Getting Started with DevRel & DevEx: A Look at Ockam

Barry Winata
Argon Labs
Published in
10 min readSep 24, 2024

Contributed by Asim Suvedi — Director of Technology, Argon Labs.

DevRel and DevEx are often executed poorly.

Content feels forced, communities stagnate, and general customer support fails to address real-world challenges.

Developer Relations (DevRel) and Developer Experience (DevEx) are easy to talk about but challenging to implement effectively.

While many companies recognize their importance, they struggle to develop strategies that don’t come off as sales tactics or marketing fluff.

The real challenge lies in building genuine relationships with developers while building developer experience that ramps up adoption.

This article explores how to start DevRel and DevEx, taking Ockam as a use case.

For those who don’t know; Ockam is a company building an end-to-end encrypted channel platform for apps to connect and take the headache of network security away from developers.

For example, imagine you need to connect an app hosted in your data center with a Database hosted in AWS. If you are a developer, you would have to make sure the connection is end-to-end encrypted, a firewall is in place, and authorization policies are enforced. This is where Ockam comes in. It creates a secure, mutually authenticated channel so that you can spend time building the product rather than configuring the network.

source: Ockam

Let’s dive in.

In this piece, we’ll cover:

  • The Standard Approach to DevRel
  • Why This Approach Falls Short
  • A Closer Look at Ockam’s DevRel and DevEx
  • Introducing Product Concepts through Metaphors and Derivation
  • Developer Experience through Frictionless Trials and Documentation
  • Every Team Member as an Advocate
  • Content Beyond Product
  • Building a Community: Discord and GitHub
  • Podcasts and Open Source Commitment
  • What I’d Love to See in the Future from Ockam
  • Takeaways

The Standard Approach to DevRel

In many cases, DevRel efforts revolve around three core pillars;

  1. Content creation
  2. Community engagement
  3. Development support

Teams typically create tutorials, publish blog posts, and set up channels on platforms like Discord or GitHub. They also offer developer tools and documentation to guide users through product features.

At first glance, this appears to be a solid framework.

However, many companies fail to connect with developers meaningfully.

The problem often stems from a lack of genuine engagement.

Communities feel transactional rather than relational, content is too promotional, and coding resources are generic rather than problem-solving. Developers end up feeling like they are being marketed to rather than engaged and involved.

Why This Approach Falls Short

  • Superficial Content: Many companies produce content that feels more like marketing copy than helpful resources. Developers are savvy — they can easily detect when content is created to sell rather than inform. This erodes trust and discourages engagement.
  • Transactional Communities: Setting up a Discord or GitHub page is easy; sustaining meaningful interaction is not. Without genuine engagement, these communities become stagnant, making users feel they’re there to serve the company’s needs rather than their own.
  • Lack of Hands-on Coding Support: While coding resources like SDKs and APIs exist, they often lack the depth to address real-world developer problems. As a result, developers may face roadblocks when trying to integrate or trial a product in their workflows.

These shortcomings highlight the need for a more authentic and developer-centric approach to DevRel and DevEx.

A Close Look at Ockam’s DevRel and DevEx

We started following Ockam about six months ago and found their approach interesting.

Their approach to DevRel and DevEx resonated with the developers in us.

Let’s delve into how they have started on the right foot but also go through some of the shortcomings and how they could improve them.

Introducing Product Concepts through Metaphors and Derivation

Metaphor and Analogy:

When introducing a new and complex product, simplifying the core concept is crucial.

In one of the podcasts, Matthew Gregory, CEO of Ockam, described the product as “WhatsApp for enterprise data-in-motion systems.” This simple analogy immediately conveys the essence of Ockam’s offering — secure, end-to-end encrypted communication — but in the context of enterprise data systems.

Using metaphors or analogies makes it easier to spread the word and helps potential users quickly grasp new ideas. It’s a powerful DevRel tool that enhances understanding and fosters interest.

Derivation:

Ockam introduces the term “Networkless,” derived from the well-known concept of “Serverless.” Just as Serverless doesn’t eliminate servers but abstracts them away, Networkless doesn’t remove the network but makes it something developers don’t need to worry about. This clever derivation immediately piques interest and provides insight into what Ockam is trying to achieve.

Using familiar terms in new contexts can effectively communicate complex ideas, but it must be done carefully to avoid confusion and make sure it aligns with the core concepts of your product.

Ockam strikes the right balance, enhancing both DevRel and DevEx by simplifying complex networking concepts.

Developer Experience — Frictionless Trials and Documentation

Ockam is on the right foot in terms of providing a seamless developer experience by minimizing friction in trials and offering technical guides. We delved into their getting-started process and documentation.

Frictionless Trials:

Time and effort to get started are key parameters that drive adoption. If a product looks interesting, we want to see how it works within 5 minutes, if not faster.

source: Asim Suvedi

If developers feel they have to come back later when they have more time, then it’s highly likely they won’t come back. Not unless it’s a product you just can’t live without. This, of course, depends on the product type and complexity, but the aim is to help developers get started and see it in action within minutes.

For example, installing plugins in VS Code with a click of a button enables you to try it within minutes. Not all products are as simple as a plugin, but that shows us that the time and effort required are key to adoption.

Ockam has done reasonable work on this. We like that it explicitly lays out steps to get started.

This helps developers know what to expect. However, setting up payment in AWS Marketplace creates friction.

Getting started with Ockam has a total of seven steps which are shown in the screenshot below:

source: Ockam

We went through the steps and here is our experience:

Overall, Ockam’s onboarding process is straightforward, but there are clear opportunities to reduce friction.

The step-by-step guidance is helpful, but requiring a connection to AWS Marketplace for payment creates a barrier, especially for those just exploring the tool. Allowing users to skip this step or offering an easier way to try Ockam without a financial setup could make a big difference.

Highlighting that it’s $0 for developers would be great. Additionally, providing a sandbox environment for developers to experiment with, instead of needing to navigate away to external documentation, would make the experience smoother.

Documentation

Docs are built over time, but you have to start somewhere.

Their initial content sets the tone and expectations with the developer community — experience reading the docs and being able to follow through is key to adoption.

Ockam’s documentation covers Nodejs, and Python so far for APIs and PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and InfluxDB for databases.

They also have documentation on Amazon Bedrock and EC2 to build connections with applications. Existing content is practical and has graphics highlighting the concept and architecture.

We found the content available as of this writing to be great but could definitely do with more languages covered in the APIs section. It has the right tone and is easy to follow. Expanding their documentation to cover more platforms and languages over time will allow more developers to adopt their product.

Developer documentation like how-to guides and libraries are key to developer adoption and successful DevRel initiatives. As much as possible, avoid marketing your product and using fluffy adjectives, and keep it consistent.

Every Team Member is an Advocate

Treat every team member as a potential advocate, particularly those in product and engineering roles.

Team members sharing product updates and insights on platforms like LinkedIn and engaging with the developer community authentically will boost your DevRel efforts.

Ockam team members have shared their company updates on LinkedIn. There is an opportunity here that Ockam can utilize to create a wider reach with the developer community. Small snippets like ‘how-to’ and ‘did-you-know’ are great starters for engineers and product team members to get involved.

Allowing for a diverse range of voices and perspectives, not just those of the C-suite, is important. Engaging your team moves away from relying on a handful of people and instead builds a genuine connection with the community.

Content Beyond the Product

Developers follow companies for more than their product itself.

For example, blogs on engineering by Stripe, Pinterest, and Shopify are very popular even though engineers may not have used these products.

Ockam has published articles on its Team Handbook and Engineering Levels. The most interesting one was the podcast on building a high-performance team.

Content like this is very important because not everyone is ready to adopt or buy. But your audience will have something to take away from their visit to your website.

Two quotes that resonated well with me are:

  1. “We don’t want to be average, somewhat better than average, or even much better than average. We are in the game to be the absolute best. Maybe the best ever.”
  2. “High-performance team members each bring their best to every day, every single meeting, every single pull request.”

When you are doing DevRel and DevEx, think beyond the product. Helping developers walk away with something to remember and giving them the feeling they learned something new from your content is a great developer experience too.

Building a Community: Discord and GitHub

Developer-focused products thrive in active communities.

Ockam has established a strong presence on both Discord and GitHub, where the CTO and VP of Product actively answer questions and provide updates. This direct line to the people building the product fosters trust and encourages participation.

Having these platforms isn’t enough; it’s the meaningful interactions that make the difference. Ockam’s commitment to engaging with developers enhances both DevRel and DevEx by creating a supportive environment where users feel valued.

Podcasts and Open Source Commitment

Podcasts:

Ockam has produced a few podcasts that delve into the founding story and the underlying concepts of their product.

What I love about these podcasts is the fact that they’re genuine discussions on the challenges developers face when it comes to network and security. No fluff, to-the-point topics make the podcasts really interesting to watch and listen to. There is nothing that indicates a hard sell.

Conversational podcasts focused on key topics help humanize the company and make complex topics more accessible, contributing positively to DevRel.

Open Source Product:

Ockam’s commitment to open source goes beyond making their code available.

They have sponsored open-source developers with over $10,000, focusing on building libraries and tools to make software secure by design. This not only demonstrates their dedication to the community but also invites collaboration and innovation.

By embracing open source, Ockam enhances DevEx by allowing developers to contribute, eliminate doubts faster, and integrate more easily.

It’s a practical demonstration of their commitment to empowering developers.

What We’d Love to See in the Future from Ockam

While Ockam has made significant strides, there are areas where they could further improve:

These enhancements would further solidify Ockam’s position as a developer-centric company and enhance both DevRel and DevEx.

Key Takeaways

Ockam sets a strong example of how to approach DevRel and DevEx effectively.

By using relatable metaphors like “WhatsApp for enterprise data-in-motion systems” and introducing concepts like “Networkless,” they make complex ideas accessible.

Their open-source commitment and community-building on Discord and GitHub show that they walk the talk. This effort fosters genuine relationships with developers.

To summarise:

  • Make it easy to understand the concept through metaphors and analogy.
  • Keep it real, and to the point. Avoid marketing and sales-like content.
  • Keep the tone and content quality consistent.
  • Producing content beyond the product can make a difference.
  • Avoid paywalls and back-and-forth content for quick trials. Ask yourself if developers can try it out within 5 minutes.
  • Use all channels — podcasts, blogs, X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, Discord, and GitHub.
  • Active support on GitHub and Discord makes a big difference.
  • Be clear on pricing and free tiers when getting started.

Argon Labs is a specialized team that works with subject matter experts to help you ​produce world-class technical content that is easy ​to understand and digestible to help educate, ​inform your audience, and stand out from the rest. We partner with global early-stage to growth-stage ​companies to help advise and build their technical ​marketing programs.

You can follow Asim on Linkedin.

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