How MongoDB drives strategic growth with interactive education powered by Instruqt

‍Table of contents

1. Introduction
2. Raghu Viswanathan's vision for education at MongoDB
3. Aligning education with strategic business goals
4. Building a world-class education tech stack
5. Empowering developer adoption through interactive learning
6. Scaling education across teams for maximum impact
7. Leveraging AI to transform the future of technical education
8. Actionable strategies for technical educators and innovators
9. Conclusion

At Instruqt, we’re on a mission to empower developer adoption through hands-on, interactive learning experiences. A standout example of this approach in action is our collaboration with MongoDB, a company recognized globally as an innovator in education. MongoDB’s commitment to education isn’t just about learning—it’s about strategic growth, deeply embedding educational experiences into their core business strategy. 

Sean Lauer, VP of Marketing & Product at Instruqt spoke with Raghu Viswanathan, VP of Education, Academia and Documentation at MongoDB on a recent webinar to learn about his vision, learnings, and ultimately, success in leveraging technical education to as a strategic growth engine. 

Raghu Viswanathan's vision for education at MongoDB

When Raghu joined MongoDB, he envisioned creating a holistic educational experience that addresses the varied learning styles of developers. His goal was to establish MongoDB as the gold standard for technical education, providing diverse learning pathways—whether through reading documentation, watching videos, engaging in hands-on labs, or achieving formal certifications. This vision laid the foundation for MongoDB's comprehensive education strategy, leveraging innovative platforms and technologies to drive deeper user engagement and business growth.

MongoDB delivers a robust educational experience through its dedicated platform, MongoDB University, designed to support learners at every stage of their MongoDB journey. The educational approach at MongoDB is organized around four core areas:

• MongoDB University: Creating a modern digital learning experience for all MongoDB external audiences including content development, certification, systems, operations, and go-to-market initiatives.

• Documentation: Overseeing a team that builds all product documentation for MongoDB.

• Academia: Conducting outreach programs to universities and higher education institutions to drive MongoDB adoption among educators and students.

• MongoDB Press Books: Offering a new line of technical and thought leadership books, available in both print and digital formats, further expanding accessible educational resources.

This holistic approach ensures MongoDB meets learners where they are, facilitating diverse, comprehensive educational experiences.

Aligning education with strategic business goals

MongoDB has successfully turned education from a support function into a growth lever. Raghu underscores the importance of aligning educational goals with business objectives like product adoption and customer success. 

Education at MongoDB is monitored through precise “North Star” metrics:

• Quality: Ensuring consistently high-quality hands-on labs.
• Engagement: Reaching over one million learners monthly across MongoDB University and related platforms.
• Certification: Increasing the number of users earning MongoDB credentials.

This alignment creates a virtuous cycle: more skilled developers lead to increased product adoption, driving MongoDB’s growth engine.

Building a world-class education tech stack

MongoDB’s innovative approach starts with their robust education tech stack, designed for seamless learner experiences. Their integrated ecosystem includes Thought Industries as the learning management system (LMS), Meazure Learning for certification, Credly by Pearson for badging, and Caveon for assessments. Instruqt uniquely addresses the need for immersive, hands-on labs, becoming a critical part of MongoDB’s educational architecture.

When evaluating interactive solutions, MongoDB selected Instruqt for its API-rich architecture, visually intuitive UI, and the ability to efficiently manage complex technical setups. This capability ensures that MongoDB learners can engage directly with product features in real-world scenarios, significantly enhancing skill acquisition and retention.

When considering a hands-on interactive solution, organizations should evaluate:

• Integration capabilities: Robust APIs and seamless connections to existing LMS and other education systems.

• User experience: An intuitive, visually appealing interface that enhances learner engagement.

• Scalability: Ability to manage environments efficiently, from small teams to enterprise-wide implementations.

• Real-world relevance: Support for scenario-based, practical training closely mirroring actual user workflows.

• Analytical insight: Strong analytics and reporting functionalities to track learner progress and inform content improvements.

Empowering developer adoption through interactive learning

MongoDB’s developer education strategy hinges on offering multiple modalities—read, watch, try, achieve—to accommodate diverse learner preferences. With Instruqt, learners engage through interactive, real-world simulations, significantly enhancing product understanding and application.

"Hands-on learning through Instruqt enables our learners to quickly move from awareness to practical skills," Raghu explains. "This helps developers actively use MongoDB, reducing churn and creating product champions."

Scaling education across teams for maximum impact

MongoDB’s strategic integration of Instruqt’s interactive learning has expanded beyond traditional education roles. Today, teams from customer success to sales leverage Instruqt-powered experiences to accelerate onboarding, reduce support demands, and drive faster conversions.

Sales teams deploy customized, interactive demos and proofs-of-concept (POCs) through Instruqt. This enables prospects to directly experience MongoDB’s capabilities, eliminating the complexities typically associated with technical demonstrations. Such engaging, hands-on experiences accelerate decision-making cycles, improve deal velocity, and create a compelling reason for prospects to choose MongoDB solutions.

Customer success teams utilize Instruqt to streamline onboarding processes, significantly enhancing customer productivity from day one. By embedding hands-on labs into onboarding journeys, new customers become proficient quickly, ensuring a smoother adoption of MongoDB products and features. This targeted approach has led to measurable improvements in customer retention rates and overall satisfaction.

Support teams also see substantial benefits, using Instruqt to proactively address common customer questions and scenarios. By providing customers with easily accessible, interactive troubleshooting labs, MongoDB reduces support tickets, frees up support team resources, and significantly improves customer self-service capabilities.

Best practices for scaling education across teams include:

• Unified content strategy: Ensure consistent and reusable educational content across different teams.

• Collaborative approach: Foster regular communication and collaboration among teams to align educational goals and outcomes.

• Continuous feedback loop: Regularly collect and analyze user feedback to continuously refine and optimize educational resources.

Sean emphasizes, "Our customers really use Instruqt to power their software go-to-market process, allowing developers to get hands-on with products and really get to value more quickly. Making educational content seamless and interactive is critical. We ensure that developers have the easiest experience possible, allowing them to focus purely on learning."

Leveraging AI to transform the future of technical education

Looking ahead, MongoDB recognizes the transformative potential of AI in education. AI-driven personalization, conversational learning through advanced chatbots, and automated content generation are reshaping educational methodologies.

"With AI, we’re moving towards personalized and real-time, just-in-time learning experiences," Raghu predicts. "Instruqt’s flexible platform is crucial in this evolution, supporting highly tailored and scenario-based learning at scale."

Actionable strategies for technical educators and innovators

1. Align education directly with measurable business outcomes. 

• Define and track metrics that directly correlate educational efforts with business goals such as increased product adoption, customer retention, and certifications. 
• Regularly evaluate these metrics to ensure alignment and adjust your educational strategies accordingly. 
• Embed education as a core strategic component, transitioning it from a support function to a primary growth lever.

2. Utilize platforms like Instruqt to provide immersive, real-world experiences.

• Implement interactive, hands-on platforms allowing learners to directly engage with products in realistic scenarios, significantly improving retention and practical skill application.
• Ensure chosen platforms integrate seamlessly into your existing educational tech stack, offering robust API capabilities, intuitive interfaces, and scalable environments.

3. Integrate learning experiences across multiple organizational functions.

• Foster consistent messaging and reusable educational resources across departments including sales, customer success, support, and product teams. 
• Promote ongoing collaboration between departments to align educational outcomes, share best practices, and streamline onboarding and engagement processes.

4. Establish cross-functional education committees.

• Form committees with representatives from  departments such as sales, customer success, support, and product to align educational initiatives with broader organizational objectives.
• Regularly convene committees to review progress, share insights, and strategically prioritize educational initiatives.

‍5. Create personalized, interactive onboarding experiences.

• Develop onboarding processes using interactive labs to quickly equip new users and customers with practical skills.
• Customize onboarding experiences based on different learner profiles or roles to maximize early engagement and reduce time-to-value.

6. Integrate AI-driven solutions for personalized learning paths.

• Adopt AI technologies for personalized recommendations, adaptive learning paths, and automated content creation, enhancing learner engagement and effectiveness.
• Utilize AI analytics to better understand learner behavior and preferences, continuously refining content to meet evolving user needs.

Conclusion

‍Ready to see how Instruqt can transform your technical education strategy and drive measurable business results? Connect with an Instruqt expert today or take Instruqt for a test drive, and discover firsthand how immersive, interactive learning can empower your organization’s growth.