Datadog is a leading observability platform that helps organizations monitor their applications, infrastructure, and security in real time. Headquartered in New York City with a global customer base, Datadog serves engineering, operations, and security teams across enterprises of all sizes.

Alex Rosenkranz, Engineering Manager on the Customer Education and Training team at Datadog, oversees the strategy and execution of learning programs—ensuring customers can deepen their understanding of Datadog’s tools and apply them in real-world scenarios.

‍Challenge

“We use Instruqt at pretty much every workshop that we deliver… Being able to give people that ability to just open up a browser, open up the lab, and you have this full, feature-rich environment—it helps us teach a lot better.” –Alex Rosenkranz, Engineering Manager, Customer Education and Training at Datadog

Datadog needed a reliable, flexible, and scalable solution to deliver hands-on product education that reflects the complexity and breadth of its observability tools. Their previous platform lacked transparency and flexibility, creating friction in both development and delivery.

• Inconsistent lab experiences: Datadog’s former tool lacked diagnostics and visibility. When labs failed, teams were left guessing about the root cause.

• Limited environment control: Lab configurations were difficult to debug, and real-time observability into learner issues was minimal.

• Manual upkeep and poor integration: Their GitHub integration was unreliable, and course updates were hard to manage.

• Barriers to entry for learners: Workshop attendees couldn’t easily launch labs due to installation requirements or device restrictions.

• Need for safe, ephemeral environments: Customers needed a sandbox environment to explore features without affecting production data.

Solution

“We use Instruqt on a daily basis—all of our self-paced courses have at least one Instruqt lab. It’s deeply embedded into everything we do.” –Alex Rosenkranz, Engineering Manager, Customer Education and Training at Datadog

Since migrating to Instruqt in January 2022, Datadog has embedded Instruqt across all of its learning content. The platform now powers self-paced training, live workshops, and hands-on product exploration at flagship events like DASH.

• Unified experience across all training formats: Whether self-paced courses or in-person workshops, Instruqt powers every learning modality with browser-based, full-featured environments.

• Real-time troubleshooting and observability: Instruqt gives Datadog’s team visibility into lab performance and learner engagement, enabling faster debugging and smarter content decisions.

• CI/CD-based delivery system: Datadog built a runtime iframe integration that allows lab content to be updated automatically via pipelines.

• Interactive workshops with cloud partners: At events like DASH, Datadog delivers labs alongside partners like Google Cloud using Instruqt environments.

• Hands-on sandbox environments: Datadog spins up trial orgs and demo apps for learners to experiment safely in guided labs.

‍Results

“We can actually go pretty deep into some of our topics and do some complex things. For our customers, it helps them feel at ease, solve problems, and really get hands-on in a safe space.” –Alex Rosenkranz, Engineering Manager, Customer Education and Training at Datadog

Datadog’s training organization has transformed into a data-driven, scalable, and deeply engaging education engine, powered by Instruqt.

• 100% adoption across courses: All self-paced courses on Datadog’s learning platform now feature one or more Instruqt labs.

• 100% of workshops powered by Instruqt: Every live workshop, including high-profile events like DASH, uses Instruqt to deliver hands-on content.

• Zero setup for learners: With browser-based access, lab participants can dive in without installing anything—improving attendance and accessibility.

• Higher engagement and retention: Learners gain practical experience with Datadog features, leading to deeper understanding and greater confidence.

• Scalable delivery across personas: Instruqt supports users ranging from curious prospects to power users, enabling tailored experiences at every level of product maturity.

Outlook

Looking ahead, Datadog plans to expand its use of Instruqt to further personalize and scale training across the customer journey. With Instruqt’s growing capabilities in cloud sandboxing and version control, Datadog is exploring new ways to simulate real-world environments tailored to specific use cases and user roles.

The Customer Education and Training team is also experimenting with more advanced automation and CI/CD workflows to accelerate lab development, reduce maintenance overhead, and iterate more quickly on content. As Datadog expands its product portfolio and reaches new user personas—from developers to security analysts to business intelligence teams—Instruqt will continue to serve as a flexible foundation for immersive, role-specific learning.

In parallel, Datadog sees potential in using Instruqt to onboard internal employees, enable partners, and support broader community education initiatives. With Instruqt as a strategic enabler, Datadog is building a future where every user—not just power users—can become confident, capable, and curious with its platform.

Explore the Datadog Learning Center here.