Hacker Retention by Andrew Mager
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The document outlines strategies for engaging and retaining developers, emphasizing their unique characteristics such as creativity, independence, and a desire for constant learning. It highlights the importance of hosting various types of events, including hackathons and meetups, as well as providing incentives like premium access and recognition in the developer community. Additionally, it suggests building long-term relationships through ongoing engagement and support, rather than monetary compensation.
Hacker Retention by Andrew Mager
- 1. Hacker Retention CMX Series - 1/14/15 Andrew Mager (@mager), Developer Evangelist @ SmartThings
- 5. Understanding the hacker ethos ● Logical, inventive, pragmatic. ● Always looking for the next big problem to solve. ● Learning new technologies constantly. ● Testing the limits. ● Independent, sometimes stubborn. ● Day jobs feed their weekend hack ideas. ● Short attention-span. ● More than a developer, many personalities. PennApps, September 2014
- 6. Music Hack Day London, 2013 Developer Designer Marketing Shark Product Person Interested human BD Person
- 7. How to flirt with a developer online Swipe right. ● Add them on Hacker League, ChallengePost, Hackathon.io, Lanyrd, etc. ○ Find out what other events they like to attend. ● Find them on Github, Twitter, Dribbble, and even LinkedIn. ○ Engage with them on a constant basis. ● Developer portal, guides, examples, docs, changelogs. ● Encourage them to contribute to open source projects. ● Get their email address and send them monthly newsletters. ● Invite them to all types of events.
- 8. The best events, in order 1. Hackathons are most engaging. Hands-on feedback, solving problems, resolving bugs, and building fresh ideas into real prototypes. Wildhacks, Chicago, Nov 2014
- 9. The best events, in order 2. Meetups that you host - focus on platform updates and Q&A. Facebook Developer Garage @ SxSW 2010
- 10. The best events, in order 3. Mixers/Drinkups that you host - informal and casual. Bring Swag. Aardvark Developer Meetup, July 2009
- 11. The best events, in order 4. Hangouts - regular video conferences with the community.
- 12. The best events, in order 5. Conferences, keynotes, other company’s meetups Google I/O Party, 2011
- 13. Hacking into the sprint Continue their hack: ● Turn the hack into a product feature. ● Invite them to help build you it. ● Feature community projects on your developer portal or hack gallery. ● Invite them to future events. Music Hack Day Tokyo, Feb 2014
- 14. The risk is the reward What does a developer get for hacking on your API? ● Unlimited premium product. ● Premium support. ● Alpha/beta access. ● Swag. ● Recognition in the community. ● Maybe a job.
- 15. Achievement Unlocked: Ambassador ● Spread out geographically. ● Pay for their travel to attend events on your behalf. ● Building a new hack at every event. ● Capture feedback to improve the developer ecosystem. ● Don’t pay them cash, but reward them over time with gear/wishes. ● Students make great ambassadors.
- 16. Thank you! (We are hiring) ~@mager