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> As a Developer Advocate, you’re spreading awareness and enabling developers to do what they love; write, code, and learn. Can someone explain that some more

by rdtsc 9y ago

> As a Developer Advocate, you’re spreading awareness and enabling developers to do what they love; write, code, and learn. Can someone explain that some more how that position is supposed to work. Maybe an example where DA made an impact for them personally. Otherwise that description sounds a bit like a rename of the traditional HR department.

ocdtrekkie 9y ago
I don't understand how you view Developer Advocates like HR. Developer Advocates work with external developers using and building on your platforms. Wholly different skill set, nothing to do with employee management.
- vxNsr 9y ago
  The confusion stems around the word "developer" OP is thinking of internal devs, while the role is actually about interfacing with outside devs who will be using/extending products and services the org makes. It's an easy mistake to make if you don't give it too much thought because there's no inherent explanation in "Developer Advocate" that would indicate we're talking about outside devs.
- rdtsc 9y ago
  > I don't understand how you view Developer Advocates like HR. Well I don't understand that's why I asked. But I see that just lead to down-votes and confusion. > Developer Advocates work with external developers using and building on your platforms. Ah! I thought they are advocating for internal developers. As in "management and other departments don't have developers' needs in mind but the person in this position does, and they serve as point of contact for help".
fenomas 9y ago
A developer advocate is someone who advocates the company's offerings to developers, and makes sure feedback from developers reaches internal teams. In practice this usually means going to a lot of dev conferences, making speeches, working with product management, making tutorials and sample apps, and stuff like that. So, borderline relationship with marketing, nothing at all to do with HR. Source: former developer evangelist.
gaius 9y ago
A Developer Advocate or Evangelist is a sort of guerrilla marketing role. The aim is to get people to use their employer's product same as any other marketing position, but they do it by pretending to be just a normal developer who happens to love company X's products. Y'know it's kinda like Instagram models - they look like they're just cool people going on amazing vacations, but it's all actually paid for by sponsors, like the airline.
- simonswords82 9y ago
  > Y'know it's kinda like Instagram models - they look like they're just cool people going on amazing vacations, but it's all actually paid for by sponsors, like the airline. Superb analogy!
  - deleted 9y ago
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by rdtsc 9y ago

ocdtrekkie 9y ago

I don't understand how you view Developer Advocates like HR. Developer Advocates work with external developers using and building on your platforms. Wholly different skill set, nothing to do with employee management.

vxNsr 9y ago
The confusion stems around the word "developer" OP is thinking of internal devs, while the role is actually about interfacing with outside devs who will be using/extending products and services the org makes. It's an easy mistake to make if you don't give it too much thought because there's no inherent explanation in "Developer Advocate" that would indicate we're talking about outside devs.
rdtsc 9y ago
> I don't understand how you view Developer Advocates like HR. Well I don't understand that's why I asked. But I see that just lead to down-votes and confusion. > Developer Advocates work with external developers using and building on your platforms. Ah! I thought they are advocating for internal developers. As in "management and other departments don't have developers' needs in mind but the person in this position does, and they serve as point of contact for help".

fenomas 9y ago

A developer advocate is someone who advocates the company's offerings to developers, and makes sure feedback from developers reaches internal teams. In practice this usually means going to a lot of dev conferences, making speeches, working with product management, making tutorials and sample apps, and stuff like that. So, borderline relationship with marketing, nothing at all to do with HR. Source: former developer evangelist.

gaius 9y ago

A Developer Advocate or Evangelist is a sort of guerrilla marketing role. The aim is to get people to use their employer's product same as any other marketing position, but they do it by pretending to be just a normal developer who happens to love company X's products. Y'know it's kinda like Instagram models - they look like they're just cool people going on amazing vacations, but it's all actually paid for by sponsors, like the airline.

simonswords82 9y ago
> Y'know it's kinda like Instagram models - they look like they're just cool people going on amazing vacations, but it's all actually paid for by sponsors, like the airline. Superb analogy!
- deleted 9y ago
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