Issue 28

Welcome! 👋

My brain has been filled with moving pieces this week. From moving to a new apartment to checking off all of the last pieces of the conference puzzle, there's been very little mental energy for anything else!

Lucky for me, there's been a lot of great content from people who have had the time and energy to write, think, and debate about topics that are incredibly important to all of us involved, even tangentially, in DevRel. From travel tips (more moving pieces!) to writing good content and more, there's a good combination of opinions from experienced professionals and questions or discussions around relevant topics.

Want to be a part of the conversation? Shoot me an email and let me know what you think!

Best,
-Mary, @mary_grace

Tidbits 🕔

DevRel = Marketing = Product = Engineering = ... Sales?

A few folks had words to share about the overlap of DevRel and Sales, Marketing, and more this week.

Francesc Campoy, VP of DevRel at source{d}, had this to say:

The more #DevRel I do at higher levels, the more it smells like #Marketing.
And that, folks, is not a bad thing. So much to learn from other fields!

At the same time, Eric Wright was looking for opinions on how a blogpost titled "Developer Advocate: The new Sales Engineer" would go over in the community:

Would a blog titled "Developer Advocate: The new Sales Engineer" be too controversial? Asking for a blogger friend.

Both sparked fascinating conversations that got into everything from whether DevRel should be involved in technical sales, to if we should be our own department entirely. At the same time, Fixate published a blogpost on the differences between developer marketing & Developer Relations. It's clear there's still a lot of confusion on the topic!

As reader Jeff Gardner shared with me last week,

I believe pretty strongly that we all need to stop stressing over how we define ourselves and focus on working together to build better products and bring those products to our customers and communities in the best way we can.

Stay tuned for a podcast planning session soon on this very topic. Interested in taking part in the show? Hit reply or reach out to @community_pulse on Twitter!

We Need to Get Out of Our Bubble

Answering what it is that a #cmgr / strategist does in an org is not always easy & we need to get better at explaining it. We need to be in dialogue with people outside this profession in order to get feedback on what will resonate w/business leaders.

-Keely Sorokti

Correlations Between Academia & DevRel

DevRel and Academia are very similar. Both write papers about their work. Both travel to conferences. Both are deeply technical, and they need to explain this complexity to others in their field. Yet it seems like there's not a large Academia -> DevRel pipeline.

-Nick Felker

We Need to Start Rewarding the Maintaners

... Cultivating just the right environment for vibrant conversation and genuine connection is often a thankless job.

Noah Sparks

We're Responsible for Each Other

To my #DevRel folks, your community is forever responsible for your success. Always appreciate what individuals on the other side of the screen have done to help you grow. I might be employed by a company, but I work for my community.

-Jay Gordon

DevRel as Recruiting

DevRel & Evangelism teams help your company find new employees too. We work closely with almost all teams and help them in many ways.

-Serhat Can

Tangibles 🤓

DevRel Travel Tips

Thanks to Tomomi Imura for this amazing graphic packing checklist! I live and die by lists when I'm on the road a lot, so you can be sure this is one that I'll take with me.

Although I’m not traveling for a while (phew!) I created the travel packing checklist for developer advocates & conference speakers. (Well, this is basically my list and this is why there’s no shaver listed!) #DevRelLife

Heidi Waterhouse also pulled together a list of her favorite travel tips for women, most of which is applicable for everyone, regardless of gender!

The Right Story to Tell in a Corporate Blogpost

If you have any experience asking your technical teammates to write a blogpost for the company blog, you know it's not a simple or straightforward issue. There are often specific parameters they need to meet, in addition to telling a story, explaining a concept, and getting the attention of your audience. Tom Johnson of "I'd Rather be Writing" explains how to turn these difficult-to-write articles into engaging technical how-to pieces that help your audience overcome technical challenges.

On the other side of the corporate blog is branded content and influencer marketing, which these days often occupy a similar space. In this post from CMSWire, it's clear that branded content and influencer marketing should overlap -- it's likely the only way either will be successful going forward.

Qualitative Analysis Digs Deep Into Community Engagement

I believe strongly that you have to balance qualitative and quantitative data when you're looking at community metrics, but figuring out what qualitative data to track and how to quantify it is still difficult! This article from Bang the Table digs into how to find patterns and themes among qualitative data, which can then be used to benefit not only your team, but the entire company.

Being able to quantify qualitative data is crucial to revealing community priorities, the differing themes and issues in community responses, and the underlying demographic factors. Effective qualitative analysis digs deeper to spot and understand these trends and turn conversations with communities into measurable, actionable information for policymakers.

One from the Archives 📰

Stripe Co-founder Patrick Collison on why companies need to build a developer-friendly culture

Most well-known Developer Relations teams (Twilio, among others) are supported by companies who understand that building a developer-friendly culture is not only important but essential to the success of their business. In this interview with Stripe co-founder Patrick Collison, he credits much of the company's success to the developer-centric culture that lies at the core of Stripe’s ethos.

Events 📆

Developer Relations Events

If traveling is on your mind, see if your next work trip lines up with one of these lovely conferences! I'm definitely getting some FOMO and hoping that you all post summaries of the events you're attending! If you do, be sure to shoot me an email with a link so I can include it in the newsletter!

Jobs 👩‍💻

Developer Advocate – Kendo UI for React

At Kendo UI team at Progress we build JavaScript tooling to help developers build better web apps faster. We are engineers and storytellers, representing Kendo UI to developer communities all around the world – online and offline. If you’re passionate about connecting with React developers, trying out new frameworks and technologies, and sharing what you’ve learned with the world, we’d love to hear from you.

Algolia Developer Advocate

The Algolia Developer Relations team is looking to grow and would love to have you be a part of the team! Developers make up a large part of our community, and Algolia Developer Advocates play a crucial role in keeping developers both informed and inspired about what’s possible. Choose your adventure with writing code and blogging, speaking and traveling or helping with partnerships!

Jobs 👩‍💻

Developer Relations Jobs

13 may not be known as a lucky number, but with 113 job listings, you're sure to find something that strikes your fancy!

If you're looking for a Dev Advocate position specifically, the MongoDB Developer Relations team is looking for someone to join them in NYC. This team of software experts loves teaching developers and celebrating their success. Their mission is to enable developer innovation through world-class technical content and community outreach.

Developer Avocados 🥑

Avocados on the Move

Even avocados are on the move these days, migrating between continents and rising in popularity all around the globe. Curious how they've taken off in different locations? Here's a fun history lesson (complete with avocado graphics of course) on how avocados rose to prominence in Austrailia.