Chain of Thought | AI Agents, Infrastructure & Engineering

Imagine cutting your legacy code modernization timeline from years to months. It’s no longer science fiction and this week’s guest is here to tell us how. Rachelle Palmer, Director of Product Management at MongoDB, joins hosts Conor Bronsdon and Atindriyo Sanyal, for a discussion on the groundbreaking ways AI is modernizing legacy applications. At MongoDB, Rachelle's forward-deployed AI engineering team is tackling the challenge of transforming complex, outdated codebases, freeing developers from technical debt. She details how LLMs are automating tasks like improving documentation, test generation, and even business logic conversion, dramatically reducing modernization timelines from years to months. What once demanded teams of dozens can now be achieved with a small, highly efficient team.Chapters:00:00 Introduction and Host Welcome00:58 Challenges in Modernizing Legacy Applications02:52 Real-World Examples of Code Modernization04:00 The Role of LLMs in Code Modernization08:01 Measuring Success in AI-Powered Modernization12:28 The Future of AI in Engineering16:17 Evaluating Modernization Success21:12 Returning to Your Startup Roots29:07 Forward Deployed AI Engineers35:36 Importance of Academic Research in AI42:10 Conclusion and FarewellFollow the hostsFollow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Atin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Conor⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow⁠⁠⁠⁠ Vikram⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Yash⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Today's Guest(s)⁠Rachelle PalmerMongoDBApplication Modernization FactoryCheck out Galileo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Try Galileo⁠⁠

Show Notes

Imagine cutting your legacy code modernization timeline from years to months. It’s no longer science fiction and this week’s guest is here to tell us how. 

Rachelle Palmer, Director of Product Management at MongoDB, joins hosts Conor Bronsdon and Atindriyo Sanyal, for a discussion on the groundbreaking ways AI is modernizing legacy applications. 

At MongoDB, Rachelle's forward-deployed AI engineering team is tackling the challenge of transforming complex, outdated codebases, freeing developers from technical debt. She details how LLMs are automating tasks like improving documentation, test generation, and even business logic conversion, dramatically reducing modernization timelines from years to months. What once demanded teams of dozens can now be achieved with a small, highly efficient team.


Chapters:

00:00 Introduction and Host Welcome

00:58 Challenges in Modernizing Legacy Applications

02:52 Real-World Examples of Code Modernization

04:00 The Role of LLMs in Code Modernization

08:01 Measuring Success in AI-Powered Modernization

12:28 The Future of AI in Engineering

16:17 Evaluating Modernization Success

21:12 Returning to Your Startup Roots

29:07 Forward Deployed AI Engineers

35:36 Importance of Academic Research in AI

42:10 Conclusion and Farewell


Follow the hosts

Follow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Atin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Follow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Conor⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Follow⁠⁠⁠⁠ Vikram⁠⁠⁠⁠

Follow⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Yash⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠


Follow Today's Guest(s)

⁠Rachelle PalmerMongoDBApplication Modernization Factory

Check out Galileo

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Try Galileo⁠⁠

What is Chain of Thought | AI Agents, Infrastructure & Engineering?

AI is reshaping infrastructure, strategy, and entire industries. Host Conor Bronsdon talks to the engineers, founders, and researchers building breakthrough AI systems about what it actually takes to ship AI in production, where the opportunities lie, and how leaders should think about the strategic bets ahead.

Chain of Thought translates technical depth into actionable insights for builders and decision-makers. New episodes bi-weekly.

Conor Bronsdon is an angel investor in AI and dev tools, Head of Technical Ecosystem at Modular, and previously led growth at AI startups Galileo and LinearB.