What is Developer Relations?
Developers relations / advocacy is a role that is a mix of Sales, Marketing, Developer and Educator. Our role at any company is too encourage developers to adopt a platform, but, more importantly in my opinion is making developers successful.
What do developers relations do?
Each dev rel might have different goals but for me and quite a few people I know in the space do the following week to week:
- Check GitHub issues
- Communicate via Discord, forums, Slack and Twitter.
- Create content through YouTube, Twitch, Blog posts
- Update guides and documentation
- Feed the feedback loop machine
- Test new features to be up to date
- Collaborate with others
- Conferences
It might sound like no one person can do all of these, but developer relations do all these and some times more.
Are Developer Relations Technical roles?
I get this question frequently, why did you leave being a developer to be a dev rel? Surely you weren't a very good developer if you wanted to leave a technical position. I and many other Dev Rels are extremely technical, in fact some are more technical then hired engineers, what makes us different is the ability to translate highly technical implementations into something that anyone can understand.
Imagine if you were a mechanic and had to explain how an engine works in great detail so anyone could rebuild an engine on their own. This is what we do we allow developers build their own engines successfully!
Who Can be a Dev Rel?
I think anyone can be a Dev Rel, if they are interested in educating, marketing and creating success for developers. The role can quite a challenge and involves a lot of being out of your comfort zone, which to me is exciting!
Resources for Dev Rel
Looking for resources well I have a few to help you get on the way to success: