Considering Developer Relations as a Career Move

I think that Developer Relations is a fabulous career, and I’m often asked how I got started, or how someone else could get started. There are a lot of people hiring for Developer Relations roles just now (including me!) so here are my tips.

There are so many different Developer Relations roles (called “DevRel”) that I am definitely going to fall short of covering them all in any sort of detail! My own background is in Software Engineering, and I’ve mostly worked as a Developer Advocate since making the move into DevRel, so that’s my context here. Continue reading

Best Things About Developer Advocacy

There are some excellent articles around about what a Developer Advocate does, but have you ever wondered WHY we do what we do? I tried to articulate this when chatting with another developer lately, and I’m still thinking about it! So I thought I’d write it down to share a little more widely why I love this strange, misshapen career as much as I do. Continue reading

5 Things To Do With A Training Budget of Zero

Training budgets are never generous enough to give us everything we think we need to keep our skill sets improving, however many people will be lucky enough to get something. If your training budget totals precisely zero pounds (or euros, or dollars, or whatever your local currency is), what do you do? Sulk until they give you something more? Or make the most of what you have? Continue reading

Be My Guest for DayCamp4Developers

This weekend I’m presenting at DayCamp4Developers, a virtual event comprising a full day of workshops for developers of all disciplines to improve their soft skills and move forward in their career. I get to attend since I’m speaking, but even after I’ve given my slot I know I’ll be online to watch the other talks and I know I’ll learn something myself! I believe that, however good your technical skills are, being able to communicate effectively means the different between being the bearded expert in the corner who knows everything but has been in the same job 10 years, and being the high flier that soft skills and technical skills combined could make you.

I have one guest ticket for this event, and I want to make sure that it goes to someone who will make good use of it. So, if you would like to be my guest for DayCamp4Developers, this weekend 6th November, then leave me a comment and tell me why you want to attend. In a couple of days (probably Wednesday evening, UK time) I’ll close the comments and pick a winner – put your email address in the comments box (it isn’t displayed) so I can reach you and let you know.

If you don’t win, and want to join us anyway, then you can still buy tickets. Check with your local user group if they have an affiliate code and if not – use this link to buy your tickets, using my affiliate code ;)

Looking forward to “seeing” everyone on Saturday!