So you want to work in Technical Marketing or other associated roles?

This post has originally appeared on my website. Click here for the full post.

Does working in Tech Marketing appeal to you? Or another associated role, maybe Dev Rel, or a similar title?

Are you looking for the next career ladder step, or do you already have your heart set on this goal?

Yeah, I’ve been there, too, and as time passes, I’ve considered writing this post for a while.

Why? I think it’s because I like the sound of my keyboard clacking away as I type words. No, in all seriousness, I’ve been in this role for a while now, and somewhere on this timeline, I believed I had something worth sharing.

There’s also a slight irony highlighted to me in writing a blog post on this subject of being a blog post writer; maybe I should record a video, too!

Figuring out why you want this role!

If there is one piece of advice I can give anyone with their heart and mind set on a specific next role, it’s to figure out why you want that particular role. And be completely honest with yourself, whether it’s money, getting away from a shitty boss or colleagues, furthering your experiences, or even just because it’s an interim step to something else.

Most people I know who work in the technology field at some point want or have wanted to work in the role generally known as “Technical Marketing”, myself included (and currently I do).

Most of the time, it stems from meeting someone in the role, either at a conference or watching a presentation delivered by someone in this role. Next, you learn about the supposed glitz and glamour of the role, the travel to various conference rooms across the area, maybe even the globe, working with your latest favourite technologies, and seemingly endless knowledge about a particular area.

You may pick up a slight sense of sarcasm in that last paragraph, and that’s because I remind myself of the rose-tinted glasses I wore looking on at those who worked in vendor-land as I yearned to make a move across. Unfortunately, I have to dispel a myth for you now. It’s not all first-class flights, full-expense trips, and parties across the globe; sometimes, you must create PowerPoint presentations!

I already do the tech marketing role anyway, kind of!

Another common reason for people wanting to move into this role, which I found myself using, is that I already host a blog, write technical content, create videos, speak at conferences, and basically have an opinion on how to X, Y and Z in tech.

If you fall into this bucket, let me tell you that’s a fantastic asset and experience to have already; it sounds great in interviews, too! So keep doing it. Unfortunately, when you move to the golden role, you’ll find that it matters a lot to have this experience, and not at all, both at the same time, frustratingly.

Wait, is this blog trying to put me off working in Tech Marketing?

No, not at all. It’s a great, varied role we’ll explore further shortly. However, the role is potentially not what you’d expect, either.

You need to be flexible and adaptable, which, to be honest, is a great trait to have when working in any role! But in technical marketing, you’ll find this to be the number one trait you need to use.

I greatly enjoy the role, maybe because it’s so varied, but I also find it challenging daily.

No two tech marketing roles are the same!

Let’s attack this elephant in the virtual room first. (No elephants or tech marketers were harmed in this blog post).

Technical Marketing means different things to different companies and even departments within the same company.

I spoke to a friend in a similar position at a vendor. He told me most people, i.e. management, view Tech Marketing the same as “Product Marketing, but for nerds” I nearly spat out my kombucha drink in the middle of the local artisan coffee shop; imagine what that would have done to my shiny MacBook Pro M3 Max screen. (Sorry I had to show off; Tech Marketing is all about the cool toys, right?).

So when you are applying for a role, try to find others in the role at the company and find out what it’s like, or at least others working in the company to speak to. Like any other, the expectations for this role will guide your experience. I can think of at least one person in the technical community who seems to change company at least every few months. From the feedback I’ve heard, it’s usually because expectations of the company, role and the person vary greatly!

These are also perfect areas to explore if you are interviewing for this type of role at a company. They will help you understand the company’s culture and expectations.

Which company will you work for? And what will your true role be?

The other key information is the company size you will work for; again, I guess this generally applies to any role. However, working in technical marketing at a startup vastly differs from working for a well-entrenched technical debt-ridden public tech company.

You must wear many hats at a startup and take on many responsibilities. There are just not the resources, personnel, or finances to hand things off to be completed by someone else. The expected challenges caused by this can either be fun or not; it depends on your outlook. For example, you might be hired to focus on writing content for the latest software in the AI space. Still, you may also find yourself helping to organise conferences, organise the company booth at a conference, fix SEO on the corporate website, and test the latest software release with zero documentation, knowledge or help.

Again, the company’s culture will also greatly affect your experience. Ultimately, if you take the above examples and work at a company where everyone wants to help and knows that trial and error might be needed, your stress levels will be greatly lowered.

If you find yourself in a culture that is further down the scale of “I want this, now, and it should work,” you’ll probably be looking back at previous roles and employees with rose-tinted glasses. Yes, we’ve all been there, unfortunately.

Are you Customer Zero or just a replacement for QA?

A big part of many technical marketing roles is trying out the latest and greatest cutting-edge releases of the software and solutions you are aligned to.

What this means most of the time is that you are blindly walking along a tightrope held together with duct tape. Because the software is brand new, it could be Alpha, Beta, or worse, GA! You are responsible for making sense of the new release, understanding the new features and showing them off in the greatest light. Unfortunately, that’s hard to do if there is zero documentation or the testing comes from the smallest and niche use cases.

Maybe that’s where the Zero in Customer Zero comes from: the fact there is no help, and you are on your own.

Customer Zero is an interesting idea; it’s close to dogfooding. The former is that you are the first person to use it, but good luck as you aren’t a paying customer in production. Just tell us it’s amazing. The latter is where someone in the company is forced to use the products the company creates in the sense that this will somehow make them better. Sometimes, however, you just learn where the bodies are buried, and software craps out on itself, and learn how to avoid those sinkholes when showing it off to customers.

So, if you’re interviewing for a role, ask about the QA team and processes and how TME fits in with them.

There’s a balance to be struck here. You want to test new things and get your hands on them, but you don’t want to be the company’s unpaid QA department.

Setting expectations and letting go of your opinions

Wherever you end up, big company, small company, IBM’s acquisitions, etc.., you will be onboarded into a world of preconceived expectations and an existing narrative.

Whether you know the company’s product like the streets of your hometown or this is a new area you’ve explored, you need to learn not the technical facets of the software/hardware but the messaging used to sell it.

If you work for a large company, you will have a well-honed company vision, placement, and messaging for their solutions and products. To test yourself, head over to the top three vendors that come to mind, browse their websites, and see what they are trying to sell you. Usually, this will have been through a million approvals, and potentially, external companies will be used to refine the information. Ever seen a bill from the likes of Gartner or Deloitte for this type of work? It’ll make your eyes water more than the cost of trying to get Taylor Swift concert tickets.

If it’s a start-up, this might be more fluid; the messaging may change from one month and conference to the next as the company finds its feet in the market and how best to attract potential customers. Typically, this will be done in-house, with few approvals needed to test out new messaging between events.

As we discussed earlier, you have to contend with not only the expectations of your role but also the expectations of how the content is messaged regarding the solution/product area you are responsible for.

Upfront, this makes life easy; you slot into existing ideals. But down the line, you’ll find yourself involved with product and solution updates, new versions released, and ultimately crafting future messaging. This is where you can shine in your new role, but it can also be when you get involved in company politics. Leave your opinions at the door and only bring the facts. Back up your suggestions with actual data; this will leave the right lasting impression.

As a TME, friends of mine summarised this as;

• “I always imagined it to be a line of communication between people who watch the presentation and the engineering folks locked in a basement somewhere.”
• “It’s about taking something complicated and breaking it down so the C-suite can understand it.”

Cheers, friends. This content almost writes itself! And that’s the important bit to remember: You aren’t just writing about the technical side of things; you are layering in the upsell, the vision, and the story!

So, do I need to be an expert on the product?

Usually, there is this preconceived notion that you need to be a super demigod, like the hero of the area or product you want to cover as a Tech Marketer. Shocker, you don’t!

It helps if you are an expert in this area already and have experience at a deep level, but ultimately, in the future, the product will change and adapt, and so will you in the role. Your current state of knowledge will not always remain a current state. So you must be ready to evolve your knowledge and be ready for change, such as maybe working with a different product in the future. Remember you’re there to sell the dream of the company, not your own personal goal of becoming a master of a particular scripting language for example.

The Tech Marketing and Dev Rel job is to explain new products/solutions/capabilities at the core of it. You can learn that.

I weld the power; I am the voice of the customer!

Okay, calm down. You don’t magically walk into a room; everyone looks at you doe-eyed as you talk about your previous life as a sysadmin and how you operated the cheesecake-making factory at scale.

Having real-world experience is key to this role; however, ultimately, if product marketing is putting together the narrative about the solution/product itself, you are building the storyline in which it fits into the customer’s environment and will be consumed.

Being a customer previously, or at least a professional services consultant, helps a lot. You wouldn’t believe how many developers out there have never used the software they create in real-world environments. It’s just not a thing for them because you know they develop software instead of coming up through the ranks resetting Shirley’s password in accounts every month when she forgets it. Sorry, Shirley, but the doughnuts you bring in are ace!

Ahh, I got sidetracked; sorry, that happens a lot when you are spinning plates trying to write three blogs, interview two customers for case studies, and record a video on a new feature that just won’t damn work!

Working in Tech Marketing, or Dev Rel, is rewarding. You help bring the solution/product/feature to life, potentially in a way that wasn’t envisioned by the developer originally. If they are the artist, you are the joiner building the frames in which to hang the painting.

You might just have to fight for your right to party, not wait, fight for the right to remain close to customers in the future and keep your knowledge and experiences relevant. Or at least have a home lab to use the products in and make it feel like you are running a real Fortune 500 company and all their old crappy applications, thanks to compliance.

What does the day of a TME look like?

85% of this section is wrong. It’s subjective; you already know it’s different for everyone.

My day varies.

Ultimately, it’s team catch-ups and reviewing existing documents written by others. These documents could be future blog posts, case studies, solution briefs, or even internal planning notes from engineering on the direction of the product. Surprise! These documents usually spawn meetings.

Then, there is the content that I’m responsible for. I’ll work across a line of creating written and video content most of the time, but I’m also involved in creating technical hands-on labs. After this, each piece of content is thrown out to the lion’s den for feedback and reviews, and more time is spent fixing up said content.

The rest of the time is spent hunting out the ideas, snippets and feedback that can create great content; ultimately, the underlying theme here is linking back to the customer or consumer of the products.

Did we mention the customer? Well, as a TME, you might not (probably won’t) be directly dealing with customers on a daily basis, so you’ll need to network with the sales teams and other teams who do to get your finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the real world.

Oh, and the analysts, you might have to help them understand your product so it fits into their neat little triangles of success and shows that, as a company, you are somewhat capable of what you set out to do. It’s a very interesting world.

Any last advice?

Everyone has an opinion, especially when things are going wrong or don’t work.

Those who stand apart are the people who fame their feedback with “And”, following up on whatever negative criticism/complaint they have wrapped usually as an idea with something meaningful that can be actioned. Let’s try this;

• Customers don’t like our UI because it doesn’t work, and this is hurting sales. We need to fix the UI.

That’s helpful, right? Okay, we understand that something, broadly, probably doesn’t work, and people are unhappy. There’s no action here, but whoever made this comment probably thinks they gave us a radical idea: fix the UI!

• Customers don’t like our UI because it doesn’t work, this is hurting sales….. and I think we first need to set some feedback sessions to understand what exactly they don’t like, and how about some early preview sessions showing them what’s coming next
• Customers don’t like our UI, and I’ve captured the top 5 complaints. I think prioritising these areas first will help!
• Customers don’t like our UI; it’s not as flexible as Competitor X, which they love, and this has tanked a $5 million deal. I think we need these 3 main features (blah, blah, blah) to help us compete on an even playing field.

See the difference here? Something more actionable and tangible. It’s not the full answer, but the feedback is better.

Ultimately, it’s kind of rooted in Simon Sinek’s work. Find the why.

Tl: Dr—My advice is to not just treat a complaint as an idea or feedback but to do something more about it and encourage others to do the same.

Wrapping it up!

This post is just a jumble of thoughts assembled on a page in a somewhat coherent fashion; it doesn’t reflect any particular real-world situation, just what I’ve encountered from others in my time in tech and what I’ve seen.

I work in tech marketing (as of writing this post), and it’s a lot of fun. I enjoy my work, and most importantly, I enjoy who I work with, which I believe is the key to success.

I would say to anyone considering it, go for it. Just be aware that it’s not all about writing blog posts and recording videos.

If you are sharing this around, I'd appreciate you share the original post link too! https://veducate.co.uk/work-in-tech-marketing/

Regards

Dean