Most of the time, I reply to recruiters, tell them I’m happily employed, and share a few places where they can find DevRel professionals or post job descriptions. When my current boss reached out, I ignored the message for almost a month. It was early December, and the holidays were coming around, so I was busy at work and in life. I was also newly pregnant and wasn’t interested in entertaining conversations about job shifts. I didn’t know at the time that everything I thought was going so well in life was about to come crashing down.
In early January, my husband and I had a miscarriage. We have three beautiful children; this was the first time we had lost a pregnancy. We were devastated and felt lost. There was also a lot of unnecessary drama and stress with my current role that started to bubble up in late November and intensified in early January. Not hearing from my manager after I shared I needed the week off to mourn my pregnancy loss was just the beginning.
I replied to my now boss to learn more. I entertained a conversation, offered some advice, and shared a few candidates I thought would be a good fit for the role. It wasn’t that the position wasn’t exciting, but I was dedicated to trying to make my current role work. I had built a team of 5 DevRel professionals in a matter of months, and I wanted to continue to guide and mentor them. My husband and I were also trying to decide if we would try again or take this loss as a sign that we were already blessed and whole with our three children. It didn't seem like the right time for a new role.
Eventually, I entertained the interview process and met a handful of people from the Snap team. Everyone I met was awesome. It was one of the best interview experiences I’ve ever had. My interest was increasing as I expanded conversations with their team.
Fast forward to today, and so much has changed. I’ve been at Snap for seven months and have a month left before I go on maternity leave. I never imagined I’d find out I was pregnant and start a new job just a few weeks later. In retrospect, Snap and my new role were everything I needed. They have an incredible maternity policy, great benefits, and, best of all, a role that is exciting & challenging but far from stressful. My entire family has noticed the changes in my mood and overall well-being.
I’m learning all about Augmented Reality and the Snap ecosystem and have been incredibly excited about supporting Camera Kit. My team is tasked with serving our developer partners and ensuring they find success with Camera Kit, Creative Kit, & Bitmoji. We have launched a community forum and office hours to scale developer support, defined & improved the developer journey, audited and advocated for developer experience improvements, built strong stakeholder relationships, and impacted many parts of the org. Our strategy for 2023 is exciting, and I can’t wait to return from maternity leave—in 5 months—and see everything we’ve accomplished.
I love my job, and it’s refreshing to be able to say that.
I’ll be on maternity leave from late October to the end of March. I’ll be entertaining some speaking & community engagements during this time, so long as they’re remote and require minimal effort & preparation on my side.
Most of the time, I reply to recruiters, tell them I’m happily employed, and share a few places where they can find DevRel professionals or post job descriptions. When my current boss reached out, I ignored the message for almost a month. It was early December, and the holidays were coming around, so I was busy at work and in life. I was also newly pregnant and wasn’t interested in entertaining conversations about job shifts. I didn’t know at the time that everything I thought was going so well in life was about to come crashing down.
In early January, my husband and I had a miscarriage. We have three beautiful children; this was the first time we had lost a pregnancy. We were devastated and felt lost. There was also a lot of unnecessary drama and stress with my current role that started to bubble up in late November and intensified in early January. Not hearing from my manager after I shared I needed the week off to mourn my pregnancy loss was just the beginning.
I replied to my now boss to learn more. I entertained a conversation, offered some advice, and shared a few candidates I thought would be a good fit for the role. It wasn’t that the position wasn’t exciting, but I was dedicated to trying to make my current role work. I had built a team of 5 DevRel professionals in a matter of months, and I wanted to continue to guide and mentor them. My husband and I were also trying to decide if we would try again or take this loss as a sign that we were already blessed and whole with our three children. It didn't seem like the right time for a new role.
Eventually, I entertained the interview process and met a handful of people from the Snap team. Everyone I met was awesome. It was one of the best interview experiences I’ve ever had. My interest was increasing as I expanded conversations with their team.
Fast forward to today, and so much has changed. I’ve been at Snap for seven months and have a month left before I go on maternity leave. I never imagined I’d find out I was pregnant and start a new job just a few weeks later. In retrospect, Snap and my new role were everything I needed. They have an incredible maternity policy, great benefits, and, best of all, a role that is exciting & challenging but far from stressful. My entire family has noticed the changes in my mood and overall well-being.
I’m learning all about Augmented Reality and the Snap ecosystem and have been incredibly excited about supporting Camera Kit. My team is tasked with serving our developer partners and ensuring they find success with Camera Kit, Creative Kit, & Bitmoji. We have launched a community forum and office hours to scale developer support, defined & improved the developer journey, audited and advocated for developer experience improvements, built strong stakeholder relationships, and impacted many parts of the org. Our strategy for 2023 is exciting, and I can’t wait to return from maternity leave—in 5 months—and see everything we’ve accomplished.
I love my job, and it’s refreshing to be able to say that.
I’ll be on maternity leave from late October to the end of March. I’ll be entertaining some speaking & community engagements during this time, so long as they’re remote and require minimal effort & preparation on my side.
Read Next
DevRel is Sales
Have you ever given a presentation, had a developer ask you questions afterward, and later that same developer became a customer? Who influenced that sale?
Best of AR Beyond Snapchat: Using Camera Kit for Mobile Apps & Websites during Lens Fest 2023
Navigating the DevRel Job Market
Developer Relations aka DevRel is an ever-changing landscape as the industry becomes more widely known and evolves. The tech industry, in general, is seeing a shift in hiring prioritization and an increasing number of layoffs most recently. I’ve watched many of my DevRel peers find themselves laid off looking
My DevRel Strategy Breakdown
I've found that most Developer Relations professionals struggle with defining strategy & measuring success. I myself have been through many strategy format revisions before landing on the best for my teams. We don't have a magic user manual for DevRel or even all that many industry