What is DevRel?
Developer Relations (DevRel) is about building bridges between tech companies and developers. The goal is to help developers better understand, use, and get the most out of the tools available to them, while also ensuring that companies improve their products through real user feedback.
DevRel typically involves several key activities:
- Content creation – blog posts, documentation, tutorials, and technical guides.
- Community engagement – participating in events, meetups, forums, and online discussions.
- Developer support – answering questions, providing guidance, and sharing best practices.
- Product feedback – relaying insights from developers to internal teams for continuous improvement.
At Clever Cloud, we take a different approach to DevRel: instead of making it the responsibility of just one team, we believe it should be a company-wide effort.
DevRel and Clever Cloud
Developer Relations (DevRel) is more than a role or department at Clever Cloud—it’s a philosophy embedded in how we engage with developers. We believe that helping developers is the best way to improve the ecosystem, and we take a unique approach: DevRel is not the responsibility of a single team, but rather a shared effort across the company.
In this post, we’ll explore why DevRel matters to us, our guiding philosophy, why we support developer communities, and how every Clever Cloud employee is encouraged to contribute to DevRel in their own way.
Why DevRel Matters to Clever Cloud
Clever Cloud exists to help developers deploy and run their applications without friction. But great technology alone isn’t enough—we need to ensure that developers can understand, adopt, and make the most of what we build. That’s where DevRel comes in.
DevRel helps us:
- Bridge the gap between engineering and developers: We turn technical expertise into accessible knowledge.
- Improve our platform: Direct interactions with developers provide valuable feedback.
- Strengthen our ecosystem: Engaging with communities helps build long-term trust and advocacy.
- Ensure developers succeed: Their success is our success, and DevRel helps them navigate the challenges they face.
Our DevRel Philosophy
At Clever Cloud, our approach to DevRel is shaped by a few core principles:
1. Honest, Useful Content
We don’t do marketing-driven, hype-filled DevRel. Instead, we focus on useful, technical content that genuinely helps developers—whether or not they use our platform.
2. Helping First, Selling Later
Our goal is to support developers without pushing our product. We write blog posts, contribute to open-source projects, and share knowledge because we believe in giving back to the community. The more we help, the more developers trust us, and some will naturally become Clever Cloud users.
3. Community-Driven, Not Self-Centered
We don’t try to own the conversation. Instead, we engage where developers already are—meetups, conferences, online forums—and participate as peers, not promoters.
4. Learning and Teaching
DevRel isn’t just about broadcasting knowledge; it’s also about listening and learning. Engaging with developers helps us improve our platform and understand real-world challenges better.
Why We Support Developer Communities
We believe that strong developer communities make the entire industry better. By sharing knowledge, supporting events, and contributing to open source, we help create an environment where developers thrive.
Here’s why it matters:
- Developers need spaces to learn and grow: Community-driven learning is powerful.
- Open knowledge benefits everyone: The more we share, the better tools and best practices become.
- Long-term trust beats short-term gains: By supporting developers, we build lasting relationships rather than chasing quick wins.
DevRel as a Shared Responsibility
At Clever Cloud, DevRel isn’t just for the DevRel team—it’s something every employee can (and should) be part of, regardless of their main role. We encourage and support everyone to contribute in ways that fit their expertise and comfort level.
How Non-DevRel Roles Contribute:
- Engineers write technical blog posts about the challenges they solve.
- Support and sales teams share insights from customer interactions.
- Product teams participate in community discussions and gather feedback.
- Everyone engages with developers on social media, conferences, and forums.
By distributing DevRel across the company, we get more diverse voices, authentic perspectives, and deeper technical expertise in our developer engagement.
How We Make It Work
To encourage company-wide DevRel participation, we:
- Support employees in writing and speaking by providing guidance and mentoring.
- Make time for contributions so DevRel isn’t just “extra work.”
- Provide internal platforms for knowledge-sharing (like internal tech talks and documentation improvements).
- Encourage open-source contributions as a way of engaging with developers.
Conclusion
At Clever Cloud, Developer Relations is more than a job title—it’s a shared effort to help developers succeed. By making DevRel a company-wide initiative, we amplify our impact, ensure authenticity, and build stronger connections with the developer community.
We’d love to hear from you! Whether it’s through blog posts, meetups, conferences, or open-source discussions, let’s keep the conversation going. Follow our blog, join us at events, and connect with us online.