74 | So you want to be a Developer Advocate?

In this episode, James shares all the juicy details about Developer Relations / Developer Advocacy / Technical Evangelism and all the things that happen behind the scenes.

Sponsors

ZEAL

ZEAL is a computer software agency that delivers “the world’s most zealous” and custom solutions. The company plans and develops web and mobile applications that consistently help clients draw in customers, foster engagement, scale technologies, and ensure delivery.

ZEAL believes that a business is “only as strong as” its team and cares about culture, values, a transparent process, leveling up, giving back, and providing excellent equipment. The company has staffers distributed throughout the United States, and as it continues to grow, ZEAL looks for collaborative, object-oriented, and organized individuals to apply for open roles.

For more information visit codingzeal.com

Vercel

Vercel combines the best developer experience with an obsessive focus on end-user performance. Their platform enables frontend teams to do their best work. It is the best place to deploy any frontend app. Start by deploying with zero configuration to their global edge network. Scale dynamically to millions of pages without breaking a sweat.

For more information, visit Vercel.com

DatoCMS

DatoCMS is a complete and performant headless CMS built to offer the best developer experience and user-friendliness in the market. It features a rich, CDN-powered GraphQL API (with realtime updates!), a super-flexible way to handle dynamic layouts and structured content, and best-in-class image/video support, with progressive/LQIP image loading out-of-the-box."

For more information, visit datocms.com

Show Notes

• 0:00 Introduction
• 2:50 "Not" Parenting Rant
• 3:56 Spending Time with Remix
• 5:14 Remix vs Next.js
• 7:09 Remix vs Next.js Article
• 9:01 How James Got His First Developer Advocacy Role
• 12:10 Sponsor: Vercel
• 13:18 Working at Microsoft as a Technical Evangelist
• 18:17 Why Content Creation is Important
• 19:54 Difference Between Technical Evangelism and Developer Advocacy
• 22:05 Tech Is More Than Just Software Development
• 23:00 Sponsor: DatoCMS
• 23:54 Moving to New York City
• 24:50 The Impact of Student Hackathons
• 27:22 James Meets Tom Holland
• 31:04 Learn Build Teach
• 31:28 Speaking in Public
• 34:20 Sponsor: ZEAL
• 35:05 Technical Experience at FedEx
• 40:10 Transitioning Back to Developer Advocacy
• 42:23 Downside of Developer Advocacy
• 47:34 Grab Bag Questions
• 47:46 What are two challenges faced by developer advocates?
• 42:10 What has been the hardest challenge when building a community and how did you address it? What do you like the most and the least about Developer Advocacy?
• 55:44 What advice would you give to become a Developer Advocate?
• 56:36 How much time do you spend building stuff versus marketing versus documentation?
• 58:14 Picks and Plugs
• 52:24 James's Pick: Ryobi Battery Powered Weed-Eater
• 1:00:10 James's Pick: James Q Quick on YouTube 
• 01:00:21 Amy's Pick - Book: Story Worthy
• 01:01:15 Amy's Plug: SelfTeach.me on Twitch