TechLead Conference 202321 min
What Engineering Leaders Should Know About DevRel (But Were Too Busy to Ask)
The field of developer relations or DevRel is rapidly increasing in popularity, with roles for developer advocates, evangelists, program managers, and directors appearing seemingly everywhere. It could very well be that you too have colleagues who work in the field. DevRel is a unique discipline aligned with every part of the business from engineering and product, to marketing, and even sales, and acts as a bridge between the company and the wider developer community. Our aligned incentives with engineering leadership are especially obvious in the fact that we exist to serve and enable developer audiences, whether external or internal.For engineering teams, working closely with your DevRel teams provides a great opportunity to better understand your developer audiences, raise the profiles and skills of your colleagues, and make your company more attractive for hiring. Yet, despite many DevRel teams being highly technical, because of DevRel’s perceived lack of focus, our departments are often dismissed as “just marketing” by engineering.In this talk I will answer the question of “what is it that DevRel people do”, and present some approaches for how DevRel and engineering can best collaborate and break down silos to benefit everyone, from the company to the wider developer community.
