Author's Note: What follows is Part 2 of a (currently) 6 Part series on Developer Relations, and how we can move it forward into the years to come. It is not meant as a definitive roadmap, but more as a kickstart down the road of conversation. Please comment as you see fit, and be part of what Developer Relations can become.
”Begin at the beginning!”
“Developer Relations”, commonly referred to as “DevRel” for short, is generally defined quite simply as
“a business organization or function that builds relationships with Developers”.
Without making this too much of a history lesson, DevRel as a role or function goes back to at least 1995 with Donna Simonides, who in 1995 was Netscape’s Director of Developer Relations. They weren’t alone: Microsoft had a VP of DevRel and Marketing (yes, the symbiotic relationship between these two departments is not new) in 1997; Apple had one of their own before Steve Jobs returned (and it was even treated as “the chief contact with the development community”) and then renewed their developer outreach in late 1997; and even InstallShield had a DevRel team in 1998. Modern DevRel, as we tend to recognize it today, started at Twilio and Engine Yard, neither of whom still perform DevRel in the same way as they did then.
I mention all this to say that DevRel is not a new thing. It’s been around for almost 30 years (fwiw 1995 is when I started my tech career, the same year DevRel was mentioned with Netscape).
And as I wrote about in another post on my path to DevRel, I was a Technical Liaison at Hallmark Cards in 1999, which was literally Internal DevRel.
Much has been written on the subject by many people far smarter than myself, so I won’t go further on defining the function. Here are a few for starters:
- Rizèl Scarlett’s DevRel Journey Series
- Mary Thengvall’s The Business Value of Developer Relations
The next post in this series is going to talk about the different questions that you should be asking when you either a) start a new DevRel role at a company, or b) are wanting to help shape your DevRel Program to gain the maximum impact at your company.
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