I have been involved in communities all my life. From participant to leadership roles, communities are something I grok.
It was with great interest I read about the “deep tech” team inside of its Developer & Platform Evangelist (DPE) unit. There are several names in that interview that I have crossed paths with – these folk are great developer’s advocates.
The usual folk that we expect are known as “developer evangelists“. There are quite a number of them on this list (rather lengthy).
I reckon the DPE term is overloaded. More than a year ago I was approached to do said job at Microsoft (they filled the position some eight months later). It was made clear that it was a Senior Sales Leader position.
This is a Senior Sales Leader position with responsibility for building a strong public profile which includes press, public speaking and key thought leadership opportunities; to meet with customers and partners across the country; to experience sales and strategic development; and to ensure the success of an exciting and diverse set of marketing programs.
So beware titles as they get overloaded and the original meaning is forgotten.
References: Platform Evangelism, Technology evangelism.