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From Software Engineer to Developer Advocate: The Silent Transition I've Been Making for Years Without Knowing It

Christian Hitchcock on April 14, 2026

I was having a conversation with a friend, sharing how I have achieved so much in tech but still feel stuck. I have an MSc in software engineer...
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Jess Lee

What topics are you most excited to write about?

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Christian Hitchcock

Software development and productivity.

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Mihai-Cristian Bâltac

This resonates a lot.

One thing I learned a bit late is that many technical people assume good work will eventually speak for itself. In reality, undocumented work often gets treated like work that never happened.

A lot of us are already doing parts of DevRel long before we realize it: explaining trade-offs, translating technical complexity for non-technical people, writing guides, helping users adopt systems, and making tools easier to trust.

The skill is not always missing. Visibility usually is.

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Christian Hitchcock

exactly. we live in a world that requires visibility in almost everything we do.

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Amara Graham

Love this! Welcome to dev advocacy!

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Christian Hitchcock

Thank you so much

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Laura Ashaley

A natural shift for many engineers—developer advocacy blends technical depth with communication, making engineering more impactful beyond just code.

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Christian Hitchcock • Edited

yes i agree . That is why i'm building better communication skills

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Mykola Kondratiuk

the 'achieved everything, still feel stuck' phase is real. turns out most career pivots are retroactive - you were already doing the new thing

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Christian Hitchcock

true, progress needs to be visible at some point. Thank you

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Mykola Kondratiuk

yeah - the moment you can name what changed usually comes months after it already happened.

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David Hyland

Congratulations~

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Christian Hitchcock

Thank you so much