A cold invitation to developer marketing

Back then, there was just digital marketing. Then product marketing. We’d segment audiences, figure out what they need, fear, and want. We’d find where our product fits, then build campaigns to fish.

Developer marketing isn’t so different. Except, once you identify this audience, you don’t fish. You sit with them. You learn their pain points. You plug into their workflow. You speak their language. And you earn the one thing that moves the needle: trust.

I’ve written a lot about developer marketing. Most of it lives on The New Stack and Hackmamba. But I noticed something. Nearly every piece out there speaks to companies. They explain why developer marketing is worth investing in or how to structure a better strategy. Even the best ones focus on frameworks, not the people stepping into this field.

To be clear, there are some great pieces guiding newcomers. Some, like Jakub Czakon’s A Developer Marketing Guide, approach it from the lens of a CMO breaking down tactics. Others, like Arabella David’s work, explore developer marketing as a career path, using ikigai and career-growth reflections. I’m linking to those in the article because they’re worth reading.

But this one is different. This is an invitation.

This is for the creative techies. The technical writers who think in stories. The engineers who enjoy explaining how things work. The marketers who feel strangely at home in a GitHub repo. If you’ve ever felt caught between being creative and technical and couldn’t find your fit, this might be it.

In the following sections, I’ll walk you through what developer marketers do, the skills that help, where you might specialize, and how I found my way here.

At the very least, you’ll leave with a clearer picture. If it clicks, that might be your sign.

Table of Contents

What exactly is developer marketing?

The intro already gave you a brief insight. Developer marketing is simply “marketing to developers,” but there’s a lot packed into those three words.

The name itself throws people off. It gives the impression that developers are this strange, fragile species that need their marketing category. Meanwhile, everyone else gets lumped into a one-size-fits-all funnel and cannoned with the same pitch deck.

But if we’re being honest, maybe developers are different.

Do you know what it takes to learn multiple languages, battle obscure bugs, make sense of abstract architecture diagrams, and still ship something that works? It’s not a casual hobby.

Still, developer marketing isn’t about idolizing developers. It’s about meeting them where they are, respecting how they think, understanding what their job requires, and partnering with them to make that job less frustrating.

Developer marketing is defined by what you enable developers to do. Not by what you say about your product.

You sit somewhere between product, education, storytelling, and community. You show, don’t push. You guide, don’t hype. You don’t just say “we’re built for devs.” You prove it through every page, prompt, and click.

What does that look like in practice?

Developer marketing could be:

Segmenting your dev audience beyond “frontend” and “backend” and figuring out who needs your product
Building positioning that doesn’t sound like enterprise software trying to be hip
Writing docs that help developers get unstuck faster
Creating API guides that assume intelligence, not prior knowledge
Shipping tutorials that speak to the real job developers are trying to do
Running ads that teach something useful
Auditing DevX flows and removing unnecessary friction
Shaping content strategies that match real developer workflows
Supporting GTM with campaigns that respect developer time and trust

You learn who developers are, what they need, and how your product fits that picture. Then you go build the bridge.

Developer marketing is why your product gets picked, shared, and trusted when done right.

Why do we need developer marketers?

I could quote that GitHub survey about how developers have suddenly become decision-makers. You know the one, where it says 60% of devs can approve or reject tools now, unlike before when they were just expected to integrate whatever was handed to them.

But I’ve used that line too many times, mostly when writing for executives and trying to make a point.

Here, I’d rather be honest with you.

We need more developer marketers because more companies are building tools for developers. Dev-facing, dev-enabling products that are brilliant under the hood but don’t speak for themselves. Someone has to translate that brilliance into something developers care about. Someone has to connect the dots.

Digital marketers walk into this space and sweat thin. I’ve seen it up close. I work in a developer marketing agency, and I’ve watched smart, experienced people struggle to reach developers because they don’t understand how to talk to devs or earn their trust.

So companies make do with DevRel hires, community folks, or developer advocates. Yeah, those roles are important. But they’re usually brought in when the product is stable and scaling. What about before that?

You need someone to handle the unglamorous parts, like segmentation, targeting, and positioning. All developers are not the same. You don’t market a CI/CD tool the same way you’d market a React library or a backend SDK. If you skip that thinking, nothing else will click.

Once that strategy is in place, you bring in DevRels and advocates to amplify it.

Developer marketers are the ones who lay the groundwork. The ones who get the story straight so the rest of the team has something to build on.

What do Developer Marketers actually do?

You probably won’t see any job description that says “we’re hiring a developer marketer” (at least, not yet). Maybe that’s why Adam DuVander titled his book Developer Marketing Doesn’t Exist (just joking).

This role often hides under regular marketing titles, such as head of marketing, content marketer, SEO manager, product marketer, or digital strategist, except that you’re playing in a much more challenging field.

At the core, your job is to understand developers, know the product, and connect the two in a way that builds trust and leads to adoption. The execution depends on your focus—content, product launches, events, docs, or SEO.

Here’s what the work tends to look like:

Day-to-day or weekly work might include:

Researching developer pain points and how they describe their problems
Turning technical features into language people understand and want to try
Working with PMs, engineers, and DevRel to plan campaigns or create assets
Writing or reviewing docs, blog posts, tutorials, landing pages, or campaign briefs
Supporting a product launch with messaging, positioning, or content rollouts
Tracking performance: traffic, signups, time to value, conversion points

Monthly or quarterly work might look like:

Auditing your GTM efforts and suggesting refinements
Reworking old assets to match the new product direction
Proposing a new initiative: a series, a learning hub, a workflow demo
Collaborating across teams to plan cross-channel campaigns
Helping with hiring and onboarding new writers or advocates
Building playbooks and systems that make repeat work easier

You don’t have to do all of this at once. Some roles go deep on SEO and content. Others lean toward strategy and go-to-market planning. It depends on the company and your mix of skills.

But at the root of it, you’re helping developers succeed faster with fewer blockers. Everything else branches out from there.

Skills and specializations that make you dangerous (in the best way)

A tech CEO once messaged me out of the blue:

“Henry, do you know any other marketing person who understands software engineering?”

That request sheds more light on the primary skillset of a developer marketer.

Since we’re at the center of creativity and technicalities, developer marketing needs someone who’s not afraid of complexity. One who can sit with a technical product and figure out how to explain it without killing what makes it valuable.

If that sounds like you, here’s what you’ll need in your toolkit:

Core skills that keep you useful:

Technical literacy: Most developer marketers are early to intermediate developers who switched paths. You don’t need to code every day, but you should understand how the product works, how developers think, and how your tool fits into their workflow.

Fast learning and broad tech understanding: Developer marketers often work across DevOps, AI/ML, data platforms, and cloud tooling. I’ve had to move between all of these as a content strategist, and I wouldn’t have been effective without the ability to learn fast and get just technical enough. The more surface area you can cover, the more valuable you become.

Writing or editing: Especially for technical or instructional content. The ability to balance persuasion with logic.

SEO and discovery: Knowing what developers search for, how they search, and what earns trust when they land on your site.

Strategy: You should think in systems: user journeys, content funnels, and go-to-market plans. The ability to plan and connect dots across teams makes you indispensable.

Empathy: Not softly or vaguely. You should be able to look at a feature, spot what’s confusing, understand why, and figure out how to fix it.

Bonus skills. Product analytics, onboarding experience, documentation reviews, or anything that helps you understand the developer journey and tie adoption to action.

Where people specialize

Not every developer marketer is a generalist. Some go deep. Others go wide. These are the common focus areas:

Content and SEO: Guides, tutorials, technical explainers, onboarding flows, and keyword-driven pieces that make discovery easier.
Product marketing: Messaging, launch playbooks, feature positioning, and internal alignment across teams.
Developer Relations (DevRel): This is the broader umbrella that covers advocacy, education, community, and feedback. Some developer marketers overlap here or work alongside these teams.
- Developer advocacy: Creating demos, speaking at conferences, explaining technical tools from the inside, and translating feedback into product ideas.
- Community management: Running dev communities, organizing events, engaging on forums, and keeping feedback loops alive.
- Docs and DevX: Improving onboarding, shaping information architecture, writing or reviewing documentation, and making the learning curve easier.
Campaigns and growth: Building thematic pushes across channels like email, social, ads, and product announcements. Often tied to launches or key business goals.

You don’t have to fit into one bucket. And you don’t need to check every box. Some people arrive through writing. Others through code. Others through events or support. This niche rewards people who can connect dots, spot patterns, and say, “I think I can help here.”

What are the different developer roles we market to?

Let’s fix a mindset problem before rounding this up.

When people hear “developer marketing,” most think of “developers” as one big group—the same type of content, channels, and tactics.

That’s lazy thinking.

In reality, “developers” is just a surface label. Underneath are wildly different segments with unique roles, pain points, goals, and ways they evaluate tools. You cannot treat a DevOps engineer the way you’d treat a machine learning engineer or a JavaScript developer building frontend tools.

I’ve written about this on Hackmamba and The New Stack, so I’ll link those at the end for full context. But here’s the takeaway:

Software developers aren’t a monolith.

Some are knee-deep in infrastructure. Some are building UIs. Some are running data pipelines. Others are scaling backend services. Each works in a different stack and has different ideas of what “good” looks like.

So if you’re getting into developer marketing, you can’t stop at “we’re targeting developers.” You need to go three layers deeper.

Here’s how to think about it:

1. Start with the segment

What kind of developers are you speaking to?

DevOps Engineers care about automation, collaboration, and operational efficiency.
Cloud Architects think in terms of scalability, reliability, and cost optimization.
Data Engineers want to move and transform data through reliable pipelines.
AI/ML Engineers focus on model performance, deployment workflows, and data quality.

These audiences respond to different angles, incentives, and messaging styles.

2. Understand what they’re trying to solve

You’re not marketing to a job title. You’re helping a person solve something annoying or ambitious.

DevOps folks might be dealing with slow deployment times.
Data engineers could be struggling with maintaining airflow DAGs.
ML engineers want faster experimentation environments.

Good developer marketing picks a pain point and shows up with a fix, not a pitch.

3. Learn where they pay attention

Developers don’t browse the web the same way other personas do. Most of the time, they’re not “discovering” products. They’re searching for solutions.

You’ll often find them here:

Technical blogs and tutorials
Docs and changelogs
GitHub repos and discussions
Discord servers or Slack communities
Stack Overflow threads
Dev.to, Reddit, X (formerly Twitter), or YouTube
Live coding streams and conference talks

Different segments hang out in various channels. You need to map those out before spending on distribution.

4. Think like a Developer

I created the Developer Mindset diagram that breaks down how developers typically think. You’ll find it helpful.

Think: “I need solutions, not fluff.”
Learn: “Teach me something useful and I’ll listen.”
Trust: “Help me first, then I’ll try your product.”
Value: “Honest content beats marketing buzzwords.”
Do: “Let me test it. Show me where it fits in.”
Hate: “Don’t push products I didn’t ask for.”

That mindset shapes how developers evaluate tools, engage with your brand, and spread the word.

5. Respect their psychology

Most developers don’t get swayed by urgency or fear-of-missing-out (FOMO). They’re logical, curious, skeptical, and patient. Here are a few traits that show up across most technical audiences:

Need for control: they want to understand how things work
Desire for efficiency: they’re drawn to tools that save time
Intrinsic motivation: they’re learners at heart
Risk aversion: they won’t adopt your tool without proof
Focus on outcomes: they care less about features and more about impact

Once you grasp this, everything else becomes easier—your messaging, positioning, channels, and onboarding flows.

So, before you pitch yourself as a dev marketer, pause.

Ask yourself: Who exactly are you trying to help? What do they build? Where do they hang out? What’s slowing them down?

Where to start if you’re curious

If this field has your attention, start small. Try things. Ask questions. Learn out loud.

First, read Developer Marketing Doesn’t Exist by Adam DuVander. It’s not a long book, but it might be the most useful one in this niche. It’ll help you think more clearly about the job and how it works.

Then try this:

Follow dev marketing blogs like Developer MarkePear, The New Stack, Hackmamba. Keep a pulse on how the best teams talk to developers.
Pick a product you love and rewrite the homepage. Or simplify the docs. Or critique the onboarding.
Take a small freelance gig. Docs, SEO, ads, or content. You’ll learn what part of the work feels natural.
DM a dev marketer on LinkedIn, dev.to, or Twitter. I’m always down to talk shop—especially about content and SEO. Reach out to Henry Bassey here.
Join communities: Write the Docs, Dev Content Ops, Hackmamba’s tech writing community, Indie Dev Marketers. Lurk or ask questions
Learn the tools. Learn about GitHub, CMS platforms, documentation tools, analytics, and internal search systems.

This is your cold invitation to developer marketing

No need to pick between creative or technical.

Developer marketing is still taking shape. There’s no fixed path, no perfect profile.

You don’t need to have it all figured out.

You don’t need a new degree or a fancy job title: just curiosity, a bit of initiative, and willingness to experiment. The rest builds from there.

The niche needs more voices. Voices like yours.

Oh! One last thing, I promised to drop these resources. Here they are:

How to write for a technical audience – Written for The New Stack
How to advertise to developers – Written for The New Stack
What you should know about developer marketing – Hackmamba
Developer marketing doesn’t exist without DevX – In collabs with DX Heroes

I also started teaching writing design principles that improve attention, guide the eye, and bring structure and emotion to technical content.