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

Career options for developer advocates

Tim Berglund: You could be in the leadership team of organizations that do this. If you're working as a developer advocate now, you're on the road, you're teaching, and you're doing talks. You're getting results and people are benefiting and your reputation is increasing. You could go from there to leading the same type of people.

The issue is that not everybody wants to do that. They might be gifted at all the work I just described and not gifted at leading. We should let people do what they're good at, but if they're motivated to lead, they can apply their own experiences to help other people to come into the role.

Marketing could be an option. I've mentioned that I tell people that developer advocacy is where engineering meets marketing. That's scary language among developers, but I don't think it should be.

Geertjan Wielenga: Right now, you're working within a company, but initially you...