DEVELOPER RELATIONS - WIKIPEDIA

Jump to content From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Developer-facing software --- --- This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions.(July 2023)(Learn how and when to remove this message) Developer relations, abbreviated as DevRel,[\[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developerrelations#citenote-:3-1) is an umbrella term for practices employed by an organization that builds developer-facing software to connect with the developers that use that software.[\[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developerrelations#citenote-:2-2)[\[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developerrelations#citenote-:1-3)[\[4\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developerrelations#citenote-:9-4) Developer relations is a form of platform evangelism and the activities involved are sometimes referred to as a developer program or a DevRel program.[\[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developerrelations#citenote-:1-3)[\[5\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developerrelations#citenote-:7-5) DevRel programs often include the following:[\[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developerrelations#citenote-:1-3) • Developer marketing: Outreach and engagement activities to create awareness and encourage developers to use a product. • Developer education: Product documentation and resources such as videos to aid learning a product. • Developer experience: Often referred to as "zeroth customer" and "friction logging", devrel programs include using the product directly, finding problems, and improving the developer experience. • Developer success: Activities to nurture and retain developers as they build and scale with a product. • Community: Events, forums, and social groups around the product. History and roots \ [edit\] Apple is considered to have created the first DevRel program in the 1980s, starting with Mike Murray, who coined the term software evangelist to persuade third-party developers to develop software and applications for the Macintosh platform.[\[6\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developerrelations#citenote-:4-6) Mike Boich was Apple's first Software Evangelist for the Macintosh project [\[7\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developerrelations#citenote-7) and hired Guy Kawasaki who would become Apple's Chief Evangelist and popularize their DevRel program. In 1997, the Microsoft Developer Relations Group created and distributed resources aimed at advancing Microsoft’s success through the support of independent software vendors (ISVs). This strategy, detailed in presentations and emails, focused on facilitating the development and distribution of applications based on the Windows platform. The success of evangelists was measured by the amount of Windows applications their ISVs built and marketed.[\[8\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developerrelations#citenote-8) In the following decades many companies formed DevRel programs. In the 2010s companies like New Relic, Twilio, EngineYard, and SendGrid branded DevRel programs as a " Developer-First approach".[\[9\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developerrelations#citenote-:11-9) Organizational roles \ [edit\] Roles and job titles \ [edit\] DevRel theoretically intersects engineering, marketing, product management, and community management.[\[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developerrelations#citenote-:3-1) There are several different types of roles/job titles in DevRel including: • Developer Advocates (aka Developer Evangelists):[\[6\]](https://en.wikipedia.