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Comment by c0balt | Hacker News Reader

That was an interesting read, thank you for sharing your perspective somewhat transparently.

I wonder how other industries with "producers" handle these kind of marketing efforts. How do you advertise/ market to a mechanic or farmer? I see some on YouTube but that obviously can't be everything.

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It kinda gets a bit door-to-door sales-ish-esq in those industries. Trade shows, publishing reports driving out to the farm and hand delivering them, shaking hands with the farmers. If you distill this article down to 1 tenant, its sales isn't sales, it's relationship building. I built devrel team at DigitalOcean when it started, and I'd be damned if I let anyone onto my team who was a seller. When I hired Mikeal Rogers I said something along the lines of: "You go make the js community happy, do whatever will help them grow, tell them what we're doing, ask them what they need, and spend your budget on helping them" - he crushed it, one of the best people I've ever hired in my career, never sold once, not even a whiff of it. I almost lost my job every quarter running things how I did... till the day I didn't, and that was the day I got promoted. Most people are scared to do community building the right way, but when you do, it works extremely well.

I enjoy community building as well and it’s why I organize the python Atlanta (pyATL) group. It is all about the community but also the individual. Having the goal of getting to know each person and working to align what we offer with what they want. People mostly want a place to belong and grow. Where they feel nurtured and supported. Without the pressure of constantly having to buy shit. When you put people first great things happen.

I think this person's role is directly comparable to the traditional "applications engineer" at chip companies who sell to electrical engineers. It is really exactly like this where apps engineers are both technical support and marketing at the same time. Maybe less conference talks and more webinars.

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