The Art of Developer Experience Podcast

Tom Hacohen, CEO at Svix, sat down with me to share how they deliver webhooks as a service with a developer experience that places the customer at the center. Tom believes that when building developer tools, your perspective doesn’t matter; it’s all about the customer. Good documentation isn’t just about completeness and depth; it’s about simplicity and accessibility.  Brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠APIMatic⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ APIMatic SDKs help increase developer adoption of your APIs. Auto-generate SDKs with idiomatic libraries, language-specific documentation, dynamic code samples, and getting-started guides from your API definition.

Scaling Dev Tools, Podcast host Jack Bridger spent two years interviewing 100 dev tool creators to learn how to build successful products that appeal to developers. Jack and I discuss what he’s learned about engaging customers, measuring your DX, ways for your product to stand out in a crowd, and tips for collaborating with influencers. Scaling DevTools Brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠APIMatic⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ APIMatic SDKs help increase developer adoption of your APIs. Auto-generate SDKs with idiomatic libraries, language-specific documentation, dynamic code samples, and getting-started guides from your API definition.

Developer Advocate Beppe Catanese from Adyen discusses automating developer experience, API tooling, SDK generation, open API pipeline, and measuring success. They explore balancing privacy concerns, contributing to the OpenAPI Generator Project, validating source webhooks, and challenges in the project with new API flow specification.

James Higginbotham, an API design author known for his emphasis on empathy in documentation, shares his five core principles for effective API design. He discusses the critical role of understanding user needs and emphasizes that documentation should focus on real-world use cases. James also addresses the challenge of API sprawl, suggesting mapping strategies for better management. Additionally, he differentiates between SDKs and libraries, highlighting their importance in enhancing the developer experience and ensuring API longevity.

Ash Arnwine, Director of Developer Relations at Nylas, joins the Podcast. He describes the evolution of Nylas' APIs, which developers use to integrate various email and calendar platforms seamlessly into their applications. Ash emphasizes the company's commitment to “meeting developers where they are at” through robust documentation and community engagement. Nylas Brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠APIMatic⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ APIMatic SDKs help increase developer adoption of your APIs. Auto-generate SDKs with idiomatic libraries, language-specific documentation, dynamic code samples, and getting-started guides from your API definition.

Alex Patterson, the creator of CodingCat.dev and Developer Relations Engineer at FusionAuth, joins us to talk about the future of authentication. Alex educates me on Passkey and WebAuthN and explains how your mom won’t need to remember her password in the future. Alex also shares how Fusion Auth improves its developer onboarding through community, content, and product. FusionAuth CodingCat.dev Brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠APIMatic⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ APIMatic SDKs are used by millions of developers. Auto-generate SDKs with idiomatic libraries, language specific documentation, dynamic code samples and getting started guides from your API definition.

Author and founder of Every Developer, Adam DuVander, discusses the DX Index, guiding developers to resources, and attracting new developers. He shares a story of a company struggling with the wrong developers. The podcast delves into transitioning from a developer to a journalist, creating a user-friendly developer portal, and attracting developers with problem-focused content.

Amara Graham discusses challenges in hiring for developer experience team, measuring successful documentation, transitioning to external-facing developer advocacy, evolving developer platform to meet user needs, and enhancing SDKs for better API interactions.

Byrne Reese, Product Owner at RingCentral shares how he transitioned from engineering into product management and his love of building engaged and collaborative communities. He believes documentation is an investment in the long-term success of your community. We also dive into his developer pyramid as a model for companies looking to build up a developer community. RingCentral Developer Portal Developer Pyramid: A Tool for Building Developer Programs Brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠APIMatic⁠⁠⁠ APIMatic SDKs are used by millions of developers. Auto-generate SDKs with idiomatic libraries, language specific documentation, dynamic code samples and getting started guides from your API definition.

Caroline Lewko, author and co-founder of devrel.agency, discusses audience segmentation, building personas, and the value of understanding the developer journey. Topics include internal vs external DX, the role of a C-Level DevRel, and the importance of clear boundaries in developer experience.