Rob Zuber sits down with Tara Hernandez, VP of Developer Productivity at MongoDB and former Netscape engineer who helped create early continuous integration systems, to explore strategic frameworks for build vs. buy decisions in modern software delivery.

Hernandez shares insights from scaling MongoDB's proprietary CI system—processing 10 engineer years of compute daily—and reveals how organizations can evaluate when custom infrastructure drives competitive advantage versus when strategic partnerships accelerate growth. Her perspective on navigating the evolving landscape of CI/CD tooling offers actionable guidance for engineering leaders balancing innovation with operational efficiency.

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