More and more technology companies are shifting from traditional enterprise sales approaches to developer-first approaches to promote their products. Because developers don’t like these sales methods, cold calls and demos won’t work.
Instead, platforms need to adopt approaches similar to what consumers might use for mobile games or e-commerce applications.
However, developers are also unlikely to accept those Facebook ads found on games and e-commerce apps.
Launching a developer relations program can drive developer adoption and build more effective relationships, but since developer relations is a relatively new role, the required skills and responsibilities are more ambiguous compared to established roles like sales and engineering.
This article outlines what to look for when hiring a developer relations manager. For an overview of developer relations, you can first learn about what developer relations is.
Goals
Since developer relations is an all-encompassing role for anyone interacting with the developer community, you should list the key objectives of this role before interviewing any candidate. Some developer relations roles focus on community engagement and developer advocacy.
Their primary goal is to increase product awareness, which requires them to speak at conferences, expand their influence, and engage in social communities (like Twitter or Reddit).
Other developer relations roles are more focused on product management and developer experience. Their primary goal is platform adoption and usage, which requires them to iterate on user onboarding, documentation, and public APIs/SDKs.
Regardless of the role, developer relations managers need to communicate clearly and explain deep technical topics in simple terms so developers can easily understand. Often, developer relations is the company’s spokesperson both online and offline.
| 1. Tell me about the best developer experience you’ve seen, and why was it the best?
An excellent developer relations manager has experience building on platforms and APIs, and they clearly understand what makes a great developer experience and where things can go wrong.
It’s not uncommon for developer relations teams to have strong opinions about their favorite tools and products.
| 2. What North Star metric would be good for measuring developer experience?
An experienced developer relations manager may have seen the consequences of adjusting metrics to funnel metrics (like page views and registrations) without considering product engagement and retention.
Developer relations North Star metrics include weekly active tokens or time to first “hello world.”
| 3. What’s your favorite developer onboarding, and why do you like it?
An excellent developer relations manager has an eye for discovering little surprises in popular API products and development tools, and knows why they were added.
Onboarding is one of the most important processes for any API product, because often, users don’t receive any value until the API is integrated. Explain to the candidate why a product’s onboarding is successful and what improvements you would make to it.
| 4. What’s the best approach for creating developer documentation?
Often (but not always), developer relations teams are responsible for keeping documentation updated. Here, you’re looking for ways to execute documentation more automatically while maintaining a customer-centric approach.
Is the candidate familiar with tools like OpenAPI specification and Postman API testing?
Does the candidate prefer writing documentation with open tools like Markdown, or with customer support tools like Zendesk?
How does the candidate handle potentially duplicate information in GitHub README.md, API reference, and developer documentation on the official website?
Is there consideration for creating different types of documentation centered on target personas?
| 5. Would you speak at Meetups or conferences? Which ones? How do you choose topics?
Attending conferences and speaking at them are key pillars of any developer relations operational strategy. You need someone who is not only good at communication but also passionate about helping developers. The speaker’s topics should be interesting, appropriate for the audience, and relevant to the company.
| 6. What interesting new trends are happening in developer platforms?
Excellent developer relations managers stay up to date with new trends and news relevant to the community. Developer relations managers should be familiar with new technologies like GraphQL and entirely new platforms built for developers like AWS Lambda.
Through this, they can train and provide advice to the developer community.
| 7. Why is versioning important for APIs and SDKs? How do you version an API?
Without version control, any change can be considered a breaking change, defeating the purpose of working together.
Look for candidates who are developer-focused and empathetic, even if it means supporting legacy SDKs for outdated Java versions. Not every developer is willing to upgrade to the latest SDKs and frameworks.
They should also be familiar with the benefits of semvar (semantic versioning), and ways to communicate non-breaking changes versus a complete API overhaul.
| 8. How do you handle tradeoffs in API functionality?
Unlike consumer applications, API products require careful planning when handling any feature. Almost always, the best answer is to never introduce any breaking changes, and never delete a field.
For example, an API response has a single JSON field called name, and you want to split it into first_name, last_name, and username. The correct approach is to add new fields while keeping the old fields available.
In cases where breaking changes are necessary, such as fixing security vulnerabilities or discontinuing an entire product. You need to follow up on how candidates handle these situations.
This might include sending personalized emails to developers accessing the API, detailing the version they’re using and the specific time the API will be deprecated.
Other strategies include briefly disabling features during off-hours (like Sunday at 1 PM).
| 9. How would you segment the developer community?
There are many ways to segment developer communities for marketing, cohort analysis, and other analytics. Beyond typical company demographics like company size, focus on this key developer-centric attribute.
An API developer relations manager should not only be familiar with common programming languages but also with their usage in business. For example, Java and .NET are popular in more traditional enterprises, while Node.js is popular in React and Single Page App communities.
Author: Derric Gilling
Compiled by: Zhuang Qi
Reposted from: Developer Relations »
