If you've made it here, I'm pretty sure you've been intrigued by the world of Dev rel. I'm going to try and help you navigate through this as much as I can. Over the course of this 2 part article, I am going to share my knowledge and all the material that has helped me understand most of the concepts involved in the DevRel field.
First, let's understand what Developer Relations mean first.
Developer Relations, in my opinion, me is a broad term that encapsulates multiple responsibilities closely dealing with customers who happen to be Developers
An ideal Dev Rel should be able to write code, create technical documentation, create marketing strategies, evangelize the product and tech stack, build and manage communities and a lot more. Ok, I'm going to stop here before you people pack your bags and run away. Basically, a DevRel wears many hats as per the company/product needs.
While there are various domains under DevRel as mentioned earlier, Developer Advocate and Developer Evangelist often mean the same thing with a slight difference. A Dev Advocate could be more inclined towards Developer community response to the application while a Dev Evangelist might focus more on preaching about the product or its tech stack. Developer Marketing focuses more on Marketing and Leads Creation strategies. Developer Experience and Community Management work closely with the developers who use the product on a regular basis to fetch feedback and offer support
One myth about DevRel jobs that I have heard is that they don't have coding-related tasks. Well, it is possible to not have to code if that is the product owner's demand, but most DevRels do code. That helps in understanding the working of your product and also you are in a better position to advocate for it.
A non-exhaustive list of responsibilities of a Dev Rel
- Taking feedback about the product from the community and customers.
- Keeping the documentation up to date and easy to understand.
- Building a strong, engaging, and supportive community around your product.
- Being the front face of the company at all events and evangelizing the product.
- Creating tutorials and sample apps using the company product and tech stack.
- Creating engaging content in all formats ( written, audio and video ).
- Supporting and popularizing the product on social media products.
Who can be the best fit for this position?
Ideally, anyone who has some experience in the product tech stack and can pull off the above responsibilities would be a good fit. Many companies believe in hiring developers for Dev Rel roles because a developer can better understand the pain points of fellow developers.
How does a Dev Advocate interview look like?
Dev Advocate interviews are subjective to most companies. But having public contributions is something that works through most of the interviews. Have the best work in your portfolio. Your portfolio should be very colorful and should include your talks, code contributions, blogs, and everything around the community. Most importantly, interviewers look for individuals who are empathetic towards developers.
Some companies who want you to work on sample apps also look for good technical skills and might include a technical round in your interview.
For someone who is trying to switch to a DevRel career, having a personal brand does wonders. The first step towards being a part of this field is to follow some amazing experienced DevRels ad join a DevRel Community. These are some of my favorite DevRel personalities that I follow.
And the list goes on!
DevRel Study material and resources
The content bucket that I am going to share with you is worth Millions of Dollars and hours I'd say. Do go ahead and try to support all the authors of these articles.
- linkedin.com/pulse/welcome-golden-age-devel..
- github.com/readme/guides/angie-jones-demyst..
- softwareas.com/developer-relations-a-five-l..
- samjulien.com/how-to-start-doing-dev-rel-ri..
- openviewpartners.com/blog/measuring-the-imp..
Although I do have loads of more resources, I think these are sufficient to get you started.
Devrel.jobs is one of the best places to look out for DevRel jobs and opportunities.
The next part of this blog will be about my personal experience and how I prepared for the role.
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