Specialization and Career Paths for Developer Relations
The need for Developer Relations has risen over time, and for years, companies who invested in DevRel would have one person doing a variety of activities from speaking at conferences, to engaging with the community or writing content. Today, more companies realize the advantages of DevRel, and recognize that it’s more powerful than anticipated.
The result? DevRel teams are growing and it’s fundamental to start specializing in roles and responsibilities.
In this blog post, I’ll go over the various fields within DevRel and explain how they complement one another.
Who is this article for?
- Anyone seeking an overview of various DevRel roles and activities.
- DevRel professional: an individual contributor considering the next career move or a manager aiming to organize and plan growth for your team members.
Developer relations is about getting developers to adopt a platform or technology and making them successful with their initiatives (job or pet projects), and it can be unfolded into five different fields: Developer Marketing, Developer Evangelism, Developer Advocacy, Developer Experience and Community Management.
Developer Marketing: Crafting Narratives that Resonate
What is it? Developer Marketing is a strategic set of practices aimed at capturing software developers’ attention. It involves understanding your audience, crafting compelling messaging, and deploying tactics to encourage developers to learn, try, and adopt a product or API.
Why it Matters: Mastering Developer Marketing is about speaking the developers’ language, resonating with their needs, and creating narratives that captivate their interest. It’s a dance of communication and strategy that lies at the core of driving product adoption.
Developer Evangelism: Passionate Advocacy for Developer Connection
What is it? While often intertwined with marketing and advocacy, Developer Evangelism stands out as the most passionate persona in a DevRel team. These individuals are fervently dedicated to connecting with developers, sharing their excitement, and fostering a sense of community.
Why it Matters: Developer Evangelists play a crucial role in establishing authentic connections. By transmitting their energy and passion, they can ignite enthusiasm within the developer community, driving engagement and building lasting relationships.
Developer Advocacy: Empowering Developers Through Technical Expertise
What is it? Developer Advocacy is the technical heart of DevRel, working closely with other fields. Advocates create content — quick-starts, docs, tutorials, blog posts — aimed at educating and empowering developers. The goal is to provide resources that enable developers to succeed in their projects.
Why it Matters: In the ever-evolving tech landscape, Developer Advocacy ensures developers have the tools and knowledge they need. This field is about being a guide, helping developers navigate complexities, and ultimately fostering a community of empowered tech enthusiasts.
Developer Experience: Designing Positive Experiences and Fostering Developer Productivity
What is it? Developer Experience (DX) focuses on the journey developers have while using a product. It involves designing and evolving products to eliminate friction points and offering resources like documentation, best practices, SDKs, and more.
Why it Matters: A positive DX is a key factor in retaining developers and ensuring the successful use of a product. It’s about creating an environment where developers not only find value in a product but also enjoy the process of using it. A good Developer Experience will impact on developer productivity but also create positive emotions.
Community Management: Cultivating Advocacy from the Ground Up
What is it? Community Management is the strategic and proactive oversight of the interactions, engagement, and overall well-being of the developer’s community — online or offline community. The primary goal of community management is to foster a positive and supportive environment where developers can connect, collaborate, and share knowledge. It’s also about building a grassroots advocacy community that believes in, uses, and actively promotes a product.
Why it Matters: The biggest reason developer solutions become widely adopted as category leaders today has little to do with traditional marketing; their success comes from building a grassroots advocate community that believes in, uses, and actively promotes their product.
A lot of teams began with just one person — a Developer Advocate, often someone who’s a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, like a software or sales engineer. With teams getting bigger and bigger, the challenge is the same — figuring out where to put your energy for the most impact in this changing landscape. So, with things always evolving, specializing (and prioritization) isn’t just an option now; it’s a smart move for both individuals looking to succeed in this industry and companies aiming to fill their gaps.
