Hi there, my name is Richard and I like dinosaurs. Somewhat more pertinently, I have recently joined Vonage as Director of Developer Relations and therefore have the incredible privilege of leading our amazing developer relations team. I got into DevRel almost a decade ago because I loved helping other developers succeed. After all these years as both a developer advocate and a manager, that's still what gets me excited about my work. I genuinely think this is the best job in all of tech and I sometimes have to pinch myself that I actually get to do this.

My new job at Vonage is to support all the lovely and amazing people in our developer relations team. So instead of talking too much about myself, I wanted to take this opportunity to talk to you about the team instead. The first thing you should know about them is that they are awesome. In addition, I think it's helpful to understand that they are really, really nice. Also, they are fantastic. Which is great, because, in the same way that my job is to support them, their job is to support you, our developer community.

Let's have a quick look at some examples of how they are doing this!

SDKs and Tools

Whether you're into Ruby or Python, .NET or Java, iOS or Android, Node.js or PHP, we've got an SDK for you! Did you know that our SDKs are built by the developer advocates? Now you do! That's not all they're building, though. From the Vonage CLI to our UI Web Components, they are always working hard to make sure you have to tools you need to succeed with our APIs.

Content

In addition to writing a lot of code, the team is also creating tons of amazing content for you. If you're reading this article, you probably already know about our blog posts and tutorials, but don't miss out on all the great video content we are recording. We're also on Twitch. All of this content is designed to help you get started and make the most of our APIs, so have a look around!

Events

We love events, most of all because they are a wonderful opportunity to meet you, our community. It's been a bit of a rough time for events recently, but that only makes our community team even more excited and ambitious for 2022. Stay tuned to our community page for the latest details on when and where to find us. Don't forget to say hi and grab some swag!

Startup Program

Finally, we've been hard at work building a world-class startup program. We want to help you build a better company and a better product, by connecting you to the best resources, people, and of course communication APIs. You can find all the benefits and apply to join on our startups page. In the meantime, why not have a look at our Startup Spotlight series showcasing some of the companies that are already part of our ecosystem?

Dinosaurs

Did I mention that I like dinosaurs? I guess that this is technically not related to the developer relations team, though everyone is extremely patient with me whenever I nerd out on dinosaurs in our team meetings. (I did mention that they are really nice, right?) Anyway, I've you've made it this far and you come across me at an event in the future, just say the magic word and you'll get one of my secret dinosaur stickers! (The magic word is “dinosaurs”.)

In conclusion, dinosaurs are cool, this is an amazing team, and we are here to help you! Please reach out on Twitter to let us know how we can make your experience as a developer even better. You can find me @sueselbeck and the team @vonagedev. See you out there!