Ep36: What is a Developer Advocate + Balancing Digital Consumption

This week, I explored the Javalin Java framework and project decisions I'm trying to make. I also answer: What exactly does a Developer Advocate/Evangelist/Devrel do? Finally, I reflect on an article on balancing digital consumption with actual productivity.

Episode Transcript

(00:05):
You are listening to the BreaktimeTech Talks podcast, a bite sized tech
podcast for busy developers, where we'llbriefly cover technical topics, new
snippets, and more in short time blocks.
I'm your host, Jennifer Reif, anavid developer and problem solver
with special interest in data,learning, and all things technology.
This week, I'll talk about exploringan existing project using the

(00:28):
Javalin framework for Java and howI plan to iterate on that project.
I also get asked sometimes about whata developer advocate, as well as any
similar job titles, actually does.
To close us out, I read an article on howdigital consumption can hinder our work.
The first learning I did this weekwas exploring an existing project

(00:50):
that a colleague and I had builtfor the Graphacademy Building
Applications with Neo4j and Java course.
And I'm reviewing this courseright now, trying to see how
I can improve and simplify it.
So iterate on the course andjust try to make it
better overall.
And so I'm exploring the existing projectthat the application or that the course

(01:11):
builds is using the Javalin framework,which is a lightweight Java framework.
And it's different from Spring.
So my background,
most of what I know is building Springapplications, and so I'm kind of excited
to explore Javalin a little bit more andunderstand how things work outside of
the Spring world. But my question rightnow, and the thing that I'm trying to

(01:34):
grapple with, as I'm sure many developersdo when they're looking at updating an
existing project, is whether to buildfrom scratch from the ground up, basically
rip and replace the application that'sthere. Because, right now, there's a lot
of additional functionality and featuresthat are built into the application,
and while that's super interestingand helpful, I want to peel back those

(01:56):
layers just a little bit and startwith something super introductory and a
starter project and then allow studentsto build out from there and what they're
interested in, either as optional lessonsor maybe a future course or something
like that. But the general battle I'mhaving right now is whether to peel back

(02:17):
all those layers at once and build itfrom the ground up again, or whether
to hack away at those extra piecesthat we don't need and scale that down.
The trouble I have often had when I try tojust slash code and remove things that
don't feel necessary is that you end upwith a non working solution because you

(02:39):
missed something. Either when you wereremoving pieces, you missed a reference
somewhere, or somehow you
ripped extra pieces out and you need togo back and add a couple of things in
to make something work, because it wasusing extra things in order to pull all
these pieces together and, and so on.
So a lot of times you add additionalcomplexity and debugging when you just try

(03:01):
to hack away sections rather than buildingfrom the ground up all over again.
But on the other hand,it seems kind of silly.
We have a really good starting point
and good functionality already as is.It seems a little silly to start all
the way at the beginning and buildall the way from the ground up again.
So this is my debate thatI'm having right now.
We'll see where I end up on that.
But I'm really excited to play withJavalin and a little bit more again, coming

(03:23):
from a Spring background to exploresomething else and learn about a little
bit more about how things work outsideof building applications in Spring.
Now, I often also get asked,what is a developer advocate
or developer evangelist?
Sometimes you'll hear evendeveloper relations, developer
relations engineer, and so on.
Lots of different flavors of this.

(03:44):
I've always, since I was a kid, reallyliked spelling and etymology, which
if you're not familiar what that wordmeans, it's the study of the origin
of words and the way in which theirmeanings have changed throughout history.
That was a definition pulled off ofGoogle. But it's really understanding what
the word means and how it has originatedand how it has grown or changed over time.

(04:08):
Helping understand the words helpsus better understand the context and
what things are doing and how wordsare functioning within sentences
and what we actually mean by them.
So if you actually break apart the termdeveloper advocate, it is advocating
for developers, which means thingslike technologies, processes, features

(04:29):
that make things better or easier fordevelopers, developer advocates will
advocate, or encourage, recommend,help teach, and so on, those things.
So they're advocating for easier,better ways to do things for
developers, for technical professionals.
A slightly different job titleis called developer evangelist.

(04:50):
And just looking at the term evangelist,it's a zealous advocate of something.
Often this is put into,religious context, someone who is
advocating for a particular faith.
But, in this context, ofcourse, we're talking about
developers.
They're evangelizingtechnology for developers.
They're advocating for technologies.
You also hear the term developer relationsor devrel, it's often shortened to.

(05:15):
And really, this is exactlywhat it says it is as well.
It's building relationships withdevelopers or tech professionals
and their communities.
All of these three terms or job titlestechnically have slightly different
meanings, but often they overlap,
they vary depending on thecompany and the person doing them.
And yes, developer advocates,evangelists, DevRel will work for

(05:38):
a particular company and they'lloften advocate that company's tech.
But I see developer advocates as servingmuch broader needs for advocating the
best technology for a particular problem,they know what a technology handles
really well, where its weaknesses are,and when they should recommend it and

(05:59):
when they should not, and maybe evenwhat they should recommend instead for
a particular problem that doesn't fitthe tech they normally advocate for.
Often for responsibilities, that meansdeveloper advocates need to keep up
on the latest trends and technologies.
So if they want to recommend a technology,they need to know what all is going on
in the space and what are the new thingsand existing things and how they're used.

(06:21):
Then they also need to buildthings and actually use the tools.
This could be applications, it could behelping with systems and integrations,
it could be all sorts of demo projectsand so on, but it's just actually using
the tools so that they understand andknow how to put them into production
and how to help users with that.
Then often, developer advocates willcreate content about a technology,

(06:44):
how to use the technology, thefeatures it has, and how to implement
those or best utilize them, thingslike best practices, and so on.
So teaching others and creatingcontent that help others learn
and fully use the technology.
Then last but not least isdeveloper advocates will often
educate tech professionals.
They'll help them learn things, understandhow things fit together, help them

(07:05):
build things and make them successfulwith technologies and stacks and so on.
Again, often it varies depending on thecompany you work for or the person who's
doing the job, what kind of prioritiesthey have and the focuses they have.
But all of these things kind of blendand developer advocates often end

(07:26):
up doing a lot of different things.
I have been a developer advocate forthe last seven years now, and it's a job
that I really love, and just enjoy thelearning and the interacting with other
developers and tech professionals, andjust working with technology and exploring
it, and sharing what I've learned.
The article that I came across thisweek is called Digital Consumption

(07:48):
Keeps Me From Getting Better At My Job.
This was a little bit of anegative perspective, which
I didn't anticipate going in.
What really caught my eye was thetitle and the fact that consuming media
or content, technical content in mycase, sometimes will distract you or
pull you away from actually producingthings and building things, right?

(08:13):
It actually prevents you from utilizingit because you're so busy consuming.
And that's what I thought thisarticle was going to be about.
And in some cases, it is, but it veersoff and goes into some other things.
But the author does talk about theoverwhelming amount of content that's out
there and the drive and push and almostnatural internet vibe to just consume

(08:38):
more and more at a faster and faster pace.
You end up never feelingcaught up, or at least I don't.
There's always something new, there'sthe latest technology that's just
come out, there's a new feature ofsomething, there's things that I
need to dig into and learn, there'sprevious releases that I'm not even,
up to date on or know what's going on.
And so it can feel very overwhelmingjust to keep up on the technological

(09:00):
side, but then not even looking atother things like improving speaking
or adding to my repertoire in specificareas or just exploring what other people
are doing in technology and the thingsthey're building and playing around with.
We often end up in this kind of doomscrolling or unhealthy consumption,
and that's where things like, socialmedia or the Netflix keep watching

(09:24):
mentalities end up just feeding that andcreating this cycle of, of just consuming
and never
actually utilizing andproducing from that.
The author talks about this somewhat inthe article, which is also an aspect of
this, but I'll just focus in on the kindof technical application of, of this idea.
The drive to consume content is there,but then you never actually have the time

(09:48):
to turn around and utilize what you'reconsuming and put that into practice.
Or at least you never feel like you do,because you feel like you're always behind
and have to constantly consume more.
But the author talks a little bit moreabout needing a balance between consuming
content and learning at a slower andmore gradual pace, so you have time
to really soak it in. And then actuallyapply and implement the learnings that

(10:13):
you have, so build something out of that.And I thought this was really interesting.
The author talks about knowingthyself, which is a quote from the
article know where the cutoff or theline should be on helpful educating
consumption of information, and thenyou need the time in order to produce
an output and actually implement whatyou've learned from the consumption.

(10:36):
So I thought this was a really interestingaspect that you need to balance the
consumption piece of it and then actuallythe output of what you've learned, right?
I really enjoyed that part of itand thought this fit right into some
of the things that I'm dealing withor feeling at this point in time.
This week I started digging into theJavalin framework and exploring it

(10:57):
for updating an existing project.
Then I explained the oftenconfusing job roles of developer
advocacy, developer evangelism,developer relations, and so on.
Finally, I wrapped up with an interestingarticle about how it's important to have
a personal balance between consumption andproduction in order to be successful and
knowledgeable and how that balance can bea battle in a very fast-paced digital era.

(11:20):
As always, thanks forlistening and happy coding.