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DevRel as a career path

DevRel as a career path

Juliet Ofoegbu's photo
Juliet Ofoegbu
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4 min read

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You may have seen the term "DevRel" being used on social media, but you may not be familiar with what it means. It's hardly surprising that individuals are unaware of this career path given that it just experienced significant growth in popularity in recent years.

I'll go into detail about DevRel and everything there is to know about it in the piece I'm writing today. It's important to first note that DevRel stands for "Developer Relations."

What is DevRel?

Similar to how businesses have a Public Relations (PR) Department or Team whose responsibility it is to develop plans for fostering positive interactions between an organization and the general public. DevRel is tasked with developing ways to foster connections between a company's products, developers, and outside developers in the field of development. This is done to ensure that the developers, who are the end-target users, really receive and understand how to use the products/services intended for their usage.

A DevRel aids JavaScript or React developers in understanding how tools like firebase can assist them to enhance the quality of the web apps they create for end users. Or how the Linux Operating System can be the right open-source software to use as a developer.

DevRel is all about prioritizing and preserving relationships with developers, to put it simply. It might not be difficult to guess that most of these DevRel personalities might have huge social media followings since they have to reach out to a lot of developers, attend online and offline events, and give presentations/talks.

The question that may now arise is: Are developers the only people who can pursue a career in DevRel?

The answer to that is No. Even while this professional path wasn't expressly designed for developers, having experience as one gives you a leg up on becoming a DevRel. This is because you'll be in a better position to communicate the product to other developers and be able to test it out, evaluate it, and provide feedback to the engineers.

DevRel Infographics

Roles of a DevRel

  1. Developing approaches and methods for working with developers. These tactics could involve writing articles, reports, videos, blogs, posts, and newsletters.

  2. Organizing events, conferences, and webinars to instruct developers on how to use a product or service.

  3. Giving the business or the technical team feedback to help them fix a problem or improve the quality of their products or services.

  4. DevRel staff may occasionally need to work together with the company's engineering team.

  5. Engage in active participation in all events, whether internal and external, online and off.

  6. Writing external user documentation.

A DevRel plays the role of a Developer Advocate, Community Manager, Product Marketer, and a Tech Educator.

Basic skills of a DevRel

  1. Effective communication
  2. Technical Skills: For instance, having developer knowledge from coding as a DevRel enables you to provide input to the engineering team to enhance the company's product development.
  3. Good content creation skills
  4. Public speaking skills.

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Perks of being a DevRel

  • Travelling: They get invited to events in other cities or countries. They also represent their companies in these events.

  • Remuneration: The role of a DevRel comes with excellent pay.

  • Company's branded products: They also get to own the company's branded products.

  • Swag and other perks.

DevRel teams are used by large corporations like Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, and others.

Steps to becoming a DevRel

  • Learn and build in public
  • Be active on social media platforms
  • Add value to the community. You can achieve this by often providing informative content on social media, guiding newbies in tech to navigate the tech world, and responding to tech-related questions in tech communities or on social media.

Want to get started in DevRel? Read up on this Fresher's guide to DevRel article by Srushtika. You can also follow up on the social media accounts of these personalities or communities:

DevRelDevelopercodingCareer