Book Image

Developer, Advocate!

By : Geertjan Wielenga
Book Image

Developer, Advocate!

By: Geertjan Wielenga

Overview of this book

What exactly is a developer advocate, and how do they connect developers and companies around the world? Why is the area of developer relations set to explode? Can anybody with a passion for tech become a developer advocate? What are the keys to success on a global scale? How does a developer advocate maintain authenticity when balancing the needs of their company and their tech community? What are the hot topics in areas including Java, JavaScript, "tech for good," artificial intelligence, blockchain, the cloud, and open source? These are just a few of the questions addressed by developer advocate and author Geertjan Wielenga in Developer, Advocate!. 32 of the industry's most prominent developer advocates, from companies including Oracle, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, open up about what it's like to turn a lifelong passion for knowledge sharing about tech into a rewarding career. These advocates run the gamut from working at large software vendors to small start-ups, along with independent developer advocates who work within organizations or for themselves. In Developer, Advocate!, readers will see how developer advocates are actively changing the world, not only for developers, but for individuals and companies navigating the fast-changing tech landscape. More importantly, Developer, Advocate! serves as a rallying cry to inspire and motivate tech enthusiasts and burgeoning developer advocates to get started and take their first steps within their tech community.
Table of Contents (36 chapters)
34
Other Books You May Enjoy
35
Index
36
Packt

Developer relations as a strategy

Bruno Borges: When companies decide to build a developer relations team, that becomes a strategy. Developer relations can be something that an individual ends up doing naturally. For example, someone working with open-source foundations in their free time could be described as some sort of developer advocate, but that's more just community engagement.

The formal structure of developer relations within any company is about engaging with the users of a product, service, platform, or API.

For that reason, the company needs to see the discipline of developer relations as having a strategical structure. That structure could be inside the product management team, the engineering team, the marketing team, or even the sales team. Depending on where developer relations is situated, the company's strategy, purpose, goals, and metrics will be influenced.

Not every company can simply go and start up a developer relations team. Sometimes it comes about naturally...