About their ongoing availability of their personal website (that does have some audience, however niche), the author states
> As for what the future holds for whitep4nth3r, I’m actually not sure. I know I’m not that important in this vast and strange ever-evolving world; I know this won’t affect many people in the grand scheme of things, but I’m sure some of you will be wondering if I’ll still be around.
I don't know anything about the author, but they seem rather humble, not giving "do you know who I am" vibes at all, the writing is very humanizing, raises many good and relatable points. I enjoyed reading the whole text without being familiar with the author and context. I only wish them luck and happiness.
I wish this person the best of luck in their next role.
I've known some great DevRel people, but it's a difficult role. The company can frequently have very different ideas about what DevRel should look like than the person hired into the role. The best DevRel people I know spent their time doing things to fill in gaps left by the company such as providing better documentation, example repos, and filtering through all of the noisy chat across Discords and subreddits to get additional feedback into the company. For the right person it can be fun, but playing cleanup crew and trying to keep customers happy by patching all the holes left by other teams gets old.
I don't know this person specifically, but from the way they write it's obvious that they like doing Twitch streams, podcasts, and workshops, but they don't like doing it for a company:
> After all these years I can finally say out loud: I do not want to be the face of a company. I do not want to speak at conferences or on podcasts or do workshops in order to try and sell you a product. I do not want my value determined by arbitrary gamified metrics like how many video views or blog post views or company sign-ups I generate in a landscape that is completely out of my control. I do not want to be perceived. For being perceived is breaking me, and I need to put myself back together.
This paragraph is basically "I hate DevRel work".
Unfortunately, doing those things for a company is the point of the job. If they hated this, then burnout was inevitable. Streaming to a couple hundred people on Twitch and traveling the world for workshops and getting paid for it sounds fun to a lot of people pursuing DevRel, but the part about looping it back to a company's best interests has to be at the core of it.
In practice, "what's actually best for the community" (growing a community of engaged engineers who feel listened to and who understand what you're doing) is not necessarily easy to show by metrics. I think the author is making a subtler point that, even if you don't hate DevRel work, the most useful kind of work is often unappreciated or devalued by decision makers.
I’m not sure I ever met a “DevRel” or similar person that didn’t eventually just come out as the “good cop” sales rep while the “bad cop” sales rep is negotiating with the CFO.
Even the ones who didn’t actively push whatever company they worked for like a commission based sales person, the only reason they are in the room in the first place is to support whatever company technology they work for. I always found it to be a bit gross of a job.
15 comments
[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 48.3 ms ] thread> As for what the future holds for whitep4nth3r, I’m actually not sure. I know I’m not that important in this vast and strange ever-evolving world; I know this won’t affect many people in the grand scheme of things, but I’m sure some of you will be wondering if I’ll still be around.
So I'm not sure your criticism makes any sense
dead-dove.jpg
It is also a post located on her own personal website, which naturally contains information about herself and is focussed around herself.
I don't think there is any 'mistake' here.
I personally thought the post was quite interesting and I honestly felt a strong desire to subscribe. It's a shame they're shutting down.
I've known some great DevRel people, but it's a difficult role. The company can frequently have very different ideas about what DevRel should look like than the person hired into the role. The best DevRel people I know spent their time doing things to fill in gaps left by the company such as providing better documentation, example repos, and filtering through all of the noisy chat across Discords and subreddits to get additional feedback into the company. For the right person it can be fun, but playing cleanup crew and trying to keep customers happy by patching all the holes left by other teams gets old.
I don't know this person specifically, but from the way they write it's obvious that they like doing Twitch streams, podcasts, and workshops, but they don't like doing it for a company:
> After all these years I can finally say out loud: I do not want to be the face of a company. I do not want to speak at conferences or on podcasts or do workshops in order to try and sell you a product. I do not want my value determined by arbitrary gamified metrics like how many video views or blog post views or company sign-ups I generate in a landscape that is completely out of my control. I do not want to be perceived. For being perceived is breaking me, and I need to put myself back together.
This paragraph is basically "I hate DevRel work".
Unfortunately, doing those things for a company is the point of the job. If they hated this, then burnout was inevitable. Streaming to a couple hundred people on Twitch and traveling the world for workshops and getting paid for it sounds fun to a lot of people pursuing DevRel, but the part about looping it back to a company's best interests has to be at the core of it.
Even the ones who didn’t actively push whatever company they worked for like a commission based sales person, the only reason they are in the room in the first place is to support whatever company technology they work for. I always found it to be a bit gross of a job.
Anyone have a different experience?