Rebecca Taft's journey to Cockroach Labs began after completing her PhD at MIT, where she discovered her passion for databases under the guidance of renowned advisor Mike Stonebraker. Her decision to join Cockroach Labs, despite initial reservations about the startup's viability and the lack of female engineers, was driven by her admiration for the company's commitment to values like respect and transparency, as well as its open-source CockroachDB technology. Over the past five years, Taft has advanced her career from an individual contributor to the Engineering Manager of the SQL Queries team, witnessing the company's growth from a small startup to a successful enterprise with a $5 billion valuation and over 400 employees. She values the supportive work culture and has continued to engage with the academic community, contributing to database conferences and research, while also navigating challenges and opportunities within her team to enhance the stability and performance of CockroachDB.