
Community Pulse
Community Pulse is the spot for Developer Relations and Community professionals who are looking for information on building technical communities. Community Builders and DevRel veterans Jason Hand, Mary Thengvall, PJ Hagerty, and Wesley Faulkner interview experts in the field of Developer Relations and Community Leadership on a broad range of topics related to building community.
Latest episodes

Aug 18, 2023 • 18min
After Pulse: Defining Your Role Before Someone Else Does
Don't miss our hosts as they delve back into their takeaways from their conversation with Angie and Evan about the importance of clarifying and concentrating on your role.
Enjoy the podcast?
Please take a few moments to leave us a review on iTunes and follow us on Spotify, or leave a review on one of the other many podcasting sites that we’re on! Your support means a lot to us and helps us continue to produce episodes every month. Like all things Community, this too takes a village.

Aug 10, 2023 • 39min
Defining Your Role Before Someone Else Does (Ep 81)
Learn how to define your role and defend your team from tasks that don't belong. Establish credibility, explore new roles, and leverage relationships to delegate requests. Discover book recommendations and insights on AI and developer relations.

Jul 12, 2023 • 14min
After Pulse: Who are the Ops Behind the DevRel Curtain?
Tune in to PJ and Mary as they revisit their insightful discussion with Danielle and David on the subject of devops.
Enjoy the podcast?
Please take a few moments to leave us a review on iTunes and follow us on Spotify, or leave a review on one of the other many podcasting sites that we’re on! Your support means a lot to us and helps us continue to produce episodes every month. Like all things Community, this too takes a village.

Jun 23, 2023 • 47min
Who are the Ops Behind the DevRel Curtain? (Ep 80)
Many see DevRel practitioners as up front, in the spotlight, on stage, or at least with their name on lots of content. What if we told you there were people behind the scenes making community operations their priority? What does that look like, and who are the people making the lives of DevRel folks easier? That’s the topic of today’s Community Pulse episode.
Show Notes
Blogposts about Community Operations roles:
What do Community Operations Managers do? from CMX
What does a community operations manager do? from Common Room
Community Operations: A Beginner’s Guide from Commsor
Checkouts
Danielle Andrist
Make - just discovered it so I can’t vouch for it yet but it’s like Zapier on steroids
Shift - just got a new work laptop so I had to update to the newest version of Shift, I’m on the alpha release with the new workspaces and I gotta say, it’s a huge improvement from the Shift version I was using (which to be fair, was several versions old)
David Blank-Edelman
Murmurs of Earth by Carl Sagan
Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson
The Perfect Loaf by Maurizio Leo
PJ Hagerty
Rever - motorcycle rider social media
Clearword - make meetings into action item lists (not just transcription, but actual things you can take action on)
Mary Thengvall
Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper
Enjoy the podcast?
Please take a few moments to leave us a review on iTunes and follow us on Spotify, or leave a review on one of the other many podcasting sites that we’re on! Your support means a lot to us and helps us continue to produce episodes every month. Like all things Community, this too takes a village.
Artwork photo by Moses Williams on UnsplashSpecial Guests: David Blank-Edelman and Danielle Andrist.Sponsored By:DevRel Weekly: Unlike most other topics in tech, the problem with finding information about Developer Relations isn't figuring a way to sift through the myriad resources; it's finding those resources to begin with.
DevRel Weekly brings you a curated list of articles, job postings, and events on a weekly basis, saving you the time and effort of scouring the web for the latest information. Instead, you can focus on how to grow a team, prove your business value, and build relationships with your community.

Jun 9, 2023 • 33min
How We Broke DevRel as an Industry (Ep 79)
Over the course of its history, DevRel has changed and evolved, both in the day-to-day responsibilities but also in the identify of what DevRel is.
External influences as well as internal influences have changed the definitions, expectations, and roles within DevRel, for better and for worse. in this episode, we’ll talk about
what’s working
what’s not working
how we can move forward to a future where DevRel makes sense.
Checkouts
Ben Greenberg
Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters by Steven Pinke
Jason Lengstorf
The Range
Mia Moore
Chickpea Magazine: A whole foods vegan lifestyle magazine & blog
Wesley Faulkner
Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers by Geoffrey A. Moore
PJ Hagerty
Music League
Mary Thengvall
Whalebone Magazine: “a community of like-minded individuals who all believe that being delightfully disoriented and putting some fun into the world isn’t the worst way to spend some time.”
Enjoy the podcast?
Please take a few moments to leave us a review on iTunes and follow us on Spotify, or leave a review on one of the other many podcasting sites that we’re on! Your support means a lot to us and helps us continue to produce episodes every month. Like all things Community, this too takes a village.
Artwork photo by Jackson Simmer on UnsplashSpecial Guests: Ben Greenberg, Jason Lengstorf, and Mia Moore.

May 9, 2023 • 50min
Change is Good? (Ep 78)
There have been many hot takes and subtweets about the positive and negative connotations of having a robust list of companies on one’s DevRel resume. Is it a sign of success or a signal that things are more fluid than outsiders might assume? Let’s touch down on a touchy topic - DevRel Job Hopping!
Checkouts
Aisha Blake
Thirsty Sword Lesbians roleplaying game
Chloe Condon
Salute Your Skorts podcast
Mandy Moore:
Greater than Code podcast (sponsorship opportunities: mandy@devreps.com)
[Release Holistic Recovery](releaseholisticrecovery.com)
Wesley Faulkner
Radical Candor by Kim Scott
Just Work by Kim Scott
Just Work podcast
PJ Hagerty
Spotify for Developers: On the Air!
the record (new album from boygenius)
Mary Thengvall
But What If We’re Wrong by Chuck Klosterman
Enjoy the podcast?
Please take a few moments to leave us a review on iTunes and follow us on Spotify, or leave a review on one of the other many podcasting sites that we’re on! Your support means a lot to us and helps us continue to produce episodes every month. Like all things Community, this too takes a village.
Artwork photo by Nick Fewings on UnsplashSpecial Guests: Aisha Blake, Chloe Condon, and Mandy Moore.

Mar 31, 2023 • 15min
After Pulse: Suddenly Unemployed
Listen in as PJ and Wesley process their conversation with Erin, PJ Metz, and Jared and the changes in the tech employment landscape over the last few months.
Enjoy the podcast?
Please take a few moments to leave us a review on iTunes and follow us on Spotify, or leave a review on one of the other many podcasting sites that we’re on! Your support means a lot to us and helps us continue to produce episodes every month. Like all things Community, this too takes a village.

Mar 20, 2023 • 47min
Suddenly Unemployed (Ep 77)
We’ve seen a lot of strange habits when it comes to hiring DevRel folks over the past few years. But recently, a surprising phenomenon has occurred: a large-scale layoff or re-org leading to many folks in DevRel being suddenly unemployed. What are the knock-on effects we can expect from this? What are folks impacted by this doing as next steps?
Checkouts
Jarek Jarzebowski
Developer Ambassadors Motivation Survey 2023
"10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works--A True Story" by Dan Harris
PJ Metz
Current music obsession: Dan Mason - Electric Elevator 2: Second Floor
[Projectdiscovery.io](Projectdiscovery.io)
Erin Mikail Staples
GenSpace NYC
DevRelish
Labelstud.io » integrations library and hugging face spaces
Wesley Faulkner
Engineer, Male Engineer
PJ Hagerty
"Do You Talk Funny?: 7 Comedy Habits to Become a Better (and Funnier) Public Speaker" by David Nihil
Spotify AI DJ
[Open Sourcing Mental Health](OSMHhelp.org) - get ready for Mental Health Awareness month in May
Enjoy the podcast?
Please take a few moments to leave us a review on iTunes and follow us on Spotify, or leave a review on one of the other many podcasting sites that we’re on! Your support means a lot to us and helps us continue to produce episodes every month. Like all things Community, this too takes a village.
Artwork photo by Clem Onojeghuo on UnsplashSpecial Guests: Erin Mikail Staples, Jarek Jarzebowski, and PJ Metz.

Mar 1, 2023 • 20min
After Pulse: Let's Chat About AI
Wes and Jason talk through some of the nuance around using AI in devrel, including how it can benefit us and areas to be cautious in.
Enjoy the podcast?
Please take a few moments to leave us a review on iTunes and follow us on Spotify, or leave a review on one of the other many podcasting sites that we’re on! Your support means a lot to us and helps us continue to produce episodes every month. Like all things Community, this too takes a village.

Feb 24, 2023 • 42min
Let's Chat About AI (Ep 76)
As the world of Artificial Intelligence continues to evolve,it's increasingly evident that AI tools are rapidly changing the way we work in Developer Relations & Community Building.
Tools like ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot are transforming the landscape of our work by .. automating tedious and repetitive tasks ..providing valuable insights and analytics..and even helping to generate content on our behalf.
However, the integration of AI into our industry also raises new questions.
Can AI truly enhance the work of DevRel practitioners and allow us to focus on different challenges.. or will it end up diminishing our creativity and impact on supporting developers?
How do we make sure AI is used ethically and responsibly?
And what impact will it have on the future of not only DevRel, but software development in general?
Join us as we explore the exciting world of AI in Developer Relations on this episode of "The Community Pulse".
Checkouts
Chris DeMars
3 Ways Feature Flags Could Have Saved Jurassic Park
I’ll be at Orlando Codecamp in March; DEVNEXUS in Atlanta, Georgia, in April; and Chain React in Portland, Oregon, in May.
Rizel Scarlett
DevRel for Black Developers
Finding Me by Viola Davis
BlackRel Discord - a discord for Black folks in Developer Relations - sign up form
Wesley Faulkner
Elk Alpha - A nimble Mastodon web client
The ChatGPT Cheat Sheet
Jason Hand
8 Things You Didn’t Know you Could do with GitHub CoPilot
Platonic : How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make--and Keep--Friends by Dr. Marisa G. Franco
Learning From Incidents Conference (in Denver)
The Darker Side of ChatGPT
ChatGPT for writing technical articles and documentation
Developer Docs + GenAI
AI Tools
Caption: For Talking Videos
NVIDIA: Eye Contact
Descript
Grammarly
Interesting Articles
The Darker Side of ChatGPT
ChatGPT for writing technical articles and documentation
Developer Docs + GenAI
Enjoy the podcast?
Please take a few moments to leave us a review on iTunes and follow us on Spotify, or leave a review on one of the other many podcasting sites that we’re on! Your support means a lot to us and helps us continue to produce episodes every month. Like all things Community, this too takes a village.
Artwork photo by Emiliano Vittoriosi on UnsplashSpecial Guests: Chris DeMars and Rizel Scarlett.
Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts
Save insights instantly, chat with episodes, and build lasting knowledge - all powered by AI.