What Is a Developer Advocate and How to Become One

By ZipRecruiter Marketplace Research Team

A developer advocate promotes the interests of developers and helps make it easier for them to use platforms for their work. In this job, you are the voice of a community of developers who may have insight into enhancing or changing a product. Your duties are to listen to the issues that developers are having while using a platform, research possible ways to address these problems, and bring them to the attention of the company that makes the product. You also help ensure that developers can perform their work easily by having access to all the features and capabilities of the software.

To become a developer advocate, you need to meet a variety of qualifications, including several years working in the application development and user experience fields. Most employers prefer you to have a bachelor’s degree in computer science and for you to be knowledgeable about the product or software you advocate. You need to have technical skills and be able to understand the specific issues that a community of developers may be facing when trying to use a particular platform. Other essential skills for this career include public speaking, strong verbal and written communication, and the ability to listen to people’s concerns and develop actionable plans for addressing them.