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Developer RelationsComplete Guide

Everything you need to build and scale a developer relations program. From advocacy and community to measurement and team building. Built on 30 years of experience at AWS, Microsoft, Meta, and beyond.

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20+
Articles
6
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30+
Years Experience
6 BigTech
Companies

What is developer relations?

Developer relations is the practice of building genuine, lasting relationships between a company and the developers who use its products. It is not marketing with a technical veneer. It is a commitment to helping developers succeed, earning their trust, and bringing their voice back into the company.

I have spent thirty years doing this work at Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Twitter, Meta, and Supabase. I have built DevRel teams from scratch, hired hundreds of developer advocates, and watched the function evolve from a niche role into one of the most important investments a developer tools company can make.

This hub collects everything I know about developer relations. Start with the complete guide to DevRel, or browse the categories below to find what you need.

Explore by topic

Introduction to DevRel
Developer advocacy
Developer experience
Community building
Content and education
Measurement and impact

Introduction to DevRel

What developer relations is, why it matters, and how to get started

What is DevRel? The complete guide to developer relations

What is DevRel? The complete guide to developer relations

Developer relations is one of the fastest-growing functions in tech, yet one of the least understood. This guide explains what DevRel is, what it isn't, and how to build effective programs.

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The 5 best developer marketing books in 2026

The 5 best developer marketing books in 2026

A comprehensive guide to the essential books for developer marketing and developer relations professionals. From foundational texts to the latest strategies for the AI era.

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Just Write Code

Just Write Code

One of the things we often lose sight of as marketing leaders in developer products and services is the importance of staying close to the actual code. It's so easy to get caught up in the maelstrom o...

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Developer Relations, where do you start?

Developer Relations, where do you start?

I spoke with someone recently who didn't know where to start with their first hire in Developer Relations. As folks who know me appreciate, I think of the Developer Relations organization as the follo...

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Developer advocacy

Building trust through technical content, speaking, and community engagement

Open source landing page templates you can actually program

Open source landing page templates you can actually program

Every landing page builder is drag-and-drop. None of them have APIs. So I built templates that are just TypeScript configuration objects.

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AI Prompt: From Meetups to Mega‑Conferences

AI Prompt: From Meetups to Mega‑Conferences

Most developer events fail because marketers plan them like sales conferences. They book flashy venues, hire motivational speakers, and wonder why developers don't show up or engage.

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Your CEO Will Hate Your Keynote (And Here's How to Survive It)

Your CEO Will Hate Your Keynote (And Here's How to Survive It)

Writing keynotes for executives isn't just about crafting compelling narratives. It's about translating strategic positioning into a story that resonates with thousands of people who didn't choose to be there.

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The art of the product demo

The art of the product demo

I'm going to teach you the secrets of a great product demo and how to tell the story of your customer through your product.

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How to choose what developer content to build

How to choose what developer content to build

One of your biggest challenges as a Developer Advocate will be determining which topics to focus on with your content. Often, Developer Advocates are given an edict to "build content and drive growth,...

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Why you need a training program

Why you need a training program

Depending on the nature of your developer-focused cloud company, you may have any number of these problems: * You have an open-source version of your cloud product and have no idea who your open-sou...

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+ 9 more articles in this category

Developer experience

Documentation, onboarding, API design, and time-to-first-value

10 developer marketing best practices for 2026

10 developer marketing best practices for 2026

Developer marketing continues to evolve. Here are the ten practices that separate successful developer marketing programs from the rest in 2026.

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Making your content AI-friendly in 2026

Making your content AI-friendly in 2026

AI coding assistants are now the primary consumers of developer documentation. Here's the technical playbook for making your website, docs, and blog fully consumable by AI systems.

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Writing the perfect launch blog post

Writing the perfect launch blog post

Don't bury the lede. Learn how to write effective launch blog posts with a proven structure that gets readers' attention from the first sentence. This post covers everything from crafting the perfect opening to structuring below-the-fold content that converts.

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Your docs are for AI now (and this changes everything about Developer Relations)

Your docs are for AI now (and this changes everything about Developer Relations)

AI coding agents are now the biggest consumer of your docs. The necessary change in how we write docs is a harbinger of the changes necessary in Developer Relations strategy, overall.

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Community building

Growing and nurturing healthy developer communities

When communities become toxic

When communities become toxic

The Olympics remind us that fierce competition and mutual respect can coexist. Somewhere along the way, tech forgot that.

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Developer marketing for startups: the no-budget playbook

Developer marketing for startups: the no-budget playbook

You don't need a big budget to market effectively to developers. Here's how early-stage startups can build awareness, drive adoption, and compete with well-funded competitors.

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Crisis management

Crisis management

Outages, viruses, billing errors, and more. Be prepared today for things to go wrong with your product tomorrow. Sunny days are always the best days to buy an umbrella.

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How to build an amazing developer community, from scratch!

How to build an amazing developer community, from scratch!

If I had a dollar every time an exec or CEO asked me to "build a developer community," I'd have a lifetime supply of dollar bills and a headache from rolling my eyes. Not to contradict the title of my...

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Content and education

Creating technical content that earns developer trust

API marketing strategy: how to promote your developer platform

API marketing strategy: how to promote your developer platform

APIs are products, and they need marketing. But API marketing differs from traditional product marketing in important ways. Here's how to build a strategy that drives developer adoption.

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Developer content strategy: creating content developers actually read

Developer content strategy: creating content developers actually read

Most developer content gets ignored. Here's how to create content that cuts through the noise, earns developer trust, and actually drives product adoption.

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The indie developer's guide to getting your first users

The indie developer's guide to getting your first users

You built something. Now what? A practical guide to getting your first users, then your first hundred, then your first thousand. No marketing degree required. Just tactics that actually work for indie developers.

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How to write a great developer case study

How to write a great developer case study

The Developer Q&A: case studies that developers don't hate

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How to run ads for a developer-focused business

How to run ads for a developer-focused business

The old axiom that "ads don't work on developers" isn't true.

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What is solution marketing and why should you care?

What is solution marketing and why should you care?

Plus, seven tactics to implement solution marketing on your team.

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+ 3 more articles in this category

Measurement and impact

Proving DevRel value with the right metrics and evidence

The WBR survival guide

The WBR survival guide

You just got invited to your first Weekly Business Review. Executives are talking about variance, control limits, and leading indicators. Here's how to follow along, contribute meaningfully, and not embarrass yourself.

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The language of sales

The language of sales

Pipeline. ACV. NDR. Bookings versus revenue. If you came from a technical background, sales vocabulary sounds like a foreign language. Here is a practical go-to-market glossary, and why understanding these metrics makes you better at your job.

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The complete developer marketing guide (2026 edition)

The complete developer marketing guide (2026 edition)

Everything you need to know about marketing to developers in 2026. From positioning and messaging to content strategy and measurement, this is the definitive guide for anyone building developer-focused products.

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How to measure developer marketing ROI

How to measure developer marketing ROI

Measuring developer marketing is notoriously difficult. Long buying cycles, word-of-mouth influence, and indirect attribution make traditional metrics incomplete. Here's how to build a measurement framework that actually works.

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Frequently asked questions

What is developer relations?

Developer relations is the practice of building genuine relationships between a company and the software developer community. It encompasses developer advocacy, developer experience, community management, and technical education. DevRel serves as a bridge: advocating for developers inside the company while representing the company in the developer community.

How is DevRel different from developer marketing?

DevRel and developer marketing overlap but serve different primary goals. DevRel focuses on building long-term relationships and trust with developers, often creating value regardless of whether a developer becomes a customer. Developer marketing focuses on creating demand and driving conversions. The best organizations treat them as complementary functions that share a common foundation: help developers first.

Where should DevRel report in an organization?

There is no single right answer. DevRel teams report to engineering, product, or marketing depending on the company's goals. Reporting to engineering gives technical credibility but can limit go-to-market impact. Reporting to marketing provides budget and distribution but can feel inauthentic. The best reporting structure depends on what your DevRel program is trying to achieve and who your executive sponsor is.

How do you measure DevRel success?

Build a portfolio of evidence across multiple metrics: content reach and engagement, community growth and health, quality of product feedback captured, developer satisfaction scores, and influenced revenue. No single metric captures DevRel's full value. Track trends over time, combine quantitative data with qualitative evidence like developer testimonials, and tie your metrics to specific business outcomes.

What skills does a DevRel professional need?

Effective DevRel professionals need technical competence to earn developer trust, strong written and verbal communication skills, community intuition to understand developer culture, empathy for the developer experience, and the self-direction to prioritize in ambiguous situations. The best DevRel people are generalists who can write, code, present, and build relationships across many channels.

Explore more topics

This is one piece of the developer marketing puzzle. Explore our other resource hubs.

Developer Marketing Hub

Complete guide to marketing to developers

AI Marketing Hub

AI tools and prompts for marketers

Content Strategy Hub

Content that developers want to read

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