It’s Spring – Time for Developer Conference Season

When springtime arrives, developers and developer relation professionals know that it is major developer conference time in the US and around the world. Of course it all started with the annual Evans Data Developer Relations Conference, this year in Palo Alto California at the end of March. Most of you know that there are developer events and conferences throughout the year on every continent. At the same time, some of the most important and influential conference,s that impact developer programs and developers, are all scheduled during the months of May and June.

    

The Grand Slam of Springtime Developer Conferences

Facebook started things off on May 1 & 2 with their F8 conference in San Jose California. This week we have Microsoft Build 2018 in Seattle (from May 7 to 9) and Google IO 2018 in Mountain View (May 8 & 9) in the same week. It was fun to hear Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore, Corporate Vice President of Operating Systems, tell developers during his day 2 keynote that he would end at 10am so that some developers could switch over to the Google IO opening keynote. Apple will complete the grand slam with WWDC 2018 in San Jose from June 4th to 9th.

But Wait, there’s even more for Developers this Spring

Ciscolive! happens in Orlando Florida June 10-14. You might think that Cisco is a networking and hardware company, but they also have a great developer program with DevNet. I attended last year’s event in Las Vegas and the DevNet Zone has a huge exhibit and workshop space and loads of developer sessions during the conference.

DocuSign’s Momentum developer conference takes place in San Francisco on June 20-21, just before the end of Spring. “If you thought replacing paper with eSignature was a win, get ready to go further. It’s time for the modern System of Agreement. Get the insights, inspiration, and networking to take advantage of all that’s possible, next, and new with DocuSign.”

So Much New Tech to Learn. So Little Time. Tons of Developer Fun!

So much development tech to digest in such a short period of time. Let’s summarize them all with: more AI, more cloud, more services, more devices, more IoT, compute at the edge, more serverless, more APIs, more tools and more fun for developers of all types, sizes and locations. I’ll try to cover more in coming DevRelate blog posts.

If you are having a developer conference that starts before the first day of Summer (in the Northern Hemisphere), send me an email with the details.

 

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David Intersimone “David I”
Vice President of Developer Communities
Evans Data Corporation
davidi@evansdata.com
Blog: https://devnet.evansdata.org/
Skype: davidi99
Twitter: @davidi99

Next Week: Evans Data Developer Relations Conference 2018 – Guy Kawasaki, live focus group and more

There’s less than a week until the start of the 14th Annual Evans Data Developer Relations Conference in Palo Alto California (March 25-27). With 6 keynote speakers, break out sessions, workshops, a Sunday boot camp, round table discussions and loads of time for networking, this year’s conference will be a spectacular opportunity to move your developer program to higher levels of success. There are only a few seats left for this one of a kind conference focused on developer relations best practices, developer program excellence and optimal developer outreach.

Reserve one of the final seats!

Here are a few of the “can’t miss” things that are happening during the conference.

Keynote Speakers

Janel GarvinEvans Data Corp – Founder and CEO
Hot Topics in Software Development 2018
Janel will draw on multiple recent Evans Data development surveys to give a broad overview of the current development landscape spanning Cloud, Big Data, AI, Machine Learning, Mobile and IoT.

Paul CutsingerAmazon – Head of Alexa Voice Design Education
Anatomy of an Amazon Alexa Evangelist
Who are they? What makes them tick? What do they accomplish? In this session, you’ll get a behind the scenes look at how the Alexa evangelism team operates and what we strive to achieve.

Jonas JacobiIBM – Head of Developer Advocacy, Worldwide
IBM and The Developer Economy
Jonas will discuss how IBM has, in less than 12 months, changed its developer engagement strategy, changed the senior executive teams perspective of the developer economy, and rallied the entire company behind the mission to become the most trusted and respected technology company in the World.

Guy KawasakiCanva – Chief Evangelist
Developer Relations “Fireside” Chat
David Intersimone (“David I”), Evans Data’s Vice President of Developer Communities, will host a conversation with Guy Kawasaki covering developer relations best practice and experiences. They’ll also take questions from conference attendees. Kawasaki was chief evangelist of Apple and David was chief evangelist for Borland/Embarcadero Technologies’ Developer Tools Group.

Roger ChandlerIntel – Vice President & General Manager, Developer Programs & Initiatives
Co-Designing the Future with the Developer Ecosystem
For decades Intel has partnered with software developers around the world to define, deliver, and improve their products. Learn how Intel co-designs user-focused platforms with the software ecosystem, makes it easier for developers to better harness the capabilities of Intel products, and helps ISVs to better sell their software products. This talk will provide specific examples from IOT, Artificial Intelligence, PC Gaming, and Virtual Reality to make it all fit together so that end-users are delighted and developers can grow their business.

Sam RamjiGoogle – Vice President of Product Management for Google Cloud Platform
Open, cloudy, platform-shaped: developer relations for a new normal
Open source is ascendant. Digital platforms are shaking up the Fortune 500. Cloud is eating the glass house. As stewards of the profession, we share an awesome responsibility to define new best practices for developer relations in a changing world. This presentation shares what we’ve learned at Google on the journey we all are on to the future of Dev Rel.

Expert Panel, Round Table Discussions, Live On-Stage Developer Focus Group

Future Directions for Developer Relations and Developer Technologies
Our panel of experts will discuss the future of developer programs and how new technologies are reshaping the features, conversations and deliverables for every developer community.
Moderator: David Intersimone (“David I”), Evans Data – Vice President of Developer Communities
Panelists:
Michael AgliettiThingWorx – VP of Developer Relations
Mithun DharHERE – General Manager Developer Relations (Evangelism, Marketing, Engineering, and Product Management)
JJ KassDropbox – Head of Developer Programs
Andrew LeeAirbnb – Business Development and Developer Relations
Lothar SchubertGE Digital – Director, Developer Relations

Hot Topic Round Table Discussions

Join your colleagues for in-depth roundtable discussions on topics that matter in Developer Relations, including: Measuring ROI and Metrics, Utilizing Social Media to Attract and Engage Developers, Scaling a DevRel Team, Running Hackathons and Events, Effectively Communicating with Developers, API success factors, Educating and Training Developer Communities, and the Art of Internal Evangelism.

Live Onstage Developer Focus Group – This is your chance to ask developers what you want to know – a panel of developers answer the questions you submit.
Moderator: David Intersimone (“David I”), Evans Data – Vice President of Developer Communities

Workshops

Kristen SchevenAngelHack – Chief Marketing Officer
Sustainable Growth Marketing: Building a Developer Ecosystem that Lasts
People throw around the term growth hacking often, but very rarely does it lead to community growth that lasts. During this workshop, we’ll build a marketing action plan that focuses on creating a sustainable and diverse developer foundation through content marketing, email drip campaigns, developer outreach and complementary innovation programs.

Michael RasalanEvans Data – Director of Research
Benchmarking Developer Program Offerings and Quantifying User Satisfaction
To accurately target the developer market for your tools and services, segmentation is vital. This is commonly done by classifying developers by the types of applications they create. This typology is valuable and delivers results focused on developer targets, but sometimes you might want to look at developers by other segments. This interactive workshop looks at how various ways to segment the developer population and provides a jumping off point for examining developers that will allow you to expand your reach.

Yolanda Fintschenko, Ph.D.Fixate IO – Co-Founder and Chris RileyFixate IO – Co-Founder
The A to Z of Practitioner Content Marketing
In this workshop, we will define practitioner content marketing and how it compares to public relations, demand gen, and influencer marketing. We will then build a practitioner content marketing strategy with workshop participants.

Matt SchmidtDZone – President
Building the Ideal Developer Community
A key component of a mature developer relations strategy is the effective use of community. How do devs on your team communicate and collaborate? What is the average amount of time it takes them to get answers? What if you could reduce the amount to time your team spends hunting down resources and resolving issues? A productive and engaged developer community can help your company reach its goals faster and cheaper, but it doesn’t happen overnight. Attend our workshop for a hands-on planning workshop that walks attendees through the process of launching an online developer community that is sure to be a success.

Breakout Sessions

Cliff SimpkinsMicrosoft – Director, Azure Developer Marketing
Virtual Event ROI: Experiments and Learnings 

Larry McDonoughVMware – Director, Product Management
Beyond the Portal: An Innovative Developer Engagement Approach

Desiree MotamediFacebook – Head of Developer Product Marketing
Developers and the Future of Technology

Mike GueretteRed Hat – Global Developer Program Manager
Starting a Developer Program Begins with Data

Lothar SchubertGE Digital – Director, Developer Relations / Product Marketing
Building Sticky Relationships with Developer Experiences

Marie HuweDocuSign – VP, Developer Programs and Evangelism
Developer Market Segmentation: Who are developers and what do they want?

Kris ChantSalesforce – Developer Relations Director
Using Community to Grow your Developer Program

Scott BurnellFord Motor Company – Global Lead, Business Development & Partner Management
WIIFM?

Michelle LittleEvans Data Corp – Analyst
Digging Deeper: Understanding Developer Motivations.

Julie AndersonHP Inc. – Developer Outreach Program Manager
Outreach in the Enterprise: Using Hackathons to Create Culture Change at HP Inc.

Sunday Boot Camp

The Evans Data Corporation’s Developer Relations Boot Camp provides a solid foundation on which you can build or enhance your developer program. Concentrated sessions in this one-day instructional program provide the insight and actionable information you can use to build your brand and establish strong relationships with your developer community.

After each session Boot Camp attendees will break into teams to work on projects related to each topic. Each team will report back to all attendees and discuss their findings and solicit feedback.

Boot Camp Faculty:

David Intersimone “David I” – Evans Data Corp – Vice President of Developer Communities
Michael Rasalan – Evans Data Corp – Director of Research
Scott Burnell – Ford Motor Company – Global Lead, Business Development & Partner Management
Michael Aglietti – ThingWorx – VP Developer Programs

Date: Sunday March 25, 2018
Time: 9am – 5:00pm

https://evansdata.com/drc/2018/bootcamp.php

 

Accelerated Learning Workshops at the Evans Data Developer Relations Conference

In an event unlike any other, developer relations experts from leading companies in the software, telecom and web markets will come together at the 14th Annual Evans Data Developer Relations Conference, March 26-27 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Palo Alto California, to discuss best practices and reveal the techniques behind their success!

New this year: Interactive Workshops

In addition to six keynote presenters and multiple breakout sessions, this year we have also scheduled four interactive workshops during the conference. Each conference attendee will choose to participate in two of the four workshops being held on Tuesday, March 27 at 9am and 10am.

These four workshops will provide accelerated learning for conference attendees to work together to:

  • Build a marketing action plan that creates a sustainable and diverse developer foundation
  • Craft a practitioner content marketing strategy
  • Learn how to segment a developer population that will allow you to expand your reach
  • Plan the launch of an online developer community that is sure to be a success

 

Workshop Sessions, Dates/Times, and Leaders

Here are the four workshop sessions, the date/time when they take place on Tuesday March 27th, and an abstract that describes the workshop in more detail. You can also click on the workshop leader’s name to see their biography.

Workshop: Sustainable Growth Marketing: Building a Developer Ecosystem that Lasts

Date/Time: Tuesday March 27 – Track 1 Room – 9:00am
Workshop Leader: Kristen Scheven, AngelHack – Chief Marketing Officer

Workshop Abstract

People throw around the term growth hacking often, but very rarely does it lead to community growth that lasts. During this workshop, we’ll build a marketing action plan that focuses on creating a sustainable and diverse developer foundation through content marketing, email drip campaigns, developer outreach and complementary innovation programs.

Workshop: The A to Z of Practitioner Content Marketing

Date/Time: Tuesday March 27 – Track 1 Room – 10:00am
Workshop Leaders: Yolanda Fintschenko, Ph.D., Fixate IO – Co-Founder and Chris Riley, Fixate IO – Co-Founder

Workshop Abstract

In this workshop, we will define practitioner content marketing and how it compares to public relations, demand gen, and influencer marketing. We will then build a practitioner content marketing strategy with workshop participants.

Marketing is moving from using a megaphone to creating targeted conversations. Developers do not respond well to traditional marketing, but they also do not want to be the last to know about features, functionality, and techniques. They look for vendors that can impart technical value with each piece of content they put out and ignore obvious product promotion pieces unless they include content that makes tool or technique adoption easier.

Having these targeted technical conversations requires a new strategy — practitioner content marketing. Practitioners who sit outside your organization but are willing to put their name on content for your organization is more credible, results in better quality leads, and increases your company’s share of voice in conversations important for your industry segment. Practitioner content market is a way to let the market, prospects, and customers know that you speak their language and can provide value beyond features and functionality.

Workshop: Benchmarking Developer Program Offerings and Quantifying User Satisfaction

Date/Time: Tuesday March 27 – Track 2 Room – 9:00am
Workshop Leader: Michael Rasalan, Evans Data – Director of Research

Workshop Abstract

To accurately target the developer market for your tools and services, segmentation is vital. This is commonly done by classifying developers by the types of applications they create. This typology is valuable and delivers results focused on developer targets, but sometimes you might want to look at developers by other segments.

This interactive workshop looks at how various ways to segment the developer population and provides a jumping off point for examining developers that will allow you to expand your reach.

Workshop: Building the Ideal Developer Community

Date/Time: Tuesday March 27 – Track 2 Room – 10:00am
Workshop Leader: Matt Schmidt, DZone – President

Workshop Abstract

A key component of a mature developer relations strategy is the effective use of community. How do developers on your team communicate and collaborate? What is the average amount of time it takes them to get answers? What if you could reduce the amount to time your team spends hunting down resources and resolving issues? A productive and engaged developer community can help your company reach its goals faster and cheaper, but it doesn’t happen overnight.

Attend our workshop for a hands-on planning workshop that walks attendees through the process of launching an online developer community that is sure to be a success.

Additional Conference Links

 

Register for the Conference to Reserve your Place!

See you at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Palo Alto for this one of a kind conference that brings together developer ecosystem strategists, developer marketing, and developer relations professionals to meet, exchange ideas, forge partnerships, and share insights on developer ecosystem development.

Join us for the 14th Evans Data Developer Relations Conference – March 26-27 – Palo Alto – Save $300 before 12/31

The Developer Relations Conference will feature speakers from Google, GE, VMware, RedHat, IBM, Intel, DocuSign, AirBnB, Oracle, Ford and legendary developer evangelist Guy Kawasaki!

Super Early Bird Ends 12/31/2017 – Save $300 on passes by registering today: http://www.evansdata.com/drc/2018/register.php

The Developer Relations Conference brings together the top brass of developer ecosystem strategists, advocates, and developer relations professionals to meet, exchange ideas, forge partnerships, and share insights on developer ecosystem development.

Evans Data’s 14th Annual Developer Relations Conference

March 26th-27th at the Crowne Plaza in Palo Alto, California

See conference details at http://www.evansdata.com/drc/2018

Sessions and activities during the conference will include:

  • Keynotes delivered by top developer relations executives
  • Hot Topics round table discussions
  • Newly added networking events for attendees
  • Expert panel of developer relations professionals
  • 2 highly focused tracks on devrel strategy and devexperience
  • Live on stage developer focus group
  • 4 Interactive workshops

Register today to save $300 on passes now: http://www.evansdata.com/drc/2018/register.php

DevRel Best Practices Part 2 – Webinar Information and Links

During the DevRelate November webinar we’ll be covering Part 2 of our series focused on Developer Marketing and Developer Relations Best Practices. In this blog post you’ll find additional information and links for topics covered in the webinar. Bookmark this page and come back during November for additional updates.

Webinar Agenda

  1. Reasons for Joining and Staying in a Developer Program
  2. Developer Relations Best Practices Part 2
  3. Q&A

 

Best Practices Areas Covered in Part 2

  • Events & Activities
  • API Sandboxes, Virtual Labs, Cloud Instances
  • App Stores & Application showcases
  • Community Chat Systems
  • Training & Certification
  • Popular Blogging Topics
  • Programming Languages to Support

 

Popularity of Programming Languages

  • Tiobe Index – Updated once a month, the Tiobe Index is calculated by using multiple search engines looking for the number of skilled engineers, courses and third party vendors. You can read more about how the Tiobe Index is computed on their website.
  • Redmonk Programming Language Rankings – The Redmonk ranking appears bi-annually and appears on Stephen O’Grady’s blog. The latest version, “The RedMonk Programming Language Rankings: January 2017” appeared on his blog on March 17, 2017. The ranking is based on code on GitHub and discussions on Stack Overflow. The ranking correlates programming language discussions and usage on these two popular sites.
  • PYPL: PopularitY of Programming Language Index – This index is created by analyzing how often programming language tutorials are searched using Google. The index page says “If you believe in collective wisdom, the PYPL Popularity of Programming Language index can help you decide which language to study, or which one to use in a new software project.”
  • Indeed Job Trends – Using the Indeed search system you can get some trending results for Job Postings and Job Seeker Interest. Using the interface, you can string together a query based on adding a series of programming languages.
  • Programming Languages used in Elementary and High Schools – In the US the College Board’s AP Computer Science exam uses the Java programming language. Previously programming languages including C++, Modula-2 and Pascal were used. You can also find other programming languages used in secondary education to prepare students for college and work force placement. The languages used in elementary and high schools can often depend on the skills of the teachers and will normally include the use of  Python, Scratch, JavaScript, Alice and others. The ACM Model Curriculum for K-12 Computer Science gives guidance for schools but does not push a specific programming language.
  • Programming Languages Taught in College Computer Science – Different college computer science departments choose programming languages that are used as the first course and some focus on a language in the core computer science classes. Stanford University used to teach Java but recent news articles report that Stanford has moved from Java to JavaScript for their introduction to programming course. While C++, Java, JavaScript and other programming languages are taught in schools, most universities also cover a wide range of programming languages, algorithms, data structures and technologies to help prepare graduates for their move into industry, research and teaching.

 

OPENAPI and Swagger

With the Swagger YAML and/or JSON files you can use Swagger’s CodeGen tool to create bindings for more than 20 server side languages and more than 40 client side languages.

 

Evans Data Tactical Marketing Reports

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.