Tell us a bit about yourself.

I’m Shedrack Akintayo!

I am a Developer Advocate, Software Developer, and Technical Writer. I have ~4 years of professional expertise in Software Development, majoring mostly in Frontend technologies.

I love to write, code, and teach.

Personally, I love constant learning, growing and working towards becoming a better version of myself.

Currently, I carry out Developer Relations efforts at Cloud Foundry Foundation, where we are working on providing the best developer experience on Kubernetes.

How did you get into Developer Relations?

I got into Developer Relations professionally when I got my current job, before that I was a frontend developer but I was doing Dev Rel like things (technical writing, speaking) in my free time. Asides the fact that I was already doing things that people in Developer Relations do, I wasn’t doing it professionally. Later on, I made up my mind to quit my job as a Frontend Developer with a startup and begin to search for a Developer Advocate role. I started applying to roles I find and also began to read more about Developer Relations. Mary Thengvall’s books and blog helped me understand Developer Relations more and how to effectively practice it. After about 5months of searching, I got a job as a Developer Advocate with the Cloud Foundry Foundation.

What advice would you give people looking to join you?

I think the best advice I can give people looking to join Developer Relations is to start now! You don’t have to wait to get a DevRel job before you can practice DevRel. Work on your own blog posts, freelance write for publications & companies, share your knowledge by speaking at events, webinars etc. Prepare yourself ahead of time so that when the opportunity comes and when it’s time for you to apply. You can show your prospective employers things you’ve been able to achieve on your own.

How has your role changed in the past year?

Well, we’ve gone from In-person events to doing virtual events which is a new field for most of us. I’ve had to learn to handle and plan virtual events and consider so many things like internet speed for different attendees etc. Other than virtual events being more considered, my role has not really changed.

How do you see the future of DevRel?

It’s going to be big, I believe with time, a good number of B2D startups will adopt Developer Advocates to help push their product forward. Also, I also believe that with time people in Developer Relations will become as valuable and important as Developers building the product. In the future, people will fully understand why Developer Relations is very important if their products are developer-centric, they will be more job postings for Developer Relations experts and I believe that in the future, the barrier of entry for Developer Relations would be lesser, we would possibly have junior developer advocates, more Dev Rel interns etc.

Lastly, we would have more defined, effective structures and frameworks for practising and adopting developer relations than presently.