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Really Interesting report, How can one break into DevRels roles coming from traditional software engineer background

by mr_o47 3y ago

beccaodelay 3y ago
Great question! 70.2% of respondents this year (out of 136 respondents) have previously worked as software engineers, so you're in good company. A few of our community members in our Uncommon community Slack have asked the same question because they too were seeking to move from traditional SDE work into DevRel roles. Tactically, they focused their resumes on the skills they learned from being an SDE that applied to the DevRel roles they were looking at: most of these skills revolved around their community contributions, whether through their activity on GitHub or via their answers on Stack Overflow, Reddit, Discord, Discourse, and other user forums meant to help developers succeed with a product or codebase. Based on the results of this year's report, the two most common primary responsibilities for a DevRel professional are creating educational content and resources (61.5%) and delivering in-person talks and workshops (51.1%). If you've done either of those things through your SDE work (maybe you help create user tutorials or maintain internal wikis, maybe you run internal hackathons or lead demo days, or maybe you speak about your SDE work at events or conferences or internal brownbag sessions...all of that experience can be applied to what you would do as a Developer Relations professional, and I would recommend highlighting that!) Additionally, the two primary business objectives for Developer Relations professionals are product awareness (58.6%) and product adoption (54.1%). If, as an SDE, you've worked with a certain product before (or products similar to it) - you might want to look for DevRel roles at those companies first. You could apply your own experiences while using the product to how you would evangelize it and to whom (awareness), as well as how you would get people hands-on with it (adoption). Ultimately, exactly how you position yourself for a DevRel role depends on what the organization is looking for (their job description should be clear and, if it isn't, you should ask!). But in general, I hope and believe that: 1. You already have very applicable skills from your SDE work and 2. The information in our 2023 report can help you understand what's most expected from a DevRel role, and can help you position yourself and your skills contextually within the role as you step into this new space. If you want to connect with other DevRel and community leaders about topics like this, consider joining our Uncommon community in Slack :) https://www.commonroom.io/join-slack/ https://www.commonroom.io/join-slack/ I hope this helps!
- mr_o47 3y ago
  Hey, Just wanted to say thanks for reply, I would love to break into DevRel roles.
  - beccaodelay 3y ago
    Happy to help how I can!

Really Interesting report, How can one break into DevRels roles coming from traditional software engineer background

by mr_o47 3y ago

Really Interesting report, How can one break into DevRels roles coming from traditional software engineer background

Great question! 70.2% of respondents this year (out of 136 respondents) have previously worked as software engineers, so you're in good company. A few of our community members in our Uncommon community Slack have asked the same question because they too were seeking to move from traditional SDE work into DevRel roles. Tactically, they focused their resumes on the skills they learned from being an SDE that applied to the DevRel roles they were looking at: most of these skills revolved around their community contributions, whether through their activity on GitHub or via their answers on Stack Overflow, Reddit, Discord, Discourse, and other user forums meant to help developers succeed with a product or codebase. Based on the results of this year's report, the two most common primary responsibilities for a DevRel professional are creating educational content and resources (61.5%) and delivering in-person talks and workshops (51.1%). If you've done either of those things through your SDE work (maybe you help create user tutorials or maintain internal wikis, maybe you run internal hackathons or lead demo days, or maybe you speak about your SDE work at events or conferences or internal brownbag sessions...all of that experience can be applied to what you would do as a Developer Relations professional, and I would recommend highlighting that!) Additionally, the two primary business objectives for Developer Relations professionals are product awareness (58.6%) and product adoption (54.1%). If, as an SDE, you've worked with a certain product before (or products similar to it) - you might want to look for DevRel roles at those companies first. You could apply your own experiences while using the product to how you would evangelize it and to whom (awareness), as well as how you would get people hands-on with it (adoption). Ultimately, exactly how you position yourself for a DevRel role depends on what the organization is looking for (their job description should be clear and, if it isn't, you should ask!). But in general, I hope and believe that: 1. You already have very applicable skills from your SDE work and 2. The information in our 2023 report can help you understand what's most expected from a DevRel role, and can help you position yourself and your skills contextually within the role as you step into this new space. If you want to connect with other DevRel and community leaders about topics like this, consider joining our Uncommon community in Slack :) https://www.commonroom.io/join-slack/ https://www.commonroom.io/join-slack/ I hope this helps!

mr_o47 3y ago
Hey, Just wanted to say thanks for reply, I would love to break into DevRel roles.
- beccaodelay 3y ago
  Happy to help how I can!