Why Do We Have Dev Rels Now?
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Why Do We Have Dev Rels Now?
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Re: Why Do We Have Dev Rels Now?
#2[deleted]
Re: Why Do We Have Dev Rels Now?
#3For those unfamiliar with the term, it's in the article about two-thirds of the way down.
> Commonly it’s just known as a ‘developer relations’ role (so ‘DevRel’ for short)
No, it's not a typo for Dev Reels, which would be an interesting alternative to open source repositories, but I guess you'd have to get good at video editing first!
Re: Why Do We Have Dev Rels Now?
#4So a sales like role, but with someone with a bit deeper technical knowledge who can speak to not just the nuts and bolts of features, but talk to the customer about what they do with tech, maybe how, and etc?
Seems like a role that I've seen done by sales, sales engineers, product managers, etc.
Re: Why Do We Have Dev Rels Now?
#5For those unfamiliar with the term, it's in the article about two-thirds of the way down. > Commonly it’s just known as a ‘developer relations’ role (so ‘DevRel’ for short) No, it's not a typo for Dev Reels, which would be an interesting alternative to open source repositories, but I guess you'd have to get good at video editing first!
I skimmed the article but didn't find it at a glance. Isn't it blog 101 to ensure your readers now this stuff?
Re: Why Do We Have Dev Rels Now?
#6For those unfamiliar with the term, it's in the article about two-thirds of the way down. > Commonly it’s just known as a ‘developer relations’ role (so ‘DevRel’ for short) No, it's not a typo for Dev Reels, which would be an interesting alternative to open source repositories, but I guess you'd have to get good at video editing first!
Thanks, I put a link in to help people on the first mention.
In my bubble DevRels are more of a thing than most people's.
I have never heard of 'Dev Reels' either!
Re: Why Do We Have Dev Rels Now?
#7So a sales like role, but with someone with a bit deeper technical knowledge who can speak to not just the nuts and bolts of features, but talk to the customer about what they do with tech, maybe how, and etc? Seems like a role that I've seen done by sales, sales engineers, product managers, etc.
They used to call it Technical Sales in the circles I travel.
Re: Why Do We Have Dev Rels Now?
#8So a sales like role, but with someone with a bit deeper technical knowledge who can speak to not just the nuts and bolts of features, but talk to the customer about what they do with tech, maybe how, and etc? Seems like a role that I've seen done by sales, sales engineers, product managers, etc.
Not just (nor even mainly) 'the customer'; they talk to 'the community' first and establish their employer's bona fides to the market.
Re: Why Do We Have Dev Rels Now?
#9Devrel here, (by the way it’s typically called a Developer Advocate or a Developer Evangelist, don’t get me started on how many questions I’ve gotten about the relation to religion lol)
I think the article does a good job describing what devrel looks like at companies that are smart about selling to the new “tech business world” which is desperate for a way to measure the technical credibility of potential vendors.
But what’s more interesting from someone who knows devrel because I’ve worked in it for 7 years, is that at a more general level it’s just a communication layer that a business can have with an audience or a persona(in this case developers), that is growing ever more important. Whether you’re a platform (google Apple) and need more devs making stuff within your ecosystem, or you’re not selling to developers but you need technical integrations by third parties to enhance The value prop of your product, or you’re ACTUALLY selling directly to developers and trying to expand their mental model of what is possible with the low code tooling available today and why they can and should trust it.
It’s a wide and interesting world in which almost every company is becoming a software company, and almost none of these companies have any idea how to communicate with developers or what they care about.
You’re right that devrel is like a pre-sales role somewhat, but we all know developers are the hardest group to sell to in history, who else could more easily go find a free open source solution or just make it themselves?? You have to be able to communicate about the pros and cons of technology in an honest and coherent way, and that is what Devrel is all about to me.