Developer Relations, by Roan Weigert
I lead developer relations at GMI Cloud. This page collects my 15-article DevRel series, two free tools, the work behind them, and the events where it happens. Start with the article that matches your question.
What I mean by developer relations
Developer relations is the job of helping developers succeed with a product, then bringing what they learn back to the people who build it. I spend my weeks on three things: building examples that run, teaching what I built, and listening to the developers who try it.
It sits between engineering, product, and marketing, and it only works when the output is concrete. A demo someone can clone. A guide that gets someone to a first result. An event where people leave with something finished. A bug report with steps to reproduce.
The series below walks through each part of that work with my own projects as the examples. The two tools come from my own research and my own operating plan.
Build
Demos, reference apps, and walkthroughs that developers can clone and run.
Teach
Documentation, tutorials, videos, workshops, and talks that get someone to a first result fast.
Listen
Community questions, bug reports, and feedback summaries that change the roadmap.
Where it happens: events and community
Hackathons, demo days, workshops, booths, and the podcast studio. This is the work the articles describe.
GMI Summer Signal at the Exploratorium, San Francisco
Jevathon hackathon with CodeRabbit, San Francisco
GMI Cloud booth at The AI Conference
Agent Memory Night at AWS, SF Tech Week
MCP workshop on long-form AI video, Santa Monica
Scale at GMI demo day
Judging an AI for Good hackathon
On stage for GMI Cloud
Recording the podcast with Fireworks AI at BayHaus Creative Studio
Running a developer workshopThe DevRel series
One article a week, in order. Each one uses my own projects as the example, with photos and links you can check.
AI developer relations through the lens of 1,600+ videos
Roan Weigert shares how 1,600+ videos shape his AI developer relations work, with practical lessons on demos, documentation, team leadership, and learning.
Published Oct 27, 2026Read the article →What does a developer advocate do? Examples from my work
What does a developer advocate do? Roan Weigert shares lessons from inference workshops, CIO writing, agent projects, and developer feedback.
Published Nov 3, 2026Read the article →What does a developer relations engineer build?
Explore developer relations engineering through Roan Weigert’s paper-analysis system, generative-video research, and world-model hackathon project.
Coming Nov 10, 2026How to build a developer advocate portfolio
Build a developer advocate portfolio with evidence: repositories, research, speaking recordings, authored articles, and clear project contributions.
Coming Nov 17, 2026Developer relations careers and US salary ranges: my hiring research
Explore Roan Weigert’s October 2026 DevRel hiring research, advertised US salary ranges, recurring skills, and examples of relevant portfolio evidence.
Coming Nov 24, 2026Developer documentation that helps people build: my GMI Cloud approach
Explore developer documentation through GMI Cloud screenshots, quickstarts, and video walkthroughs, with practical lessons from Roan Weigert.
Coming Dec 1, 2026How I create technical content for developer education
Roan Weigert connects studio production, technical demonstrations, research, and expert interviews to create useful developer education.
Coming Dec 8, 2026How to build an engaged developer community
Build developer community through workshops, hackathons, university sessions, and practitioner roundtables, with real photos from Roan Weigert’s events.
Coming Dec 15, 2026How I design developer workshops around a finished project
Design a developer workshop around a finished project, with Roan Weigert’s approach to exercises, teaching checkpoints, and mixed-experience groups.
Coming Dec 22, 2026Developer relations metrics: my 30-day goals and event scorecard
Roan Weigert shares his 30-day DevRel targets for demos, blogs, community, events, partnerships, and product feedback, with evidence for each goal.
Coming Dec 29, 2026How to build a developer relations program in 90 days
A 90-day DevRel plan from Roan Weigert: choose an audience, test a first-build journey, run a pilot, and establish a useful review rhythm.
Coming Jan 5, 2027What a developer relations manager does: my approach to team leadership
Roan Weigert explains DevRel leadership through shared briefs, technical reviews, production handoffs, community feedback, and clear ownership.
Coming Jan 12, 2027The developer relations tools I use for research, demos, and video
Roan Weigert’s DevRel tools: Screen Studio, Claude, Codex, Perplexity, Wispr Flow, Google Docs, video editors, research tools, and thumbnail generation.
Coming Jan 19, 2027Developer advocate interview questions, with examples from my projects
Prepare for developer advocate interviews with Roan Weigert’s project-based examples covering technical judgment, teaching, community, and leadership.
Coming Jan 26, 2027How to run an AI hackathon that helps people build
Plan an AI hackathon with a clear brief, useful partner roles, build checkpoints, and a showcase. Roan Weigert shares an event operations guide.
Coming Feb 2, 2027
Two free DevRel tools
Built from my own research and my own operating plan. No sign-up.
DevRel Salary Explorer
Advertised pay bands from 87 US job listings. Filter by role, level, city, and pay basis. Every row links to the original posting. CSV download.
Open the explorer →DevRel Metrics Scorecard
Set 30-day targets for demos, articles, community, events, and product feedback. Record evidence, see your status, download a PDF.
Open the scorecard →The work behind the articles
Every article in the series points at something real: a deployment, a video, a paper, or an event. Here are six.
Running NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Nano Omni on GMI Cloud
A multimodal model deployed step by step, recorded as I went. Our most-saved walkthrough that week.
Nemotron 3 Ultra on GMI Cloud, day 0
Launch post and a working demo on the day the model dropped.
What 32 teams built for the World Cup in one day
Filmed and edited the recap myself. 2k views in the first 24 hours.
I analyzed every IEEE top paper from 2025
An AI workflow over every 2025 IEEE top paper, and what mattered. Still my most-read article.
23 films in one afternoon
What happened at the AI Filmmaking Masterclass + Hackathon: 195 applications, 23 films screened.
AI events in San Francisco and Los Angeles, fall 2026
Hackathons, demo days, MCP workshops and booths: what each was about and what I learned.
About Roan Weigert
I am a Senior Developer Relations Lead at GMI Cloud in San Francisco. I build with AI infrastructure, film the story, and share what works: walkthroughs, launch demos, documentation, workshops, and events. Before DevRel I worked as a software engineer and a video producer, and I still do both every week.
Everything on this page comes from that work. The articles use my own projects as examples. The salary data is my own research. The scorecard is my own operating plan.
- Senior Developer Relations Lead, GMI Cloud
- IEEE Access paper on cost-efficiency of generative video models
- Host, AI Insights San Francisco podcast
- Founder, AI Filmmaking Masterclass + Hackathon
- AI Leadership Award
- Hackathon judge and speaker across the Bay Area
Questions about developer relations
What is developer relations (DevRel)?
Developer relations is the work of helping developers succeed with a product, and bringing what they learn back to the company. In practice it means building working examples, writing documentation and tutorials, teaching at workshops and events, running a community, and turning developer feedback into product decisions.
What does a developer advocate do all day?
A developer advocate builds demos, writes guides, answers questions, speaks at events, and reports what developers struggle with. The balance changes by company. Some roles are mostly engineering, some mostly teaching, some mostly community.
How do you measure DevRel?
With targets, counts, and evidence in three groups: delivery (demos, articles, events), participation (readers, community questions, contributed demos), and feedback (bug reports, insights for product). My free DevRel Metrics Scorecard does this in one page.
How much do DevRel roles pay in the US?
In the 87 US job listings in my Salary Explorer, direct DevRel bands ran from about $129k to $265k a year. Senior advocates sat around $150k to $215k. The explorer shows every band with its basis and a link to the source.
How do I get into developer relations?
Build a public body of work: a demo people can run, a guide that gets someone to a first result, a recorded talk, and a community you help. Then pick roles whose duties match that evidence. Articles 2, 4, and 14 in the series cover the role, the portfolio, and the interview.
Who writes this?
Roan Weigert, Senior Developer Relations Lead at GMI Cloud in San Francisco. I host the AI Insights San Francisco podcast, run the AI Filmmaking Masterclass + Hackathon, and published a peer-reviewed IEEE Access paper on the cost-efficiency of generative video models.
Hiring for DevRel, or building a program?
I am happy to compare notes on demos, documentation, community, and events. The fastest way to reach me is LinkedIn.
DevRel AI Engineer, turning AI infrastructure into stories builders use.
© 2026 Roan Weigert. All rights reserved.
San Francisco, California