Goodebye Forever Probably: Why I’m leaving developer relations

#1

Post by sixhobbits » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 12:27 PM UTC

Goodebye Forever Probably: Why I’m leaving developer relations
whitep4nth3r.com

Re: Goodebye Forever Probably: Why I’m leaving developer relations

#2

Post by mproud » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 1:45 PM UTC

Headline typo

Re: Goodebye Forever Probably: Why I’m leaving developer relations

#3

Post by stavros » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 1:51 PM UTC

  On birds, nature, and being carefree
  The good parts of DevRel
  The difficult parts of DevRel
    Arbitrary measures of success
    Fighting to be valued and justify my existence
    On being the face of a company
  AI is killing developer education
  What’s next for me

It took me quite a bit of time to realise this wasn't modern poetry, but the TOC.

Re: Goodebye Forever Probably: Why I’m leaving developer relations

#4

Post by sys_64738 » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 2:00 PM UTC

[flagged]

Re: Goodebye Forever Probably: Why I’m leaving developer relations

#5

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 2:03 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Goodebye Forever Probably: Why I’m leaving developer relations

#6

Post by bubbi » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 2:14 PM UTC

[dead]

Re: Goodebye Forever Probably: Why I’m leaving developer relations

#7

Post by zulux » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 2:15 PM UTC

Man, I’m out of touch.

I grew up when tech was us nerds making things.

Value was in building things and solving problems. Not in vague connection, curated vulnerability, or coordinating other coordinators.

Re: Goodebye Forever Probably: Why I’m leaving developer relations

#8

Post by the_real_cher » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 2:15 PM UTC

How come theres no x-relations in other jobs?

You never hear about Nurse Relations or Mechanic Relations.

Re: Goodebye Forever Probably: Why I’m leaving developer relations

#9

Post by jeremywho » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 2:25 PM UTC

the_real_cher wrote: post #8

How come theres no x-relations in other jobs? You never hear about Nurse Relations or Mechanic Relations.

I always thought of developer relations as essentially a tech-sales role. Isn't that ultimately what its trying to do, "educate" people to use your product?

Re: Goodebye Forever Probably: Why I’m leaving developer relations

#10

Post by zerotolerance » Fri, Jul 03, 2026, 2:33 PM UTC

the_real_cher wrote: post #8

How come theres no x-relations in other jobs? You never hear about Nurse Relations or Mechanic Relations.

This is an excellent question and the answer is maybe not too surprising. Where mechanics buy their own tools and nurses have little tool purchasing power, developers produce machinery that is costly to change and if they struggle to use something (activation risk) then we can't get that lock-in to stick. DevRel isn't for the individuals, it is for influencing the aggregate so they get their companies stuck with the solution.