tech-studies

Developer Relations

2 min read

Developer Relations

roadmap.sh: https://roadmap.sh/devrel

Suggested path through the Developer Relations nodes. Each node links to its lesson when written.

Nodes

What is DevRel?

  • What is Developer Relations
  • DevRel vs Developer Marketing
  • DevRel vs Developer Experience (DX)
  • DevRel vs Developer Advocacy
  • DevRel vs Community Management
  • Why companies invest in DevRel
  • The developer journey / funnel (AAARRR)

DevRel Roles & Functions

  • Developer Advocate / Evangelist
  • Developer Experience Engineer
  • Community Manager
  • Technical Writer
  • DevRel Engineer
  • DevRel Program Manager
  • Head of DevRel / DevRel Leadership

Core Skills

  • Public speaking & presentation
  • Technical writing
  • Coding & building demos
  • Storytelling
  • Empathy & active listening
  • Networking & relationship building
  • Time & energy management
  • Working across teams (cross-functional)

Content Creation

  • Blog posts & tutorials
  • Documentation
  • Sample apps & code samples
  • Video content & livestreams
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletters
  • Social media content
  • Conference talks & workshops

Community Building

  • Online communities (Discord, Slack, forums)
  • Community programs & ambassadors
  • Events & meetups
  • Hackathons
  • Office hours & AMAs
  • Moderation & code of conduct
  • Recognizing & rewarding contributors

Developer Experience (DX)

  • Onboarding & getting started
  • API design & ergonomics
  • SDKs & client libraries
  • Documentation quality
  • Sample code & quickstarts
  • Collecting & acting on developer feedback
  • Reducing time-to-first-hello-world

Events & Public Speaking

  • Finding & submitting to CFPs
  • Preparing a talk
  • Delivering a talk
  • Running a workshop
  • Sponsoring & booth duty
  • Hosting your own events
  • Virtual vs in-person events

Metrics & Strategy

  • Defining DevRel goals
  • Awareness metrics
  • Activation & adoption metrics
  • Engagement & retention metrics
  • Revenue & business impact
  • Reporting to stakeholders
  • Building a DevRel strategy
  • Measuring the ROI of DevRel

Tools of the Trade

  • CMS & blogging platforms
  • Social media management tools
  • Community platforms
  • Analytics tools
  • CRM & developer tracking
  • Live streaming & video tools

Resources

See resources.md.

Project ideas

  • Write and publish a hands-on tutorial for a public API, then measure activation with a tracked quickstart repo.
  • Launch a small Discord/Slack community around a tool you use, define a code of conduct, and run a weekly office hours session.
  • Submit a talk to a real CFP, build the slides and a live demo, and record a practice run for self-review.

1 item under this folder.