Fireside with Voxgig

It’s episode TWO HUNDRED! And what a two hundred episodes they’ve been, from public speaking, to Developer Advocacy, to our recent focus on the API space, it’s been an incredible journey, and we want to thank you our listeners above all, for sticking with us, and inspiring us to stay curious, and keep seeking out those in the DevRel world and beyond, so we can all learn from them together.

Today’s guest couldn’t be more appropriate, as we feel the wonderful Steven Coochin sums up so much of what we do here on the Fireside podcast, from his bold ideas, to his empathetic outlook and his staunch commitment to an open source world.

Steven is the chief innovation officer at Lilypad. A returning guest of the podcast, he joins us with quite the update on his endeavours. Lilypad, as Steven describes it, is the way he and his team intend to democratise AI, doing off-chain compute, with on-chain guarantees. I*if you've ever dabbled in creating an AI product (and we have), you’ll know the costs associated can be prohibitively expensive, due in large part to the heavy duty GPUs required.

Well Lilypad acts as a sort of Airbnb for GPUs, leaving you free to build your product, instead of messing around with cloud providers who can barely support their own systems, let alone yours. They’ve recently exploded in popularity, and Steven talks us through his whiplash of seeing their user number collect a few extra zeroes at the end.

And of course, it wouldn’t be a Fireside with Voxgig episode without Richard and Steven diving into the DevRel aspects of his work, and how integral an open source model is to the heart of Lilypad. Thank you again to all of our listeners, and lastly to our wonderful guests. Here’s to a hundred more!

Reach out to Steven here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/developersteve/

Check out Lilypad here: https://blog.lilypadnetwork.org/

Find out more and listen to previous podcasts here: https://www.voxgig.com/podcast

Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly updates and information about upcoming meetups:

https://voxgig.substack.com/

Join the Dublin DevRel Meetup group here: www.devrelmeetup.com

We're nearly at our 200th episode! As that day approaches, we invite you to listen to this throwback from last year of Richard's discussion with Tejas Kumar. We'll be back next week with a brand new guest for you to enjoy and learn from!

Richard and Tejas cover fresh ground in today's episode.

Watch out for the discussion of DevRel vs DevSell. Tejas talks us through the difference. And he gives wonderful insights in to an often under valued need – how to pace yourself at conferences. To be able to do this is crucial for physical and mental health.

Reach out to Tejas here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tejasq/

Also mentioned in this episode:

Vercel https://vercel.com/

Cloudflare https://www.cloudflare.com/

React https://react.dev/

Platformatic https://platformatic.dev/

Vitaly Friedman https://twitter.com/vitalyf

Find out more and listen to previous podcasts here: https://www.voxgig.com/podcast

Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly updates and information about upcoming meetups:

https://voxgig.substack.com/

Join the Dublin DevRel Meetup group here: www.devrelmeetup.com

Continuing our commitment to bring you voices rom across the DevRel ecosystem, we'd like to take a look back at Richard's talk with Louise Ogilvy, a recruitment specialist for all things developer related, from July of 2023. Louise defines roles clearly, helping companies and start-ups creating developer tooling to get from idea to market. She recruits for the entire product cycle: Product, build and go-to-market.

What has Louise noticed in the last few years in software development? Well, pressure on developers and awareness of developer burnout is one trend, including burnout of DevRel professionals. Dedicated VCs and investors for DevTools and start-ups building tooling for developers is another positive.

And Louise provides very clear expression of the confusion and challenges in getting DevRel accepted as a valuable function. Add in a difficulty of performing in an organisation that doesn’t fully understand and appreciate the value of DevRel professionals. So the setting of expectations around the role is becoming more important and through that, career progression.

Marketing awareness functions are not easy to measure, so while it might be nice to say we’re not worried about measuring the impact of DevRel on the business, what about the personal contribution or performance of individuals that might wish to know how they are being perceived and supported?

Listen to Richard and Louise discuss the complexities of DevRel’s acceptance in organisations. Real food for thought.

Find out more and listen to previous podcasts here: https://www.voxgig.com/podcast

Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly updates and information about upcoming meetups: https://voxgig.substack.com/

Join the Dublin DevRel Meetup group here: www.devrelmeetup.com

Diversity and inclusion have been firmly in the “could do better” section of The tech industry’s report card for quite a few years now. But in this episode from November of last year, Furkan Karayel is determined to change that. This was the second time we had Furkan on the show, and we were delighted to welcome her back for an update and further insight into her endeavours.

Furkan is an ex-software engineer who pivoted to the diversity and inclusion industry. Her journey began fifteen years ago at an international company, where she took note of the gender disparity that was prevalent. She is now the founder of Diversein, where they provide companies with action based solutions to their diversity and inclusion problems.

She speaks to us about the business side of diversity and inclusion. If companies have a problem with their environment, it can lead to major retention problems, which tend to be pretty expensive. Cutting this down by helping companies create welcoming and fulfilling environments for all of their employees is one of the main ways Diversein’s solutions can help companies shave down their expenses.

To add to this impressive list, Furkan is also an author, having released her acclaimed book “Inclusive Intelligence”. If you like this episode, that’s where you can find more of Furkan’s words and advice.

Reach out to Furkan here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karayelfurkan/

Check out Diversein: https://www.diversein.com/

Find out more and listen to previous podcasts here: https://www.voxgig.com/podcast

Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly updates and information about upcoming meetups:

https://voxgig.substack.com/

Join the Dublin DevRel Meetup group here: www.devrelmeetup.com

“You're only as good as your last delivery”. This phrase may apply best to ambitious UberEats drivers, but when it comes to providing non-food based services, it also neatly fits in the DevRel and Product Managing world. We're joined once again by Jock Busuttil, for an update on his work at Product People, and to gain his thoughts on the wider product managing space (and why Product Management is starting to look more and more like product marketing).

The level of crossover between DevRel and Product Management means that we not only share our victories, but also our struggles, and Jock speaks to one of the most common problems he's seen: people struggling and sometimes entirely failing to communicate their worth to those at the top.

Another issue - adaptability. Context is absolutely everything, and a solution that might have worked flawlessly for one client might be devastating to another. Knowing when to make adjustments and put the “rulebook” aside is a key skill, and one that the new influx of applicants to project management roles would do well to remember.

It was great to catch up with Jock on this episode, and hear what he's been up to. We hope you enjoy it!

Reach out to Jock here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbusuttil/

Check out the Product People here: https://productpeo.pl/

Find out more and listen to previous podcasts here: https://www.voxgig.com/podcast

Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly updates and information about upcoming meetups: 

https://voxgig.substack.com/

Join the Dublin DevRel Meetup group here: www.devrelmeetup.com

Rory Madden, Co-Founder of UXDX, joined Richard on this episode of the podcast from last year, to talk us through his journey to creating one of the most dynamic, barrier-free conference series’ in tech. UXDX (UX being user experience, DX being developer experience) was born from Rory’s frustration when he couldn’t figure out how to implement innovative solutions in the companies he was working in, and he was always looking for case studies of people who had done it before him, as a way to boost his colleague’s confidence in new ways of doing things. His partner Catherine had a wealth of conference experience, so they decided to collaborate. They created UXDX, under the principle of connecting people from across every stage of the development process. Rory talks about how the attendees of UXDX may work in a huge number of different fields, but underneath it all, they’re all united by a common interest - getting things done. It’s what the conference is all about. Many of their attendees have common frustrations; projects getting shelved or dropped with no explanation from their higher-ups, lack of transparency, etc. Rory feels the solution for this comes down to communication. Management sharing their vision with developers can help immensely when developers need to make decisions that require knowledge of the company’s overall goals. Lateral communication between different workers at the same level is another key element, and something that UXDX is just the place for. Rory has a varied background in product development, and he dives into the pros and cons of really catering to your superusers, or going the other direction and changing things up to try and impress the people who just feel “meh” about your product. This decision applies to conferences too, as he reveals that he himself has thought about trying to cater UXDX for more of a niche audience. But ultimately, the multi-faceted crowd is what makes UXDX such a special event. We also hear from him on the topic of community building, and how you begin that task from the ground up. The trick seems to be avoiding loaded expectations. Like product development, your desire to foster a community should stem from the desire to solve a problem that you see around you, and UXDX is truly a wonderful example of this.

Reach out to Rory here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rorymadden/

When we relaunched the Fireside with Voxgig podcast over a year ago, Caelen King was one of our first guests and even then, it was obvious there were tech layoffs happening. But Caelen gives great advice to non-tech founders and leaders about hiring - no matter what the market dynamics may be.

So we're publishing this again for new listeners to the podcast. Richard and Caelen talk specifically about how non-technical founders can find developers, build their MVP and then scale that MVP. Caelen is an angel and startup adviser, and a founder. His previous startup, WhatClinc.com, was an online marketplace for health services, and as he'll tell you himself in this podcast, that is probably one of the most difficult types of business models to make work.

We learn from Caelen how to manage the development of your technology when you are a non-technical founder. And there are two key lessons that come from this podcast, the first being, don't build anything and the second being that an early-stage startup should think about its positioning with respect to hiring software developers, in the same way that it should think about its positioning when it comes to product. As a startup, you are always selling. The most effective way to sell is to sell to a niche.

Reach out to Caelen here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caelenking/

Find out more and listen to previous podcasts here: https://www.voxgig.com/podcast

Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly updates and information about upcoming meetups:

https://voxgig.substack.com/

Join the Dublin DevRel Meetup group here: www.devrelmeetup.com

It’s been a minute since we’ve had an episode focused on public speaking, but we cannot think of a better person to bring the topic back than Kris Jenkins. Kris is a developer advocate, software developer and host of the Developer Voices podcast.

Kris gives us some practical and most importantly actionable advice for any public speakers - whether you’re doing a one-off speech, weekly talks, or even a podcast! Kris’s approach to stagefright (many people’s barrier to the practice of speaking) is simple but effective. If you choose to run, it’s fear - but if you choose to approach, it becomes excitement. As with many things, a mentality shift, rather than a physical one, can make the difference in truly hacking your own body’s pitfalls.

On composition, Kris believes in structuring ideas before and above content. After all, a speech, no matter how technical, is ultimately a story. And a story’s plot can be the most exciting innovative creation ever written, but if the structure doesn’t make sense, then sitting through it will be nothing less than painful (see Game of Thrones finale for reference).

This chat is full of great takeaways, amongst them that if you want to be an interesting speaker, you must first be interested in the world around you; that it’s not your job to imitate flashiness, but to take genuine inspiration from those who you truly admire; and last but not least - that you should buy a clicker! Unchain yourself from the laptop and enjoy your freedom!

Reach out to Kris here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krisjenkins/

Check out the Developer Voices podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@DeveloperVoices/videos

Find out more and listen to previous podcasts here: https://www.voxgig.com/podcast

Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly updates and information about upcoming meetups:

https://voxgig.substack.com/

Join the Dublin DevRel Meetup group here: www.devrelmeetup.com

We’re back with some brand new episodes! Kicking us off in style is the wonderful Carmen Huidobro. Carmen is the Head of Developer Education at DevCraft Academy, and she’s got some amazing insights into everything from the philosophy of language and learning, to the pros and cons of being a “generalist” in tech.

On this episode, we get into the question of whether nature or nurture can more deeply impact a person when picking up skills like coding.

Carmen draws our attention to the phrase “A jack of all trades is a master of none” and reveals to us the second half - “but oftentimes is better than a master of one”. As a DevRel, the ability to switch between different roles at the drop of a hat, is the very thing that gives the job a purpose.

However, there are of course downsides to this path. Carmen describes to us her problems with having a lack of specialist branding in her work. After being told her CV “could be three different people”, she decided to, at least on paper, put herself in a slightly more marketable box - a somewhat reductive step that all of us must surely take at one point or another, before being allowed to fully embrace our wonderful unmarketable selves.

Reach out to Carmen here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carmen-huidobro/

Find out more and listen to previous podcasts here: https://www.voxgig.com/podcast

Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly updates and information about upcoming meetups:

https://voxgig.substack.com/

Join the Dublin DevRel Meetup group here: www.devrelmeetup.com

Last year, Richard spoke to Maria Ashby, developer advocate at Kubeshop. She talked all things Kubernetes, community building, and how developer monoculture is a thing of the past.

Back in the days of an early version of Voxgig, Richard and the team got a crash course in Kubernetes which left more questions than answers. If Maria's work with Kubeshop had been around then, that might not have been the case. Kubeshop is a Kubernetes accelerator, which applies the power of Community and collaboration to open source projects focused on Kubernetes tooling.

A major benefit of Kubeshop? Speed. In a world where the first to market is essentially the "winner", speed is essential. The way we used to do this was to simply onboard more people. More people means more code, right? However, the work from Kubeshop, and other accelerators means that even the smallest teams of developers can now complete mammoth sections of work in a fraction of the time.

Another element of this is community. The way of holing yourself up in a dark room by yourself for 3 days is out and the way of sending out an email is in: "Can anyone help me figure out "x"? I'm really struggling with it?"

Maria touts the benefits of asking for help and support instead of trying to power through it alone. It makes sense, as before getting into DevRel, she was teaching Python to kids. A tough crowd as Richard notes, but an excellent training ground for the work she's gone on to excel in.

The conversation also covers events and speaking, another notch to Maria's belt. She speaks about the power of connection online vs in-person, and how if you want people to come to your event, you have to offer them something on the day itself - something they can learn, that they can get excited about. She hits on a note we come back to often on Fireside; progress is not linear. You can have a thousand viewers one day and five the next - but if those five people are there because they care about your work, that is totally invaluable.

Reach out to Maria here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-ashby/