DevRel(Developer Relation) is a strategic function inside organizations and it’s here to stay. It’s not going anywhere, but instead, it’s evolving into something else.

This evolution means that there are new ways to do DevRel, such as creating content, social & community presence and becoming an influencer by sharing information about both developers and the products they create with the world around them.

Roles & Responsibilities of DevRel

DevRel is a cross-functional role that works in the company’s marketing department, communications team and product team. It’s usually a combination of several roles:

• Marketing: You will be responsible for creating content for developers (e.g., blogs, videos). This can be done through social media channels like Facebook or Twitter; it could also include creating ad campaigns on Google AdWords; or it could even involve creating ads on Amazon Marketplace.
• Communication: You’ll need to communicate effectively with your community by writing blog posts, posting updates in Slack channels or answering questions on Stack Overflow etc.
• Product: You’ll need to understand the product you’re working on, from both a technical and commercial perspective. This means knowing how developers use your platform, what they like about it (and don’t like), how they think about the problems you solve and what motivates them.

Expectations from a DevRel

The first thing to know is that developers are a diverse group of people. They're not all the same, and they have different needs and expectations. So, when you're looking for a job in software development, it's important to understand what makes your potential employer happy.

It's also important to remember that your job isn't just about delivering code; you'll also be expected to do things like:

• Understand their needs and deliver on them (this means knowing how they want their software developed)
• Be consistent with regards to communication with others involved in the process (e.g., other team members)
• Keep your skills up-to-date (e.g., by learning new technologies)
• Be accountable (i.e., take responsibility for and learn from mistakes)

You are the voice of your company

You are the voice of your company. You connect with developers, evangelize their work and help them grow their careers. You’ll be responsible for creating a positive developer relations culture in your organization.

Developer relations is about an organization’s relationship with developers who use their products or services.

It’s a business function that helps foster collaboration between product teams and customers by empowering them to build better products together.

You’ll be responsible for setting strategies and ensuring that your team is aligned with them. You will work closely with product managers, engineering leadership and marketing teams to develop a vision for developer relations at your company.

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You have to understand your audience

Before you start learning how to become a DevRel, it's important that you understand your audience.

The best way to do this is by creating a persona for them. This means creating a description of who they are and what their needs are.

This will help you to understand what you need to do as a DevRel. It will also help you create better content and products that are more relevant to your audience. You should be familiar with the technology.

It's important that you're familiar with the technology that you'll be working with.

You don't have to be an expert, but it helps if you understand basic concepts such as APIs and frameworks.

This will help you when answering questions about these topics from developers.

You have to be an influencer

In order to be a successful DevRel, you need to be able to influence the developer community and their companies.

This means that you must have a strong base of knowledge about what developers need in order for them to succeed at their jobs as well as how they can improve themselves by learning new techniques or tools that make their lives easier.

You also need empathy when interacting with others because this will help you understand where they're coming from and what they want out of their work environment so that there's no conflict between yourself and other people within your team (or even outside it).

You should also possess experience in communicating effectively with other people who might not share all of your views on certain subjects; this helps when writing content pieces like newsletters or blog posts because it gives readers insight into why certain decisions were made rather than just giving advice based solely off personal opinion alone.

Finally—and most importantly—you'll need expertise when deciding what type of content gets written up first based partially on its popularity among readership but also considering how much time needs to be spent creating each piece before posting due diligence into keeping quality high throughout every part.

You need to be technical, but not too much

The most important thing is that you know your stuff. This means that you understand the technology and can explain it in layman's terms.

• If someone asks about a particular feature or implementation, what does it do? 
• How does it work? 
• What are its advantages/disadvantages compared with other options available (if any)? 
• Where else might this be used within our system? 
• Are there any security implications involved with using this feature?

All these questions can be answered by knowing how everything works under the hood.

DevRel is a business function

You’re a business person, not an engineer. You need to be able to understand the business drivers and how they impact your product development process.

As a DevRel, you will be responsible for influencing the product team, engineering team and marketing team in order for your project to succeed.

Developer Relations is a strategic function inside organizations and it’s here to stay

In the past few years, DevRel has emerged as one of the major business functions in the tech world.

It’s also a cross-functional role that includes everything from communicating with customers through social media posts, giving talks at conferences and other events, managing relationships with vendors and partners (and even hiring them), motivating teams through code reviews or code challenges—and much more!

In short: Developer Relations is a new role in an industry where there are lots of different skills required by developers who want to succeed at their jobs.

The good news is that you don't need any specific technical background for this job—you only need a passion for solving problems!

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Who is the right fit for DevRel?

DevRel is a role that requires an enthusiastic and passionate developer to help build the community around your product.

The right candidate will have strong technical knowledge, but also be able to communicate effectively with customers and users. 

If you're looking for someone who can act as an advocate for your software, this might not be the right role for you.

DevRel candidates should ideally have:

• An understanding of how developers work on their teams (e.g., what makes them tick)
• A background in software development (or related field)

You'll also need to look at whether they have experience working with other types of customers or communities before taking on this position—if so, then it’s likely that they have developed some skills which can help make sure everyone gets along well together!

Having a strategy as a developer relations program manager will help you find ways to create content, social & community presence.

If you're not a technical person, this is not the job for you.

You need to understand your audience and be able to speak their language in order to influence them.

Developer relations is a strategic function that requires a developer relations manager who understands the needs of developers and how they want their company portrayed through content creation, social & community presence and other means.

Conclusion

So if you want to be into developer relations, then the first step is finding a group of audience who listen to you.

That means understanding the roles and responsibilities of DevRel and what it can do for a company.

Next, you need to know how developers work, which means reading up on their skillsets and expectations (both internal & external).

You also need to understand how they think about technology and how they interact with each other - all of this will help shape the content that forms part of your strategy as a developer relations expert!

Special thanks to Rahul for creating this well-researched article, he is a Developer Advocate himself, and he loves to code, write blogs and build side projects

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