Where you start your career isn't as important as everyone thinks. What's really important early on is clearly identifying what you like and dislike: topics, roles, products, etc.
Renaud’s impact:
Renaud Boutet is the VP of Product for Log Management at Datadog. Previously Renaud served as co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Logmatic.io, which was acquired by Datadog. Since joining Datadog, Renaud has led a team of product managers and engineers that effectively built a Log Management product from scratch within Datadog’s existing large-scale platform.
For teams at modern enterprises with web-scale products, logs offer insights into the performance of their products — and examining logs to troubleshoot problems or simply observe applications is a daily task for developers. Datadog’s Log Management product utilizes visualization and automation tools that make it significantly easier to understand and aggregate log data. That’s why companies worldwide (including both startups and members of the Fortune 500) have adopted Datadog Log Management within a year of the product becoming generally available.
Presence in the large and growing Log Management market has had a significant impact for Datadog, leading to new revenue, new customers, and new opportunities for growth. In particular, increasing numbers of Datadog customers now use more than one Datadog product, growth that has been driven largely by Renaud’s team.
Why he’s an Up-and-Comer:
When Renaud joined Datadog, Logmatic was a series A-startup. Building and leading a new product team within Datadog, Renaud faced two key challenges: growing Logmatic at a rapid pace, and integrating its existing team with a new team at Datadog to build a completely refreshed Log Management product.
These challenges — both managerial and technical — were met with a resilient focus on the long-term goals that Renaud had envisioned for Logmatic’s product, and Logmatics’s aim to achieve worldwide distribution of its log management methodology and approach. With ease of use and pricing-flexibility as guiding principles, Renaud was able to build a new team of Logmatic and Datadog employees, lead the development of a new product within Datadog, and set both team and product up for future success.
What’s your number one piece of advice for people just starting their tech careers?
Where you start your career isn't as important as everyone thinks. What's really important early on is clearly identifying what you like and dislike: topics, roles, products, etc. Once you figure that out, make sure that you move in the direction of these interests and you'll find yourself working on things you care about.
What you're working on during the next few months should always make sense according to the bigger vision of what you value.
That's how you'll improve and how you can think long-term about your career. What you're working on during the next few months should always make sense according to the bigger vision of what you value. Think of your projects or products as life-long efforts, commit to them and avoid focusing solely on short-term interest. If you focus on the long-term, you'll find yourself surrounded with teams of great people who share your vision and are superior at helping you deliver it.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Whatever I'm working on 10 years from now, I know it will involve fascinating problems that I'm passionate about.
