by David I | May 9, 2018 | Conference, Developer Relations, DevRelate, Education, Machine Learning |
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.

David Intersimone “David I”
Vice President of Developer Communities
Evans Data Corporation
davidi@evansdata.com
Blog: https://devnet.evansdata.org/
Skype: davidi99
Twitter: @davidi99
by David I | Mar 20, 2018 | Conference, Developer Outreach, Developer Relations, Evans Data |
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.

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

Janel Garvin, Evans 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 Cutsinger, Amazon – 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 Jacobi, IBM – 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 Kawasaki, Canva – 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 Chandler, Intel – 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 Ramji, Google – 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 Aglietti, ThingWorx – VP of Developer Relations
Mithun Dhar, HERE – General Manager Developer Relations (Evangelism, Marketing, Engineering, and Product Management)
JJ Kass, Dropbox – Head of Developer Programs
Andrew Lee, Airbnb – Business Development and Developer Relations
Lothar Schubert, GE 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 Scheven, AngelHack – 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 Rasalan, Evans 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 Riley, Fixate 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 Schmidt, DZone – 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 Simpkins, Microsoft – Director, Azure Developer Marketing
Virtual Event ROI: Experiments and Learnings
Larry McDonough, VMware – Director, Product Management
Beyond the Portal: An Innovative Developer Engagement Approach
Desiree Motamedi, Facebook – Head of Developer Product Marketing
Developers and the Future of Technology
Mike Guerette, Red Hat – Global Developer Program Manager
Starting a Developer Program Begins with Data
Lothar Schubert, GE Digital – Director, Developer Relations / Product Marketing
Building Sticky Relationships with Developer Experiences
Marie Huwe, DocuSign – VP, Developer Programs and Evangelism
Developer Market Segmentation: Who are developers and what do they want?
Kris Chant, Salesforce – Developer Relations Director
Using Community to Grow your Developer Program
Scott Burnell, Ford Motor Company – Global Lead, Business Development & Partner Management
WIIFM?
Michelle Little, Evans Data Corp – Analyst
Digging Deeper: Understanding Developer Motivations.
Julie Anderson, HP 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
by David I | Oct 24, 2017 | Developer News, Developer Programs News, Developer Relations, DevRelate, Newsletter |
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
Amazon – October 24, 2017 – Introducing the All-New Amazon Appstore for Android Devices – “Today we’re excited to announce the all-new standalone Amazon Appstore mobile app for Android. The Amazon Appstore is available on millions of Amazon Fire TV, Fire tablet, and Android devices in 236 countries and territories. The new mobile app is redesigned from the ground up, allowing customers to enjoy the same apps and games that they engage with on Fire TV and Fire tablets on their mobile phones.”
Google – October 24, 2017 – Gmail Add-ons framework now available to all developers – “Now anyone can start building a Gmail add-on. Gmail Add-ons let you integrate your app into Gmail and extend Gmail to handle quick actions.”
Apple, GE – October 18, 2017 – Apple and GE partner to bring Predix industrial apps to iPhone and iPad – “Apple and GE today announced a partnership to deliver powerful industrial apps designed to bring predictive data and analytics from Predix, GE’s industrial Internet of Things (IoT) platform, to iPhone and iPad. The two companies unveiled a new Predix software development kit (SDK) for iOS, which gives developers the tools to make their own powerful industrial IoT apps.”
Google, JFrog, Red Hat, IBM, Black Duck, Twistlock, Aqua Security, CoreOS – October 12, 2017 – Introducing Grafeas: An open-source API to audit and govern your software supply chain – “Building software at scale requires strong governance of the software supply chain, and strong governance requires good data. Grafeas is an open source initiative to define a uniform way for auditing and governing the modern software supply chain. Grafeas (scribe in Greek) provides organizations with a central source of truth for tracking and enforcing policies across an ever growing set of software development teams and pipelines. Build, auditing and compliance tools can use the Grafeas API to store, query and retrieve comprehensive metadata on software components of all kinds.”
Google – October 12, 2017 – Introducing Android Instant Apps SDK 1.1 – “Since our public launch at Google I/O, we’ve been working hard to improve the developer experience of building instant apps. Today, we’re excited to announce availability of the Android Instant Apps SDK 1.1 with some highly-requested features such as improved NDK support, configuration APKs for binary size reduction, and a new API to maintain user’s context when they transition from an instant app to the installed app.”
Dialogflow, API.AI – October 10, 2017 – Introducing Dialogflow, the new name for API.AI – “We realized that we were doing so much more than just providing an API. So with that, we’d like to introduce Dialogflow – the new name for API.AI.Our new name doesn’t change the work we’re doing with you or our mission. Our mission continues to be that Dialogflow is your end-to-end platform for building great conversational experiences and our team will help you share what you’ve built with millions of users.”
Apple – October 6, 2017 – Creating and Promoting Your AR Apps – “ARKit lets you seamlessly blend realistic virtual objects with the real world, so you can take your apps beyond the screen. Use these resources to learn how to clearly indicate when the user enters AR, show users what to expect from your AR experiences with app previews, and build Face Tracking support for iPhone X.”
Google – October 4, 2017 – Apps for the Google Assistant: new languages, devices and features! – “As you may have seen, it’s a big day for the Google Assistant with new features, new devices and new languages coming soon. But it’s also a big day for developers like you, as Actions on Google is also coming to new devices and new languages, and getting better for building and sharing apps.”
Twitter – September 25, 2017 – Refreshing and bringing together our developer resources – “Today we are launching developer.twitter.com — replacing and bringing together gnip.com and dev.twitter.com — as a complete reference center for Twitter’s developer platform. The new site will be a hub for all developer resources. Whether integrating with Twitter for the first time, or innovating and scaling solutions for your customers, you can look to developer.twitter.com as a place to learn, to manage tools and APIs, and to engage with the Twitter developer community worldwide.”
Apple – September 19, 2017 – The All-new App Store is Here – “The App Store has grown beyond anything we could have ever imagined. And now, with daily stories by our editors, a dedicated Games tab, lists for all kinds of apps, and much more, this beautiful new design provides an amazing place to highlight your incredible work — and help customers discover new apps and games.”
Telstra – September 12, 2017 – Welcome to the new T.DEV! – “At Telstra we’re embarking on a new journey to connect you, the developer, to our services. We realise the importance developers have in coming up with new innovations, in growing new businesses and by shaping the world as we all move up the stack. Telstra is getting closer to developers in a big way, and in some ways we’ve already been talking with developers for a long time through programs.”
Amazon – September 7, 2017 – Export your Amazon Lex bot schema to the Alexa Skills Kit – “You can now export your Amazon Lex chatbot schema into the Alexa Skills Kit to simplify the process of creating an Alexa skill. Amazon Lex now provides the ability to export your Amazon Lex chatbot definition as a JSON file that can be added to the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK). ”
Microsoft – August 28, 2017 – Introducing the Xamarin Certified Mobile Professional Badge – “We’re pleased to introduce a new certification level at Xamarin University, the Xamarin Certified Mobile Professional! This badge will be our initial certification level for developers to demonstrate fundamental competency in Xamarin mobile development.”
Arduino – July 28, 2017 – A New Era for Arduino Begins Today – “This is the beginning of a new era for Arduino in which we will strengthen and renew our commitment to open source hardware and software, while in parallel setting the company on a sound financial course of sustainable growth. Our vision remains to continue to enable anybody to innovate with electronics for a long time to come.”
Samsung – June 21, 2017 – A Must Watch for Game Developers: The Seven Rules of Monetization – “In what was a jam-packed hour, Oscar spoke about the importance of learning through experimentation, failure and data, offering expertise and examples designed to help developers avoid the mistakes he’s seen throughout his almost 20 years in monetization and social freemium game design.”
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 | Aug 9, 2017 | APIs, Cloud Computing, DevRelate, Programming |
When a developer’s app is built using one or more remote services and a problem occurs, users will start reporting a problem. Users will not necessarily know what is causing the problem. It could be issues with a cloud based service’s API, a cloud storage system or a bug in the software. How can your app know what the problem? Developer programs that provides services and APIs should also provide a live, frequently updated status page. Providing status APIs and pages allows the software, developers, partners, ISVs and even end users to track down problems. Ultimately the solution to any problem is the responsibility of the app developer (and company) regardless of where the fault is. Well designed and implemented developer programs should provide an API to check status and receive notifications for apps to fail-over, recover, fail gracefully and display problem information and solutions to users.

Developer System Status Pages
Here are a few developer program system status pages that I’ve found in my research and assessments. Some sites also provide APIs, feeds and subscriptions to program and API status information.
Status Page Hosting and API services
Altassian, for example, provides to customers a status page hosting service and API. You can find details of the developer service at https://www.statuspage.io/. Here is a list of some of the companies that use the hosting and API service:
3rd Party Status Check Sites
There are several 3rd party status check sites that monitor popular sites and provide an edit box to input a URL. You can use these services to see if another site/service is up or down. Some, like DownDetector, provide APIs (for a fee) to check on service status.
Do you provide a service status page and status API as part of your developer program?
If you have your developer service status and API, send me an email with additional information and the links to the status page and API.

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/