Developer Relations is one of the most strategically important roles for any company that wants to build a successful technology platform. We’re working with the community to create a Dev Rel Bill of Rights. In this article we explore article 9: Ongoing resources for professional development.
Developer Relations is a rapidly-evolving, constantly-changing field, which means that organizations must provide support and investment for professional development to keep team members up to date with advancements in Dev Rel.
As a relatively young professional field, Dev Rel is changing more rapidly, and more fundamentally, than the more mature disciplines that it often interfaces with, like marketing or product management. When the ground is shifting this rapidly, professionals can’t keep up just by scrambling on their own to keep track of what’s happening in the industry.
Instead, companies and organizations that have Dev Rel professionals on staff should allocate resources for the training, education, events, and materials necessary to stay abreast of developments in the field. And, as mentioned earlier in the Dev Rel Bill of Rights, those resources should be accompanied by the right tools designed specifically for the job. In all, these commitments help Dev Rel go from an ad-hoc process of one-off fixes to a more mature and disciplined process of continuous improvement.
By planning ahead and providing the necessary support for Dev Rel, companies can both get more out of their Dev Rel staff and help move the state of the art of the entire practice forward. In all, investing in Dev Rel is a necessary step to investing in developer success as a whole.
Questions to ask:
- Does Dev Rel staff have a defined way to request resources for training or education or professional development?
- In addition to Dev Rel participation in events aimed at outreach or building developer relationships, can Dev Rel staff attend events and conferences specifically designed to improve Dev Rel practice?
- Are the defined business goals for Dev Rel aligned with what’s needed to enable continuous professional development for Dev Rel staff?
Read the original Dev Rel Bill of Rights and discover the other articles in this series. And check out Glitch for Platforms, where we’re building the first set of business analytics tools for Dev Rel professionals.
