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Discussion on: Welcome Thread - v20

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Eric Bishard • Edited

Hi Mark,

Sorry it took awhile to get back to you. So a day in the life. I can explain that, but first let me tell you a little about my background because I don't want you to think developer advocate is an easy job. I have been doing web development for over 15 years. I have worked with some companies like PSAV, SolarCity, Tesla and also helped run a web development company and freelanced for over 10 years (web dev). These are all things that prepared me for this job.

I mostly write everyday about technology, that is the majority of my work. Writing articles. I write anywhere from 1 to 3 articles a week, while also attending meetups and conferences. I try to get as many speaking engagements as possible. For instance this Thursday I will be presenting at Reactivate meetup in San Jose talking about React Hooks. This talk I am giving is something I have spent the better part of a month writing articles on and now I will use everything I learned to turn that info into a live talk.

My company and I target a list of conferences that make sense for me to go to each year. I will attend about 8 conferences this next year (2019). I will speak at several of them. So I write everyday, publish those writings, attend meetups and conferences, speak at many of them and I also work with our engineering team to make our product better (KendoReact) by talking with those who use it and relaying that info back to the team.

Even though I am a developer advocate for KendoReact. That doesn't mean I spend the majority of my time advocating just for that product. My company expects me to become a member of the JS and React communities as a thought leader. So that means learning everything I can about the bleeding edge of React and JavaScript. If someone wanted to become a developer advocate I would suggest about 5 years of experience as a software engineer or front end developer first, but don't let anything I say turn you off from trying. I would tell that person that they need to be comfortable teaching themselves and others. Finally they would also need to be comfortable writing and speaking in public.

Hope that answers some more of your questions.

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Mark Jackson

Thanks for the detailed response! Makes a lot more sense now.