Kickstarting a career in Developer Relations

With the rise of communities, the need for Developer Advocates has significantly grown over the years. More and more companies have realised the importance that this role brings to their community and company at large but there are still a ton of people who don't understand what it means or how to actually get started.

This talk will give you more insight into Developer Relations and how to start a career in it.

Transcript

2. Section Title
4. Kickstarting a career in Developer Relations
5. Kickstarting a career in Developer Relations Edidiong Asikpo Senior Developer Advocate Ambassador Labs
6. Developer Relations != Developer Advocate
7. Let’s imagine the title of my talk was on “Kickstarting a Career in Software Engineering”. You went back home, did what I recommend and was able to successful start a career in Engineering.
8. What will classify yourself as?
9. A Software Engineering or A Software Engineer
10. This is similar to Developer Relations! It isn’t a role. It’s more of a department or broad term for the different roles that fall under it.
11. A typical example of a Developer Relations team • Developer advocates • Software engineers • Technical writers • Community managers • Marketing
12. Developer Relations != Developer Advocate
13. Developer Relations Teams • Software engineers • Technical writers • Developer Advocates • Community managers • Marketing
14. What does it mean to be a Developer Advocate?
15. The three C’s of Developer Advocacy • Creating • Community • Company
16. The role of Developer Advocate • Creating awareness about a company’s products in the community • Fostering a smooth experience for community members • Serving as a middle man between the community and their company
17. A Developer Advocate is someone whose job is to help developers be successful with a platform or technology.
18. How can you become a Developer Advocate?
19. Gain technical knowledge There’s this misconception that developer advocates don’t know how to code or are not required to do so. That’s very untrue. You need to be technical sound before you can become a Developer Advocate and I’ll tell you why.
20. Have you ever had a conversation with someone about tech?
21. Can you tell if the person is technically sound or not?
22. Developer Advocates have to speak with Engineers
23. Can someone who isn’t technically sound do that?
24. • To perform their role effectively, developer advocates to need to know how to code • It comes in handy when they need to create technical demos, write technical articles and speak at events
25. Share your technical knowledge For you to excel as a developer advocate or even become one, you need to share your knowledge with the developer community.
26. What does sharing knowledge mean? • Writing articles • Creating videos • Posting content on social media • Responding to questions asked by people in the community
27. Be active in the developer community Most developer advocates I know today started from being active in the developer community. You’d often find them: • Leading local dev communities • Speaking at events • Helping people • Asking questions
28. Keep learning A friend of mine once shared a tweet that said “Does tech mean learning every time?” and I was like yup, that’s exactly what it is.
29. Developer advocates create content • Collaborating with another product you’ve never used before • Learning something new about your companies product
30. What are the benefits of being a developer advocate?
31. Benefits of being a developer advocate • Sharing knowledge = knowing more • People will know you as an expert in a certain field • You’ll get to meet amazing people & build strong relationships • You’ll get to travel across the world all expense paid • You’ll build a brand for yourself in the process
32. Conclusion
33. THANK YOU! Connect with me on Twitter: @didicodes Edidiong Asikpo Senior Developer Advocate Ambassador Labs