Deck I used at a local UG to outline what a developer advocate does and how I personally think about the role, especially in terms of community interaction.

1. A Day in the Life of a
Developer Advocate
Let’s Get Started…

2. Rey
Bango
@reybango
blog.reybango.com

3. About me
Roles
• Principal Developer Advocate for IE
• Director of Developer Relations for Telerik
• Head of Developer Relations for the jQuery Project
• Firefox Add-ons Community Manager at Mozilla
• Editor for Nettuts
• Editor at Smashing Magazine
Associations
• Team Allaire
• Team BlueDragon
• Team Sybase
• Team Powersoft

4. About me
Writing
• Nettuts
• ScriptJunkie.com
• Ajaxian
• Sys-con
Podcasts
• The Web Ahead
• Hanselminutes
• jQuery Podcast
• Dotnet Rocks
• JSConf

5. About me
Speaker
• Fluent Ignite & 2015
• W3Conf
• Microsoft Build
• AngleBrackets
• JavaScript Summit
User Groups
• South Florida JS Group
• PowerBuilder User Group

6. About me
Kudos
• 33 Developers you MUST Subscribe to as a JavaScript Junkie
• 40 Web Developers to Follow on Twitter
• Top 20 Devs of 2014
• Referenced in “Success in Programming”
Dance Skills
• ABCNews.com

7. Pretentious much?

8. My life
• Speak with developers
• Engage with product teams
• Write articles and tutorials
• Write code
• Engage in social media
• Contribute to the community
• Present at events
• Represent Microsoft at different functions

9. I am an advocate for you!

10. Your advocate
• Lend an ear and “listen”
• Offer advice and solutions
• Send feedback to the product teams
• Advocate for changes and new features
• Contribute to the community
• Collaborate on projects to make you successful
• Offer unbiased guidance

11. Don’t be a shill!

12. You need to be genuine.

13. Hardest part of this role?

14. Time (or lack thereof)!

15. No time
People want you to:
• Speak at user groups
• Write articles
• Write books
• Go to conferences
• Solve their problems

16. Family
Work/life balance trumps all!

17. Other hard parts
Consider these before jumping in:
• Are you an introvert?
• Do you hate presenting to a crowd?
• Do you love writing production code?
• Are you okay with traveling?
• Are you passionate about the subject you’re advocating?
Do you like helping people?

18. Becoming an Advocate

19. Manage your brand.

20. Perception counts
Manage it
• Identify your niche and cultivate it
• Understand your audience
• You need to add value
• Watch what you say
• Watch how you say it

21. Get social.

22. Community
Be Involved
• Understand your audience
• Contribute
• Demo
• Add value

23. Engage
Talk “with” people
• Listen
• Sympathize
• Advocate
• Participate

24. Tools
Which ones matter?
• Twitter
• Your personal blog
• Blog comments
• YouTube & Vimeo
• 3rd party sites (Smashing Magazine, Nettuts, etc.)
• IRC
• Slack/HipChat
• Stack Overflow

25. Get known.

26. Lead
Thought Leadership
• Speak
• Write
• Code
• Influence
• Cater to your audience

27. Fan Worship
Be a groupie
• Seek out influencers
• Proactively engage
• Share relevant info
• Offer value to their work

28. Don’t be a
STALKER!!

29. Pastelitos!!!!!!

30. Coopetition

32. Be a facilitator.

33. Connections
Build Bridges
• Connect people
• Connect businesses
• Connect groups
• Help people get jobs
• Help find resources

34. Resources
Read
• http://developer-evangelism.com/
• Success in Programming - How to Gain Recognition, Power, and Influence Through
Personal Branding (http://www.apress.com/9781484200025)
Follow
• @reybango
• @codep08
• @paul_irish
• @johnbristowe

35. Be an advocate for your community!

36. Fin