by David I | Jul 17, 2017 | Developer News, Developer Programs News, DevRelate |
In today’s interconnected world, companies in all industries need to publish APIs and cultivate a developer community to access and use them. To be competitive today, attracting and supporting developers is essential. The key to cultivating a vibrant developer community that uses your APIs and supports your platform is a good developer relations program. “Developer Programs and APIs in the News” is a series of news items from developer programs around the world.
Developer Programs and APIs in the News
eBay – June 20, 2017 – eBay Announces New and Updated Sell and Buy APIs to Help Companies Grow Their Businesses – “Today, we are announcing new Commerce APIs, which is useful for buying and selling on eBay. The first capability in the Commerce APIs is the Taxonomy API. With this API, sellers get the category taxonomy for the eBay marketplace, and suggested categories. Sellers can also use this to organize their inventory. Buyers use the API to easily browse and discover what they are looking for. We are also introducing a new Buy API, Buy Marketing API, which gives developers the best-selling products in a category, ranked by product demand metrics.”
Google – June 15, 2017 – Supercharge your Computer Vision models with the TensorFlow Object Detection API – “Today we are happy to make this system available to the broader research community via the TensorFlow Object Detection API. This codebase is an open-source framework built on top of TensorFlow that makes it easy to construct, train and deploy object detection models. Our goals in designing this system was to support state-of-the-art models while allowing for rapid exploration and research.”
IBM, BMW – June 14, 2017 – IBM Integrates with BMW CarData to Enable New and Innovative Services for Drivers – “As a pilot partner, IBM has integrated Bluemix with the BMW CarData platform. Vehicle data will be enhanced by IBM Watson IoT, using cognitive and data analytics services to enable third parties, such as automotive repair shops or insurance companies, to develop entirely new customer experiences.”
Google – June 13, 2017 – Recognizing Android Excellence on Google Play – “As part of our efforts to recognize this content on the Play Store, today we’re launching Android Excellence. The new collections will showcase apps and games that deliver incredible user experiences on Android, use many of our best practices, and have great design, technical performance, localization, and device optimization.”
Google – June 8, 2017 – Android O APIs are final, get your apps ready! – “Today we’re rolling out Developer Preview 3 with the final Android O APIs, the latest system images, and an update to Android Studio to help you get ready for the consumer release later in the summer. Watch for one more preview update coming in July that will bring you the near-final system images.”
Cisco – June 8, 2017 – Cisco Visual Networking Index Predicts Global Annual IP Traffic to Exceed Three Zettabytes by 2021 – “Over the next five years (2016 – 2021), global digital transformation will continue to have a significant impact on the demands and requirements of IP networks according to today’s release of the Cisco Visual Networking Index™ (VNI) Complete Forecast. Top-level indicators include the projected increase in Internet users—from 3.3 to 4.6 billion or 58 percent of the global population[1], greater adoption of personal devices and machine-to-machine (M2M) connections—from 17.1 billion to 27.1 billion from 2016- 2021, average broadband speed advances—from 27.5 Mbps to 53.0 Mbps, and more video viewing—from 73 percent to 82 percent of total IP traffic. Over the forecast period, global IP traffic is expected to increase three-fold reaching an annual run rate of 3.3 zettabytes by 2021, up from an annual run rate of 1.2 zettabytes in 2016.”
Zenedge – June 7, 2017 – Zenedge Launches Advanced API Security Solution with Native SDK for Web and Mobile – “Zenedge, a leading provider of cloud-based, artificial intelligence (AI) driven Web Application Firewall (WAF), malicious bot detection and DDoS cybersecurity solutions, announced today the availability of Zenedge API Security™, an advanced API protection solution designed to go beyond traditional IP rate limiting based DDoS protection for APIs, featuring a proprietary SDK for full application layer protection.”
PTC/ThingWorx – June 6, 2017 – PTC Expands Its Industrial IoT Technology Offering with the Launch of ThingWorx 8 – “With this ThingWorx 8 update, ThingWorx evolves into a more robust, comprehensive Industrial IoT technology offering for businesses looking to accelerate Industrial IoT value. ThingWorx 8 features enhanced platform capabilities, role-specific applications for engineering and manufacturing, a substantial ecosystem of partners and customers, more expansive educational programs, and a new collection of service offerings designed for Industrial IoT customers and partners.”
Suunto – June 6, 2017 – Movesense Publicly Launches Software Developer Kit to Accelerate Motion-Sensing Technology – “Suunto is making it easier to rapidly develop and bring to market new, more accurate motion-sensing solutions with Movesense, a sophisticated sensor and software developer kit (SDK) that’s now publicly available. In industries as diverse as sports, agriculture, manufacturing, and health care, Movesense can cut motion-sensing product development from years to hours.”
Google – June 6, 2017 – Spinnaker 1.0: a continuous delivery platform for cloud – “Today we’re happy to announce the release of Spinnaker 1.0, an open-source multi-cloud continuous delivery platform used in production at companies like Netflix, Waze, Target, and Cloudera, plus a new open-source command line interface (CLI) tool called halyard that makes it easy to deploy Spinnaker itself.”
Facebook – June 1, 2017 – Facebook Introduces Developer Circles – “The developer community has played a large role in Facebook’s success to-date, and we continue to focus on giving back to startups, entrepreneurs, and developers to help them succeed. Today, at F8 we announced Developer Circles from Facebook, a new program for developers all over the world to connect, learn, and collaborate with other local developers.”
Send me your Developer Programs News!
If you have news about your Developer Relations Program, send me an email about the news.
David Intersimone “David I”
Vice President of Developer Communities
Evans Data Corporation
davidi@evansdata.com
Blog: https://www.devrelate.com/blog/
Skype: davidi99
Twitter: @davidi99
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidi99/
by David I | Jul 11, 2017 | Developer Marketing, Developer Relations, DevRelate |
On the road to my August 2017 DevRelate webinar, “Developer Marketing & Developer Relations – Similarities & Differences“, August 8 & 10, I am putting together background research and information about several high level aspects for each team member. In this blog post I am starting with a focus on education, skills and organizational reporting. Take a look at each of the aspects and let me know what you think about the details related to your own experiences and knowledge of industry experts you interact with. In subsequent blog posts I’ll drill down into roles, responsibilities, work done, audiences, metrics, ROI and other aspects.
Education
In looking at a wide range of Developer Marketing and Developer Relations practitioners active in the technology products, devices, platforms and services, I’ve found common characteristics, degree attainment, and focus areas. Of course there are many journeys that we take to get to a specific Developer Marketing and Developer Relations position. Do these educational backgrounds resonate with you and others you know?
- Developer Marketing: BA, BS, MA, MS, MBA and/or PhD in Marketing, Communications, Business Administration, Economics, Public Relations, Journalism, Computer Science, Software Engineering, International Business, Management, Finance, Creative Writing.
- Developer Relations: BA, BS, MA, MS and/or PhD in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mathematics.
Skills
In the wide array of skills and experiences, you can often find some of the following listed for Developer Marketing and Developer Relations team members. There can be a wide range of past experiences, job history and interest areas. Some differences can be traced to the industry, product, service, device, platform or other positions held by each member of the developer outreach team.
- Developer Marketing: Messaging, Writing, Demand Generation, Marketing Campaigns, Go To Market Strategies, Budgets, Branding, Social Media, Events, PR, AR, Advertising.
- Developer Relations: Programming, Public Speaking, Demonstrations, Webinars, Videos, Developer Advocacy/Evangelism, Technical Writing, Blogging.
Ideal Report To
Depending on the size and complexity of the company, products, services, devices, platforms and other technology areas, Developer Marketing and Developer Relations leaders and team members would ideally like to report to one (or more) of the following executive level members and organizations.
- Developer Marketing – report to the CMO as part of the Corporate Marketing organization.
- Developer Relations – report to the CTO and be part of the Software Engineering organization.
Are there other education, skills and organizational reporting aspects that you’ve experienced or found?
There is never a college degree, experience level, job history and organizational structure that fits neatly for all Developer Marketing and Developer Relations professionals in each industry and company for today’s software, devices, platforms and services world. In looking at my network of friends and job requirements postings, I’ve found any number of additional aspects that could be (should be) included. Send me an email with your own experiences and history and I’ll consider them for the upcoming DevRelate webinar in August.
David Intersimone “David I”
Vice President of Developer Communities
Evans Data Corporation
davidi@evansdata.com
Blog: https://www.devrelate.com/blog/
Skype: davidi99
Twitter: @davidi99
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidi99/
by David I | Jul 6, 2017 | Developer Outreach, Developer Relations, DevRelate |
When the Northern Hemisphere enters the summer season, developers might head out on vacation to take a break from the 24×7 world we live in. To keep developers interested and active in your community companies often offer “summer school” and other events. For Southern Hemisphere locations, you can do the same six months from now (you’ll be ahead of the date curve). There are many events you can create that will help developers catch up on latest technologies, APIs, and methods.
Qlik Summer School 2017
One recent example is Qlik’s Summer School 2017. Qlik says that the summer school offers “webinars covering in-depth technical sessions, best practices updates and even a glimpse into Qlik’s product future. It’s an incredible opportunity to boost your analytics skills during the summer months. The Qlik Summer School presents a customizable program of webinars designed to help you unlock your organization’s data-driven possibilities. Save your spot today, and then join at anytime from anywhere with an internet connection.” Check out the agenda for the 3 tracks.
Other Ways to Help Developers Keep/Catch Up
There are many other ways to allow developers to keep up and catch up. Here are a few ideas that are sure to help developers carve out a few hours during their summer schedule.
- Create a list of past webinars and links that are available on-demand. You might find that some developers were too busy with work to attend some of your events from the Winter and Spring quarters.
- Organize a self-study reading list of blog posts, quick start guides, eBooks, and white papers. It’s very possible that developers will have some time on airplanes, early mornings and late evenings to catch up on their technical reading.
- Write up a list of software development “challenges” with prizes for those who complete them. Create a series of short programming contests throughout the summer that will let developers do some quick coding and learning while they are on vacation.
- Schedule a developer conference or meetup at a “destination” location. If you want to attract developers with families (Evans Data research shows that 77.9% of developers are married), hold events at some of the top vacation locations. Schedule short developer sessions in the early morning or late evenings to allow for time with family during the day.
- Plan maker fairs and hackathons while students are out of school and able to spend time with your products, services and devices.
- Record audio podcasts, interviews and thought provoking technology information that can be listened to while relaxing poolside or during car, train and airplane parts of summer trips.
- Have your Developer Relations team members hit the opposite hemisphere where developers are still working. Schedule meetups, customer meetings and events in the Southern Hemisphere. Developers down under, Brazil, South Africa and other countries are still at the office and working.
Your Developer Relations Team Members need Time Off Too!
While your developer community members are taking time off and using the time to catch up on some reading and other technology fun, remember that your developer relations team also needs to take a break. Make sure your team members have reading lists, thinking items, and technology exploration areas. There’s always a few spare minutes when your team is not white water rafting, swimming, touring, scuba diving, hiking, biking and sightseeing.
If you’re not sure what to read each summer, check out Bill Gate’s “5 Good Summer Reads” on his Gates Notes site. Before the start of summer, Bill has been listing five books you should consider reading. Check out his summer 2017 reading list.
One other way to give you developer relations team members a break is to allow them to help out at a programming summer camp or hold a camp at your offices. There are many programming camps for elementary school, high school, college and adults. There are also cruise ships that offer programming education including CoderCuise (July 16-23, 2017) sailing out of New Orleans. Your DevRel team members can be presenters and/or attendees 😀
Do you have other ideas for how to keep your developer community active during summer vacation months?
If you have your own summer schedule of developer outreach activities, send me an email with what works best for you.
David Intersimone “David I”
Vice President of Developer Communities
Evans Data Corporation
davidi@evansdata.com
Blog: https://www.devrelate.com/blog/
Skype: davidi99
Twitter: @davidi99
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidi99/
by David I | Jun 30, 2017 | Conference, Developer Marketing, Developer Outreach, Developer Relations, DevRelate, Outreach |
I spent the past few days in Las Vegas for the Cisco Live 2017 C-Scape industry analysts meetup. I had two days (thankfully in air conditioned rooms and buses) of meetings with executives, leaders of product groups, and customers in general sessions, round table discussions and one on one meetings. I also attended the opening keynote with Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins and had the pleasure to witness his sit down conversation with Apple CEO Tim Cook. There is plenty of news about Cisco’s announcements, products, and technologies in the news, so I won’t repeat those sorts of things here. This DevRelate blog post is focused on how Developer Relations outreach can be multiply integrated into a company’s in-person conference.
Best Practices for an Integrated Developer/User Event
At most technology company conferences, you already have most of your executives, product managers, marketing specialists, and technology gurus. Combining partner, analyst, partner, ecosystem and press meetings into the same location makes a lot of sense. Cisco did a great job of bringing us into the middle of their conference including meetings with customers who talked about their success stories. We had plenty of time to ask questions during the meetings as well as during informal conversations during dinners later in the evening.
I got to hear from customers during some of the general sessions and round table discussions. While it is always good to talk with members of the teams, it is a special pleasure to be able to listen to and ask questions of customers and their experiences.
I really enjoyed the discussions with Michael Giresi, CIO of Royal Caribbean about how extended teams work closely together to enhance their customer’s experiences with project teams that include IT, DevOps, Business, Product, and Developer members. From my notes he said “it is about the team being accountable for the complete solution – embedding accountability for the complete experience versus just the application experience. Assign ownership for the performance of the whole solution – assign the right people to the ‘whole team’. The concept of applications and infrastructure being separate is nuts! The old way doesn’t work anymore.”
I also got to talk with Michael Sherwood, Director of the Department of Information Technologies for the City of Las Vegas about the implementation of their Smart City plans to include IoT, Open Data and Developer APIs. Michael even sent me a follow up email yesterday with additional information and links.
It was very clear that software, developers and APIs were front and center in just about every hardware and software product presentation and demonstration. Integrating a very active Cisco DevNet Zone in the convention center with class rooms, hands on workshops, and cool developer solutions also reinforced the theme of developers at the center of everything. While developers often think of APIs for platforms, frameworks and services, Cisco also demonstrated the openness of programming at the ASIC level.
When you are planning your conference, you can leverage your company and team members investments to the maximum by integrating your whole “extended” ecosystem – technology, marketing, research, partners, analysts, experts, authors, consultants, developers, thought leaders, trainers, educators, and others to orchestrate a complete event. For those technology and software companies that integrate and add value, you can also be a part of the larger story during the event. I am probably already preaching to the choir, but piggy-backing on an event to reach out to a larger developer audience is always a good thing.
Just before I left the Cisco DevNet Zone and the convention center, I stopped by the Cisco DevNet Opportunity Project pod. Cisco DevNet is encouraging developers, companies and others to get involved to “unleash the power of data and technology to expand economic opportunity in communities nationwide. To create solutions that help families, local leaders, and businesses access information about the resources they need to succeed.” Find out more about the US Department of Commerce Opportunity Project at https://opportunity.census.gov/
While it was extremely hot outside in Las Vegas this week (glad to be home in the cool environment of Monterey Bay), it was also extremely beneficial to see the awesome team at Cisco and the wide array of tech companies and developers working together to move our industry forward. I hope that you all have success in your future events whether they be small, medium, large, extra large or XXXXL.
What are your Best Practices for a Completely Integrated Developer Event Experience?
If you have your own best practices where you integrate multiple audiences, partners, press, analysts, users, developers and others in your events, send me an email with what works best for you.
David Intersimone “David I”
Vice President of Developer Communities
Evans Data Corporation
davidi@evansdata.com
Blog: https://www.devrelate.com/blog/
Skype: davidi99
Twitter: @davidi99
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidi99/
by David I | Jun 26, 2017 | Developer Marketing, Developer Relations, DevRelate, Webinar |
This DevRelate webinar explores the similar and different roles and responsibilities of Developer Marketing teams and Developer Relations advocates. While there are common elements and overlap for both groups, there are also important differences. Technology companies sometimes group developer marketing and developer relations into the same organization while others separate the two into marketing and technology organizations.
Evans Data reaches out to its global developer panel to produce two annual tactical marketing reports: Developer Marketing Survey Report and Developer Relations Survey Report. The Developer Marketing Survey contains software developers’ attitudes about marketing tools and programs used to promote and sell products to them. This report provides invaluable insight for your developer marketing campaigns. The Developer Relations Survey examines issues and elements of developer programs. This report provides invaluable insight for your developer program and advocacy.
During the webinar several aspects of Developer Marketing and Developer Relations will be highlighted including: education, background, skills inventory, reporting structure, best practices, work items, audiences, metrics and more.
Agenda
- Developer Marketing and Developer Relations
- Team members: background, education, skills, reporting
- Roles, responsibilities, work done/shared
- Audience(s)
- Metrics and ROI
- Q&A
Dates/Times
Note: This webinar is offered several times. Select the date and time that works best for you using the drop down list on the GoToWebinar registration form. You can also see the webinar times shown in your time zone on the GoToWebinar registration form.
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
- 7am PDT (Santa Cruz) | 9am CDT (Chicago) | 10am EDT (New York) | 2pm GMT | 3pm BST (London) | 4pm CEST (Frankfurt)
- 10am PDT (Santa Cruz) | 12noon CDT (Chicago) | 1pm EDT (New York) | 5pm GMT | 6pm BST (London) | 7pm CEST (Frankfurt)
- 5pm PDT (Santa Cruz) | 8am CST (Beijing Wednesday, August 9) | 10am AEST (Sydney Wednesday, August 9)
Thursday, August 10, 2017
- 7am PDT (Santa Cruz) | 9am CDT (Chicago) | 10am EDT (New York) | 2pm GMT | 3pm BST (London) | 4pm CEST (Frankfurt)
- 1pm PDT (Santa Cruz) | 2pm CDT (Chicago) | 3pm EDT (New York)
Register Now to Reserve your Seat: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/rt/6628784463573519617
Who Should Attend
- Managers & Directors of Developer Programs
- Technology & Developer Evangelists
- Business Development Managers & Directors
- Product Marketing Managers & Directors
- Marketing Managers
- Product Managers
- Research Managers
- Corporate Communications Managers
- Heads of Developer Marketing
- ANYONE who deals with developers!
Note: The webinar repeats on multiple days and times. Choose the date and time that fits your schedule.
Presenter
David Intersimone “David I”, Vice President of Developer Communities, Evans Data Corporation
by David I | Jun 19, 2017 | DevRelate, Evans Data, Presentations, Webinar |
This week, I am presenting a DevRelate webinar, “Know your Developers and Creating Personas” on Tuesday (June 20) and Thursday (June 22). Creating developer personas is one of the first steps to applying more modern developer marketing techniques in a technology world that is more and more individualized. This DevRelate webinar introduces you to different types of developers. This blog post contains additional information and links covered in the webinar.
Know your Developers
Creating Personas
Discovering Developer Personas Specific to Your Technology – Evans Data Research Service
Understanding the personas of your targeted developer segments allows you to:
- Communicate more clearly with each persona
- Provide the tools and technologies each persona uses
- Provide the level and type of support each expects
- Find developers that match the personas for effective outreach
- Understand where each persona can be reached
Developer Personas I have Known – a DevRelate blog post. |
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