Fireside with Voxgig

Awards are often maligned for being more concerned with who you know, rather than what you know. But can developer awards be an outlier in the field? According to Laura Vass, our guest on today's episode, they absolutely can.

Laura is the Co-Founder of Pronovix, an open source developer portal. She is also one of the organisers of the DevPortal awards. She joins us today to chat about setting up and running an industry award, and how her own sensitivities to others has been an asset in navigating different personalities in the space.

As well as all of the above, Laura is the host of the podcast API The Docs, leaving us in awe of how she has had any time to chat to us about her many pursuits.

On Pronovix, she tells us about their start as a self-organising company, before it had become trendy, and how they are navigating the transition to a more organised structure amid their increased growth.

Reach out to Laura here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauravass/

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’ve got an episode for our writers out there today! Ryan Donovan joins us to discuss his 15 years of experience in technical writing, and just how that experience is serving him in his current role - senior content marketer at Stack Overflow.

One thing to know about Ryan is that he is a stickler for getting technical details right, a great quality to have in a technical writer. He even stays away from audience suggestions for topics, as he is careful to always be confident and accurate in his writing. He hosts a podcast under Stack Overflow, as well as writing their newsletter.

As Richard acknowledges, you may need a technical mind to master computer science, but for a technical writer, a willingness to learn anything and everything might be a more apt skill.

Ryan discusses the benefits of being your own harcore tester, treating your own technical writing as if you’ve never seen it before. If you can’t follow your own writing, then you can be pretty sure no one else will either! This a wonderful, writing-focused episode, we hope you enjoy it.

Reach out to Ryan here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-donovan-1477b64/

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

Don’t you just love a familiar face? We certainly do here on the Fireside with Voxgig podcast, as we’ve got another guest coming back for a catch-up interview! Sandy Dunlop is a mythology expert and brand identity consultant. He helps brands to define their identity with the help of ancient myths and legends.

In his last appearance on the podcast, he told us about the power of storytelling. This time, he brings us some fascinating insights on how ancient Irish communities mirror the modern advent of Developer Relations. It might seem like a jump, but this discussion is full of amazing a-ha moments of recognising connections between these two worlds!

It all starts with the oral tradition. We can already see the connection here with meetups and conferences. The ancient Irish communities relied on storytelling to bond and gather socially, but also to pass on important messages to their community and their descendants. How do you make sure a message gets passed around? You write it in the format of an exciting story. As Sandy points out, the people in a community, even today, with the most respect, are not always the people in power. Often they are the people who speak directly with the community, who listen to them and actively provide resources. In fact the modern developer advocate may not be so different from the ancient bard with their harp, singing ballads of battles and romances.

This is somewhat of a break from our usual discussions here at the Voxgig podcast, but in a way it's one of the most insightful and apt discussions we’ve had yet. This is a special one, be sure not to miss it:

Reach out to Sandy here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandy-dunlop-7637101/

Check out Sandy’s services here: https://www.alexanderdunlop.ie/

Or here: https://bardmythologies.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

Today we’re speaking to Tun Shwe. Tun is the VP of data/DevRel at Quix, and he came on to chat to us about Quix’s work creating real time data developer tools and he also gives us an insight as to his experience working at a completely Python focused company.

Catering to only one programming language may sound like a dream (especially to those running APIs and struggling to please everyone), but there’s still a lot of hardcore engineering that goes into their daily routines.

Python may be one language, but like every language it has dialects and accents, some of which are so distinct as to almost qualify as their own thing. The diversity in how and why people use the language means that Tun and Quix are very much kept on those toes, despite the concept of a singular language implying simplicity.

Lastly, he goes into how his own experience learning from open source has influenced him in his staunch support of the continuing use of open source to educate and spread ideas.

This is a wonderful episode for those curious as to the inner workings of a single language organisation.

Reach out to Tun here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tunshwe/

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

Stephanie Prenderville is here to tell us why and how generative AI is on its way to making us more human than ever. Stephanie is a talent development director and Founder of People, Strategy and Change consulting.

Stephanie’s curiosity, and desire to understand others has taken her across so many industries, but she’s here to tell us about the work she does to improve the way teams work and what that looks like as an optimist.

Stephanie is a proponent of the “people first” approach, and she walks us through the simple logic behind this mentality and why it should currently be spreading like wildfire.

We were delighted to have Stephanie on for this chat, and we can’t wait for you to hear it.

We’re taking a deeper look inward on this episode of the podcast, with today’s wonderful guest, Julie Hubschman. Julie is the head of developer APIs at FIS. If you haven’t heard of FIS, don’t worry, because if you’ve ever swiped a credit card, then at least you’ve unknowingly used their services.

Julie joins us for an introspective discussion on the intersections of tech and finance, building trust with developers as a DevRel in a new position, and how she takes her frustrations on her boxing coach (so you probably shouldn’t mess with her).

Julie takes us through her role at FIS, and what it looks like when bankers meet developers. How different does it look from a regular bank? Apparently the main difference is the increase in jeans, but there’s also a few more interesting differences that can give us some insight into how these two industries might continue to form connections in the future.

If you have any curiosity as to what the inside of this giant machine looks like, this is a wonderful, heartfelt discussion, filled with much more than just career talk.

Note: Unfortunately this episode has some sound quality issues. We hope this isn't too much of a distraction, and we will be back with our usual sound next week!

Reach out to Julie here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliehubschman/

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

Today, we’re taking a step across the border between DevRel and AI, and seeing what the AI side of things has to offer. Our guest is Veronica Breene, CEO and Founder of Vesta Insights. Vesta is an AI startup looking to increase the availability of credit for all.

Veronica began working on the company under her phD in explainable AI, and when she was rapidly approached by a potential buyer, she realised that she might just have something special on her hands.

Both Vesta’s mission, and their methods are fascinating. According to Veronica, huge numbers of low-income people are refused credit every year, despite research showing that those with lower incomes often make better decisions with the money available to them.

So they’re out to find the patterns in these data sets, and challenge the outdated models used by the biggest financial institutions in the world. The results of this could be huge. With millions currently locked out of the mortgage market, this work has the potential to touch a huge variety of different aspects of modern life.

Veronica’s work is both fascinating and important, and we’re so glad she took the time to sit down and take us through it.

Reach out to Veronica here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/veronica-breene-a908bb107/

Check out the Vesta Insights: https://vesta-insights.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

If there’s one thing to take away from this episode of Fireside, it’s this: do the scary thing. The proponent of this message is none other than Jack Bridger, fellow podcast host of ‘Scaling Devtools’. This is a great one for anyone thinking of getting into podcasting, whether independently or under a company umbrella!

Jack’s background is in sales, and he takes us through how this has influenced his current DevRel practice- you don’t need to be a business whiz to be a great DevRel, but it helps to have a little bit of hustle in your blood.

According to Jack, all successful founders have something in common - they did the scary thing. They went through with actions that weren’t guaranteed to succeed. This is what separates them from those who play it safe, and this is something that Jack admits he still struggles with, as I’m sure, do all of us.

One of those scary things that we will all eventually find ourselves facing at some point, is asking people for money. Despite years of trying to get around this issue, there seems to be no life hack for this problem. In this vein, Jack discusses the unfortunate reality of cold calling, and how, despite sentiment, if it didn’t work - companies wouldn’t be doing it.

Finally, he encourages founders to find out what they’re obsessed with. If you’re obsessed with UI, then you will found a company that has great UI. If you believe DevRel is the future, then your company’s DevRel team will flourish. As a founder, you get to set the tone - so embrace it!

Reach out to Jack here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-bridger-047bb445/

Check out the ‘Scaling DevTools’ podcast: https://podcast.scalingdevtools.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

Building an audience is always a bit of a paradox for DevRels. You have a genuine desire to foster a community, so you begin creating content. Yet the more effort you put into that content, the less it seems to draw people in. A balance between effort and authenticity must be struck in order to grow - and today’s guest, Brian Rinaldi has managed to strike this balance perfectly over the course of seven years of audience-building.

Brian is the Developer Experience Engineer at LaunchDarkly, and he joins us for a chat not just about audiences, but also about his experience at the first company to roll out feature flags as a service.

He breaks down his thoughts on the online vs in person conference debate, and tells us why he believes virtual can never truly replace live events, but also - why should they? Virtual has the capacity to be its own beast, and while that can’t replicate the feeling of being a crowded room, it can open many other doors that would have been closed in other circumstances.

Finally, he takes us through his history. How did his role evolve into a DevRel position, and what did that transition look like over the course of ten years? I suppose we could call it a kind of natural selection of the technology world. We’re not sure if Darwin would be proud, or turning in his grave at that analogy.

Reach out to Brian here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianrinaldi/

Check out CFE.dev: https://cfe.dev/

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