The Art of Developer Experience Podcast

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.

Richard Moot, Head of Developer Advocacy at Square and API design lead at Block, discusses the benefits of collaboration between internal API consumers and the API committee. He emphasizes the importance of expecting long-term support for new APIs and shares insights on managing API changes and depreciation in companies. Additionally, the podcast explores the evolution of API design groups, integration of acquired companies with existing APIs, and the shift towards collaborative API design processes.

Developer Experience Engineer, Steve Pousty from VMWare joins the podcast. Steve has over 17 years of experience working with developer communities. In our interview, we touched on many topics including the pros and cons of placing developer-facing roles within traditional teams like engineering, marketing and support. Steve shares advice on how to handle the overlap of responsibilities between DevRel and marketing by applying the rule “Clear boundaries, infinite possibilities”. 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.

Senior software engineer at Lob, Benny Kitchell sat down with us to talk about moving from hand written SDKs to auto generated client libraries and documentation using OpenAPI Generator. Benny shares some tips for those getting started with code generation. He also shares his philosophy around testing. We wrap up with a few dev tool recommendations. 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.

Kody O’Connell, VP Developer Relations at JP Morgan, discusses the evolving role of DX in the tech industry. They delve into the importance of SDKs, transitioning into DX advocacy, and the value of human connection in developer relations. The conversation touches on authentic developer experiences, the impact of TikTok, and the future of large developer conferences.

Phil Leggetter who’s built developer experiences at Pusher, Nexmo, Vonage, Ably and most recently Tigris Data joined me to share his thoughts on documentation. What does good documentation look like and are we ready to make the move towards great documentation? When I asked Phil to place DX on a maturity timeline, he responded that  developer experience is at the young adult stage, then reminded me that a lifecycle metaphor involves a “rebirth”. Adding the next iteration of developer experience needs to be a rebirth that incorporates AI technology and a change in the way developers interact with technology. 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 specifications.

Luke Kilpatrick, developer marketing leader, discusses trust-building with developers and contrasts different views on developer experience. He cautions against demand generation metrics, explores evolution of developer relations, and emphasizes the importance of internal relationships in new companies. The podcast also covers shifting to ecosystem partnerships, enhancing developer skills at Nutanix, and the evolving role of developer experience.

Brian Rinaldi, Developer Experience Engineer at LaunchDarkly joins us to discuss the role of SDKs to enable integration of feature flags in multiple environments. Brian’s work involves creating technical guides, code samples and tutorials to support emerging technologies. Launch Darkly Astro 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 specifications.

Former Product Owner for Xero’s Developer Platform, Richard Fortune, joins the podcast to discuss how persistent engagement helps developers grow along with your technology. He share’s how the tight feedback loop between Xero’s developer advocates and his product team was a super power for pushing the developer experience forward. Richard also touches on the API health dashboard built to promote better behavior by surfacing KPIs on API usage to developers. 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 specifications.