Why I Will Never, Ever Leave Developer Relations
As I’ve mentioned in previous editions of the DevRel Digest, 2023 was a tough year for our field. As revealed in the State of Developer Relations Report for 2023, 15% of respondents were laid off this year. Yours truly was laid off in April and as the year draws to a close, I have to contend with the fact that I’ve spent most of 2023 unemployed. I’ve submitted well over 100 job applications and interviewed at a couple dozen companies, spending hours on prep, writing example blog posts, practicing demos and presentations, and refining my story. To date, I’ve made it to a handful of final rounds, but have yet to receive an offer.
But that’s not even the most challenging aspect of my job search. It only makes sense that a profession that specializes in human relationships and bringing people together has a great community of its own. It’s a complicated mix of emotions when I see that a role I was interviewing for went to someone I know. I’ve felt like giving up more than once because how can I even compete with all the amazing DevRel talent out there?
While that’s certainly one way I could look at it, I’ve chosen to reframe my perception. For every amazing DevRel community member who lands a job in this brutal market, there are that many more potential opportunities for me. Eventually – hopefully – they will succeed in their roles, which means that one day they will have headcount for more, and – hopefully – that means another chance for me. In DevRel, we take care of each other.
And I didn’t have to look far to prove this point. As I considered topics for November’s DevRel Digest, it occurred to me that in my job search, I’ve come across some really amazing people in Developer Relations, and so I decided it was time to highlight the individuals who are making strides to move DevRel forward even when things look sort of bleak. When I put a call out on LinkedIn for nominations for “DevRel You Should Know,” I was absolutely moved by the response I received.
It was a pleasure to see the community enthusiastically nominate individuals they respect and admire. It reminded me of one of the greatest reasons I am drawn to DevRel and why I will never, ever leave: Developer Relations requires a certain level of authenticity and genuine interest in helping other people that resonates deeply with me. Developer Relations is where I belong and where I believe I can make the greatest impact in tech.
A Note on Selection Criteria
… which is that I have none! I really wasn’t expecting such an enthusiastic response! I had a couple of folks in mind and for the rest, I basically just selected at random and I decided that this definitely needs to be a two-parter and maybe even an ongoing initiative.
So without further ado and in no particular order, here is the first part of DevRel You Should Know!
DevRel You Should Know
Jessica Temporal
I had the pleasure of meeting Jessica Temporal in-person at PyBay in October this year. (And big thank you to Corey Weathers for putting us in touch!) Jessica is a Senior Developer Advocate at Auth0. She stumbled into Python development while an undergrad studying stem cell sequencing data and like many of us in DevRel, the rest is history! Her talk at PyBay about JSON web tokens was a response to having to figure out the authentication method on her own and wanting to share what she learned.
Jessica’s predictions for DevRel in 2024:
“My biggest prediction for 2024 is that AI will become a tool that no Developer Advocate can ignore anymore. With the rise of AI, more and more companies will require Developer Advocates to make use of LLMs to increase speed, personalization, and, in general terms, output of content to help developers out.”
You can find Jessica on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, YouTube, Twitch, and at her own website.
Dawn Wages
Dawn Wages’ name came up a few times in my call for nominations, and it’s easy to see why! Dawn is a Python Community Advocate at Microsoft. She is active in the Django community with an emphasis on people of color and queer people in tech. Dawn’s impressive resume includes OSS maintainer, member of the Wagtail Core Team, DjangoCon '21, '22, '23 Sponsorship Chair, volunteer for Django Girls, and DjangoCon Africa 2021 Sponsorship Chair.
Dawn’s predictions for DevRel in 2024:
“We're increasingly moving to video and streaming. Tools that allow streaming to multiple locations at once to LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitch, and Discord will continue to grow. Starting that developer funnel with video and moving people into smaller, curated channels has already been a pattern, but will be more entrenched now that Twitter isn't as trustworthy. Short and long form video content have their place but can be high effort with ambiguous reward. Livestreams can be agile ways to reach a large audience.”
You can find Dawn on LinkedIn, and Mastodon.
Chris DeMars
I decided to select Chris DeMars for this list because he nominated himself and you know what? One of the greatest lessons I learned early on is that your best advocate is yourself and Chris exemplified that. Chris is a Senior Developer Advocate with an emphasis on frontend development. He is a Web Accessibility Specialist and currently looking for his next opportunity – could it be with your company?
Chris’ predictions for DevRel in 2024:
“I think what we know currently as DevRel is going to change drastically. There are still layoffs happening everywhere and that trend will continue unless company's start showing they value DA's.”
You can find Chris on LinkedIn and on Twitter/X.
Frédéric Harper
I wanted to include Frédéric Harper because he was a mentor of mine for a little bit and really taught me a lot about how “soft skills” are actually “hard skills” in Developer Relations. Fred’s genuine and authentic approach to DevRel – and people in general – epitomizes what the profession is all about. Fred is currently Principal Developer Advocate at Kubefirst and his past experience includes notable companies such as DigitalOcean, npm, Fitbit, and Microsoft. He also regularly volunteers with cat rescue organizations.
Fred’s predictions for DevRel in 2024:
“My developer relations predictions for 2024 is quite simple. I think that we will slowly go back to basics: the human touch of our role. Call me an old man yelling at the cloud, but when I started as a Developer Advocate in 2011, it was all about connecting with folks ... in-person. I concede that it is harder to scale, so I know the importance of everything online when it comes to content creation and building a healthy virtual community. With that said (or written), I firmly believe that the face-to-face factor is critical for our success in our role, and as we've seen in the last three years, in our lives also. It is easier to build strong relationships, identify influencers, create partnerships, foster a sense of belonging to a community, and much, much more. All in all, I know we will continue to empower developers online, as it's an important part of being Developer Advocates, but we will progressively move back toward more in-person events like meetups and conferences. Most of us never stop doing it, but it became a second-class citizen, focusing on cost or should I say, investment-saving, while wanting to scale at all cost. Maybe it's not a prediction, and just a wish ... who knows :)”
You can find Fred on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, and in the Kubefirst Slack.
Pachi Parra
Pachi Parra is a Developer Advocate and Tech Community Manager with a passion for people and technology. She most recently worked at GitHub as a Developer Advocate and while she’s currently looking for her next opportunity, she is busy supporting underrepresented people in tech as a Co-Founder, Community Manager & Streamer for Feministech. If your company is looking to expand its presence in Latin America, definitely consider Pachi!
Pachi’s predictions for DevRel in 2024:
“It is more a hope than a prediction really, but I see DevRel getting more global. This year I have seen many tech companies saying how they have a remote culture when they limit their hires to the US, Canada, and EU. But truly remote culture embraces the entire world, and DevRel has the power to bring this awareness to companies. (Plus, services like Remotely.jobs make it really easy to hire from almost anywhere.)”
You can find Pachi on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Twitch, and Dev.to.
That concludes the first part of DevRel You Should Know – stay tuned for part two!
Events and Resources and Other Notable Things
- Are you a Python developer? The official Python Developers Survey is open and looking for responses. Take the survey here.
- The call for proposals for PyCon US 2024 is open until December 18th so get to work! More information can be found here.
- The Advent of Code starts December 1st.
- And while this isn’t directly related to Developer Relations or programming, this is a GoFundMe for one of my best friend’s aunt. I met Sara while we were both attending a coding bootcamp in 2015 and on a recent visit to see her, I met Sara's aunt, who immediately welcomed me into the family. Mindy is currently battling breast cancer, which, as you may or may not know, I am a survivor of. Not only have her chemotherapy treatments left her exhausted, but her 80-year-old mother is quickly losing mobility. For both of them, the stairs to their front door have become a dangerous hazard – especially in the cold midwest winter. They are raising money to build an ADA-compliant ramp to the entrance of their home. Please consider donating if you can.
Read other editions of the DevRel Digest:
- The DevRel Digest October 2023: The State of Developer Relations in 2023 and What’s in Store for 2024 (Hint: It Includes AI)
- The DevRel Digest September 2023: Developer Relations and The Abyss
- The DevRel Digest August 2023: Measuring Metrics and Maturity and Members of Community
- The DevRel Digest July 2023: The Path to DevRel May Be Non-linear, but Are Certain Steps Required?
- The DevRel Digest June 2023: Your Opinion is Wanted, Your Empathy is Needed
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