For the past year, I’ve been working as a Developer Advocate at 100ms, a company focused on live audio and video infrastructure. My work involves helping developers integrate SDKs and APIs into their products.
I’m still learning, but I think I can share a few useful insights for anyone curious about Developer Relations, especially Developer Advocacy.
Who is a Developer Advocate?
A Developer Advocate sits between the product team and developers.
The role has two sides. One is creating content to reach developers. The other is taking feedback from developers and sharing it with the internal team.
The goal is simple. Make it easier for developers to adopt and use your product.
As someone once said:
A Developer Advocate is someone who truly advocates for developers, not just a platform. Developers should be the top priority.
What does a Developer Advocate do?
The job is to support developers through their full journey. From discovering a product, to learning it, to integrating it, and eventually recommending it to others.
The Adoption Funnel
A big part of DevRel is helping at every stage of adoption.
You attract developers with simple content. Then help them go deeper with guides, demos, and documentation. Over time, you help them build real things.
How I approach this
I focused a lot on creating top-of-the-funnel content. Mostly YouTube videos and blog posts.
For a live audio-video company, this meant explaining things like WebRTC and building video calling apps. This helps developers discover the product and also helps with SEO.
If someone is trying to add WebRTC to a Flutter app and finds your content, they learn something useful. And if they like it, they might try your product.
Speaking at events also helps. You meet developers who are actively building. Some need help right away. Others remember your product later.
I also worked on demos. Demos show what your product can actually do. They spark ideas.
One example was a project where whiteboard shapes could turn into live polls. It showed a real use case and helped developers think of their own.
Collaborations also help. Working with other tools or platforms expands reach and creates better examples.
Whenever new features are launched, writing about them helps developers understand how to use them. It also shows what your product is capable of.
Documentation is another big part. If docs are bad, developers struggle. So improving docs is always worth the effort.
I also created guides and templates for common use cases. This makes it easier for developers to get started quickly.
How to become a Developer Advocate?
Many companies hire for DevRel roles. The exact role can vary, but it usually sits somewhere between code, content, and community.
There’s a common idea:
DevRel is whatever your company needs it to be.
Before getting into it, it’s worth asking why you want to do it.
For me, I started as a developer. I focused on mobile development and got good at it. While learning, I shared what I knew through blogs and videos.
This helped in two ways. It improved my technical skills and also helped me get better at explaining things.
Being able to explain complex ideas simply is a core skill in DevRel.
I also spoke at events. That helped me get comfortable speaking and meet more developers.
Over time, I built connections with organizers and developers. I also stayed active in communities.
If there’s one takeaway, it’s this: start somewhere.
If you're a developer, start writing or making videos.
If you're a student, focus on building strong technical skills and join communities.
If you're applying, build projects using the company’s product and share your learnings.
Resources
Here are a few useful resources if you want to go deeper:
- Developer Journey Map by DevRel.Agency
- DevRel Strategy Breakdown by Tessa Kriesel
- Measuring Developer Relations by swyx
- Articles by Lee Robinson on DevRel and developer experience
Final Thoughts
This was based on my personal experience, but I hope it gives you a starting point.
If you found this useful, check out:
- 10 Lessons from YC Startup School India — Product-building lessons from YC
- What Happens When AI Writes Most of the Code? — The future of developer roles
- Building in Public: Why I'm Starting This Blog — On documenting the journey
Thanks for reading.