Issue 1

Welcome! 👋

Welcome to the First Issue of DevRel Weekly!

Throughout the last 10 years I've realized that unlike most other topics in tech, the problem with finding info about Developer Relations isn't figuring out a way to sift through the myriad resources; it's finding those resources to begin with. Over the years, I've realized that they're out there, but they're hard to track down... hiding behind unexpected words or phrases, looped in with articles about speaker training, relationship-building, and technical writing.

That's where DevRel Weekly comes in. I'll be doing that searching for you -- curating a list of articles every Wednesday, saving you the time and effort of scouring the web for the latest information. Instead, you can focus on how to grow a team, prove your business value, and build relationships with your community -- the truly important things.

Each week you'll find Tidbits (tweets, quotes, and succinct descriptions), Tangibles (articles that directly apply to DevRel and the world of technical community building), and Tangents (features that may not be specifically about DevRel, but that are highly applicable to our industry). You'll also find links to collections of relevant upcoming events as well as current job openings, along with a fun avocado fact.

All of this, and more, delivered straight to your inbox, so you can skim, click, read, and then go back to your to do list with a renewed sense of purpose and drive to continue building your community.

Enjoy the newsletter, and as always, feel free to send me any feedback, comments, questions, or concerns: [email protected].

Top News of the Week 🗞️

Defining Your Community is the Key to Building Trust

Some of the most successful Developer Relations teams are ones that borrow tricks and strategies from other industries. Case in point, this week's top article comes from the journalism industry, which has a special place in my heart, given our storytelling nature. Here's the quote that grabbed my attention:

Before news organisations can begin engaging a community, they need to understand it.

Take out "news" and insert company name here. Isn't that Square 1 for all of us? Understand our community's needs, desires, problems, and tendencies. Then, and only then, do we act. As the article says:

A community provides a framework for trust. Can I trust your values? Can I trust your work? Can I trust you? Every organisation needs to be able to define a framework for trust. If they can’t, audiences will never trust them. And without trust, there can be no engagement.

Related: Looking for a strategy that fits your specific type of online community? Check out these incredibly helpful strategic plan templates from Feverbee.

Tidbits 🕔

Build an Army of Developer Advocates

Developer Advocate Engineer Wassim Chegham distilled (part of) the role of DevRel last week with this succinct tweet:

Wanna pitch your product to businesses, build a Sales team,
Wanna pitch it to end-users, build a Marketing team,
Wanna pitch it to developers, build a #devrel team and have an army of Developer Advocates.

Developer Experience -- the ball's in your court

Francesc Campoy, VP of DevRel at source{d}, made a bold argument that most Developer Experience proponents will appreciate:

A user failing to compile your open source repo is a fail on your side, not theirs.

Community in 280 characters (and one emoji)

David Spinks's 5 keys for building community 🔑
1. Consistency - keep creating even if no one responds
2. Experimentation - try new things, don't stagnate
3. Humility - it's not about you it's about the whole
4. Transparency - be honest and admit mistakes
5. Energy - keep it high keep it positive

Tangibles 🤓

#AllTheEvents 🙌

Stop scouring the web for all of the 2018 developer conferences. Thanks to Tracy Hinds (@HackyGoLucky) we have a whole new list of crowd-sourced links to reference!

How to Show Code To the Back of a Room

As if doing a live demo isn't nervewracking enough, raise your hand if you've ever realized halfway through that the folks in the back of the room probably can't see your code. ✋😰 Amara Keller, Dev Advocate at IBM, has a great post this week how to solve this problem. She also gives some awesome suggestions for general slide and presentation etiquette.

On a related note, check out this humorous post from Yev Bronshteyn, Senior Software Engineer at Black Duck Software. We've all sat through cringe-worth conference talks, so as we start to prep our own talks for conference season, here's a reminder of what not to do. Or, as he puts it, How to Make Your Tech Talk Suck.

One more post to round out this detour to conference-land: Rachel Rosen, Cofounder of S.P.A.R.K. brings us a great article about paying attention to the little details, including ambiance, framing, and engaging participants.

The State of Community Management 2018 Survey is Open! ✍️

It's a pretty safe bet to say that everyone subscribed to this newsletter should jump on the chance to take the State of Community Management 2018 Survey. The Community Roundtable has been gathering information about this messy business for the last 8 years, and the research they've done around the industry is phenomenal. Take a few minutes to give your opinion and share your story. And when you're done, check out their latest article on the Community Maturity Model & how to understand patterns in your community.

#ESNchat - Focus on Classic Community Management Questions

I wasn't familiar with #ESNchat before this week, but I may have to tune in more often. It hit my radar because of the #CMGR focus, chosen for Community Manager Appreciation Day (#CMAD, Jan 22). While Enterprise Social Networks aren't usually a top focus area for DevRel, there are some great responses in this Twitter chat to peruse when you have a moment. From measuring success to who the Community Manager should report to, these are issues we've all faced.

Tangents 🐰

Growth marketing isn’t just about content, it’s about connection

For those of you who are heavily involved in content creation... hold onto your hat. 🎩 This is no tangent.

For those of you who aren't responsible for content at your company, trust me and take a look at this article anyway. The tips on how to reach your specific audience are golden.

Storytime 📚

From Civil Engineer to Community Manager: Lana Lee

One of my favorite parts of talking to other Community Professionals is figuring out how they got to where they are. Lana Lee, Zuora Community Manager, has a story that doesn't disappoint, and per usual, Patrick O'Keefe's engaging style keeps your attention throughout this episode of the Community Signal podcast. 🎧

Curious about the history of Developer Evangelism in the early days of Apple and Microsoft, or just hungry for another podcast? Either way, the latest episode of L8ist Sh9y is a fascinating journey down memory lane with Jim Plamondon, whose DevRel career started at Microsoft in 1992.

One from the Archives 📰

What is Developer Advocacy?

We aren't digging too deep into the archives for this one, but it's especially relevant right now. Ashley McNamara write up a fantastic overview of what Developer Advocacy is -- from speaking to learning to documentation and everything in between. She sums it up in a way that I think resonates with all of us involved in the Developer Relations space:

The real goal of a Developer Advocate is to become the voice of the user.

This article is timely, as so many people are asking questions about what our titles mean and trying to figure out where Developer Relations fits in between Sales, Marketing, Engineering, and Product.

Let's continue to speak up, continue to make our voices heard, and continue to define this chaotic and awesome industry together.

Events 📆

Developer Relations Events

From webinars to conferences and local meetups, this is the place to find links to upcoming Developer Relations events. Know of one that I'm missing? Shoot me a note at [email protected].

Jobs 👩‍💻

Jobs, Jobs Everywhere!

There are a ridiculous amount of jobs open in the Developer Relations / Technical Community Manager field right now (seriously - there were 15 that bubbled up to the top of the feeds just in the last week). If you're looking, I've segmented a list of these roles off into a collection on Toby. No promises that the roles will still be open by the time you click on the link, but I'll try to keep up with it, and I'll keep adding to it as I find more. If you stumble on a broken link, don't hesitate to let me know. Happy hunting!

Developer Avocados 🥑

Developer Avocados: The Good Kind of Fat

I live in San Francisco, the land of the avocado. So it's both my love for this delicious fruit (yes... fruit!) and my love for Developer Relations that led me to run with this analogy created by my friend and former coworker Aydrian Howard. For our first installment of fun Avocado Facts, I present this premise: Developer Advocates (and Developer Relations teams) are just like Avocados. Just trust me...