":"Fun! Some Hackathons can still feel like work, and at some points, can be even more challenging (I only have 48 hours to make a super impressive product? Ugh!). But adding fun events, food vendors, and breaks makes it more enjoyable. At DO, we hired a barista to make delicious artisanal coffees, and we had pizza parties, and donut breaks.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":4,"type":"strong"}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Company-wide Hackathons are a great way to promote company cohesion in a fun and relaxed atmosphere. They give people room to be creative and to work with people across teams that they would normally not interface with in their day-to-day life. By giving people the space to experiment, tinker, and get to know each other, you give them permission to create something of value to themselves and even the company at large.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"A scene from our most recent Hackathon this past October.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":57,"type":"em"}]},{"type":"image","url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/52d5e68dbc2d69199b766701ab26f416c1fe985d_dsc00803.jpg?auto=compress,format","alt":null,"copyright":null,"dimensions":{"width":3813,"height":2547}},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Jackie De La Rosa is a Senior Program Manager at DigitalOcean and focuses on overall strategy, business operations and executive initiatives. She was one of the first employees at DigitalOcean’s second office in Cambridge, Massachusetts.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":237,"type":"em"}]}],"blog_post_date":"2017-11-14","tags":[{"tag1":{"tag":"Culture","_linkType":"Link.document","_meta":{"uid":"culture"}}}],"_meta":{"uid":"company-hackathons"}}},{"node":{"author":{"_linkType":"Link.document","author_name":"Danny Arango","author_image":{"dimensions":{"width":639,"height":532},"alt":"Danny Arango","copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/2a71f76a56ff0dd23e1c0d72a7ab688e434c23fe_13912913_10104133684160610_7874376075980757732_n-1.jpg?auto=compress,format"},"_meta":{"uid":"danny_arango"}},"blog_header_image":{"dimensions":{"width":784,"height":418},"alt":"People wearing shirts with a letter on them standing together they spell out interns illustration","copyright":null,"url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/46d70b47b1b2af3007c2472ff03b7e213733ec8e_interns_blog.png?auto=compress,format"},"blog_headline":[{"type":"heading1","text":"Tales from DigitalOcean’s Inaugural Intern Program","spans":[]}],"blog_post_content":[{"type":"paragraph","text":"This past June, DigitalOcean welcomed its first-ever group of summer interns (who we endearingly called “minnows”). For 10 weeks, our interns worked in teams across the organization—from data to cloud engineering to marketing—based out of both our New York City HQ and Cambridge, MA office. (If you’re interested in becoming a Minnow, apply for a spot in our 2018 intern class (UPDATE: applications are now closed), or send us your questions at internships@digitalocean.com. We’re hiring interns for various teams including Product Management, User Experience, Engineering, Data & Analytics, and Marketing & Communications. And in the meantime, learn more about the hiring experience at DO.)","spans":[{"start":445,"end":473,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"mailto:internships@digitalocean.com"}},{"start":662,"end":690,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://blog.digitalocean.com/people-first-hiring-experience/"}}]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"The program was the culmination of years’ worth of research, planning, and recruitment. We knew companies large and small were reaping enormous quantitative and qualitative benefits by introducing internship programs, and we took a lot of care to craft something that would be an enriching experience for our interns, while providing real value to the teams they would be working with. We feel fortunate to have been able to support a talented cohort of people. (Three of them recount their experiences later in this post as they share what they worked on during the program.)","spans":[]},{"type":"heading2","text":"Determining The “Why” of an Internship Program","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"To answer the question of when the right time would be to start an intern program, we considered a few things: How much does leadership buy into the concept? Can the program be structured in such a way that interns and their mentors get the guidance they need to be successful? Can we recruit a set of talented and diverse interns to bring added value to the company? For us, it started with a simple premise: how can we pay back our experiences to our community, especially younger technologists who love using DO to learn about tech? We wanted to pay it forward to young people who wanted to work in the cloud and help build the next set of great companies.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"At a startup, every team member’s time is critical. We knew we wanted to structure a program that allowed students the opportunity to network with our employees, learn from them, and contribute to the organization. Orienting their growth, with some guidance from the people who love developers and want to build tools for them, helped identify other areas they could explore. We were lucky to have this first set of great interns and we look forward to having more of them join our ranks in the coming years!","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"(The Inaugural 2017 DO Intern Class. From top left to top right: Luke Grgas, Sasha Krutiy, Alisha KC, Evan Mena, Jordan Shea, Devin Morgan, Mariano Salinas, Anand Vyas, Kevin Wei. From bottom left to bottom right: Shweta Agrawal, Moises Eskinazi, Andrew Rouditchenko)","spans":[{"start":0,"end":267,"type":"em"}]},{"type":"image","url":"https://images.prismic.io/www-static/8a66237971ddf34ee436c9fc850291fbd56a43b8_img_6128-2.jpg?auto=compress,format","alt":null,"copyright":null,"dimensions":{"width":1600,"height":1200}},{"type":"heading2","text":"Meet the Minnows","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"For more on our inaugural class of interns, read some of their stories below. (We’re publishing a second post with even more intern stories later this fall—stay tuned!)","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"Devin Morgan, Support Tools Team intern","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"DigitalOcean invests a significant amount of time and resources into monitoring for Droplets being used in DoS attacks, which I’ll call the Flood Monitoring System (FMS). The FMS uses data structures called FloodAlerts and FloodOccurrences to track when a Droplet has been flagged for “flooding” and to record information about the Droplet while it is flooding. This information then gets sent to an internal team that manually combs through the provided data and determines whether or not a flagged Droplet is acting legitimately or maliciously. However, as DigitalOcean’s customer base grew, the need to automate or semi-automate this process was becoming more serious. But, before DO could begin automating the FMS, certain infrastructure changes needed to be made.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"I also had to create a dashboard that displays real time, visual representations of information derived from the FloodAlert and FloodOccurrence (FAO) data. Because this job heavily involved distributed systems, some of the technologies that I worked with included Apache Kafka, Apache Hadoop, Apache Hive, and Apache Spark. Other technologies that I used included Golang, Python, gRPC, and PrestoDB.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Both parts of this project were technologically challenging and forced me to learn a substantial amount in a short amount of time. I was very fortunate that the team I worked with knew their codebase and their tech stack inside and out and were incredibly willing to answer questions when I had them.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"Shweta Agrawal, Product Management Team intern","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"I was looking for firsthand experience owning a product and making an impact. I felt that owning a product as a PM intern would be valuable because it was actionable and results-oriented. I wanted to further hone my leadership skills, and learn how to scope down to an MVP feature and release it within a few weeks. My DO summer project was to improve One Click Apps, responsible for setting the vision for the product, and coordinating all aspects of One Click Apps product development, from creating the business case for adding new features to deciding when and what features should be retired.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"It was valuable to compare the product’s historical metrics with the success criteria, to see how it had been performing over time. I took time to research what users were really like and what goals they were trying to accomplish. I analyzed the data, looked at customer support tickets, and interviewed a few customers to figure out the problems users were having.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"The next step was to find solutions to these problems. I began by building hypotheses related to customer behavior and emotion. I had to wear several hats throughout the summer: I was responsible for identifying opportunities in the One Click Apps, launching two new One Click Apps to market, oversee them, and analyze metrics to ensure that they met the adoption goals. From writing specifications, prioritizing features, finalizing go-to-market, writing documentation, analyzing data, and coordinating with internal teams, I did it all.","spans":[]},{"type":"heading4","text":"Evan Mena, Insights Team intern","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"As a hobbyist developer I’ve worked with many different programming languages and technologies to create things that I wanted for myself. While I tried to include what I considered to be relevant industry tools, such as git, into my independent workflow I’ve always wondered just how different the real world was from my solo and small team projects. During my internship, I was given the chance to participate in the development environment and cycle on the Insights team. I got the chance to work on a real feature that will provide value to both the company and end users. My code received the same care during review as a full time engineer, and getting feedback on my work as a software developer was wonderful.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"My project for the summer was to provide users a way of establishing webhooks for alerts related to their Droplets. A webhook is a way for an application to provide real time information to another application over HTTP. As an end-user you’ll register your webhook, receive a request with a challenge message on your webhook URL from DigitalOcean then verify that you control that URL by responding with the challenge message. Once the URL is verified it will be sent JSON payloads with information related to alerts when they occur. This is a fantastic addition to alert notifications as webhooks allow end-user developers to act programmatically when alerts occur. Rather than receiving an email or slack notification, a developer could write a small program that would receive webhook payloads and do nearly anything with them. They could log alerts and generate graphical output, make use of DigitalOcean’s API and adjust their server’s storage size automatically, or a myriad of other countless options. I developed this particular feature from end to end, working in EmberJS in the UI and writing request handlers in Go on the backend.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"In our next post, we’ll hear from interns who worked on our Cloud Engineering, Marketing, Networking, Data, Compute, and Frontend Infrastructure teams.","spans":[]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Danny Arango is a Senior Tech Recruiter at DigitalOcean. He’s passionate about building diverse teams and finding the right fit for the right people at the right time. He’s also a raging Arsenal fan (both in the positive and negative sense) and will debate anyone on the merits of 1994 being the best year in hip hop history. Follow Danny on Twitter @ElPibe627.","spans":[{"start":0,"end":361,"type":"em"},{"start":350,"end":360,"type":"hyperlink","data":{"link_type":"Web","url":"https://www.twitter.com/elpibe627"}}]}],"blog_post_date":"2017-10-25","tags":[{"tag1":{"tag":"Culture","_linkType":"Link.document","_meta":{"uid":"culture"}}}],"_meta":{"uid":"interns"}}}]}}}