The rise of digital has brought database management into the spotlight. But those in the field know that under the shiny new technology, the fundamental problems haven’t changed.

“Data integrity, performance and scalability in the face of distributed systems, those were all the hard problems that key leaders solved back in the 60s and 70s,” said Mary Roth (pictured), vice president of engineering operations at Couchbase Inc. “They did a lot of the fundamental work that you can apply and reapply in different scenarios and situations.”

Roth spoke with John Furrier, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during the Couchbase ConnectONLINE event. They discussed Roth’s career as an engineer and database administrator, the rise of database-as-a-service, and the recent release of Couchbase Capella. (* Disclosure below.)

Database offers supportive solutions and collaborative culture

The database world has a unique culture based on the values of merit and mentorship, according to Roth.

“That culture grew over multiple generations with the previous generation cultivating, challenging and advocating for ‘the next’ … and I’ve advanced my career as a result of being part of it,” she said.

After a 20-plus-year career with IBM, where Roth worked mainly from her home, she made the jump to Couchbase in early 2020. She was unsure about returning to in-office meetings, but the pandemic forced Couchbase to change to the remote work model rather than the other way around. A retrospective after the recent launch of Couchbase Server 7.0, which added relational database reliability to the Couchbase cloud database, the company found that working remotely had benefited the team and made employees more effective. 

“A remote work model does have its challenges, that’s for sure, but it also has its benefits, better work-life balance and more time to interact with family members during the day and more quiet time just to think,” she said. 

Although the fundamental problems of database operations haven’t changed, the underlying infrastructure has. Which means the role of humans in database operations IS changing, according to Roth. She points to the increased automation of database-as-a-service solutions, such as the recently released Couchbase Capella. 

“Customers can focus on development and building and improving their applications and reducing the time to market without having to worry about the hard problems underneath and the operational database management efforts that come with it,” she said. “I started my career as a DBA, and it was one of the most sought after and highly paid positions in IT because operating a database required so much work. [But] with Capella, what we’re seeing is it’s taking that job away.” 

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Couchbase ConnectONLINE event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the Couchbase ConnectONLINE event. Neither Couchbase Inc., the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE