INSIGHTS New Challenges, New Positions: Searching for ABOUT YOU’s first Tech Evangelist

Today, we’d like to take a closer look at a very unique open position — the Tech Evangelist.

It doesn’t sound like a standard developer position, and in fact, it’s not. At ABOUT YOU we’re not satisfied with standard, but are keen on creating the perfectly tailor-made solution for all our challenges. This also means that we always create new positions with a unique profile if facing new challenges or scaling our products to the next level

We asked our Head of Lean Process Development, Alex Fedtke, to give us more insights on why ABOUT YOU TECH needs a Tech Evangelist and what is expected from this position.

Hi Alex, tell us a little bit more about the position of the Tech Evangelist.

We need somebody, who’s a developer at heart and loves both writing and talking about it. In other words, we’re looking for a knowledgeable developer with excellent communication skills to help us push the ABOUT YOU TECH brand as a “top of mind employer destination” for developers.

We’d like to create more awareness for ABOUT YOU as a tech company and aim to extend the external presence of our tech-team — both on social media and in the professional audience, e.g. on conferences and meetups. Hence, this position is not about writing user guides but vibrant and original blog posts, creating videos, holding inspiring speeches and giving presentations for bigger audiences. Well basically, the Tech Evangelist makes the cool stuff we build at ABOUT YOU TECH visible for the outside world. Preferably, the candidate is an experienced and well-connected developer with speaker experience and a visible online presence on his or her own blog or social media channels. Moreover, it would be a great plus, if the candidate has event management experiences or at least an organizational talent. Since we would not only be happy if the candidate has the ability to organize meetups, but will actively participate in the organization of the code.talks. This means, the Tech Evangelist will play a significant role for one of Europe’s biggest developer conferences: he or she will be amongst the curators and he or she will help setting up the programme by identifying important topics and speakers.

Sounds more like you’re looking for a communications expert, not a developer?

It’s correct that the candidate should have excellent communication skills as well as an outgoing, engaging personality and he or she shouldn’t be afraid to speak in front of people — but should really like it!

Nevertheless, it is essential that the candidate has not only a strong passion for software development, but also a solid professional background with at least two years of work experience. We’ve not chosen the job title “Tech Evangelist” without a reason: He or she literally needs to be an evangelist — a person with in-depth knowledge in which he or she truly believes and stands for by missioning it to various experts groups ranging from potential employees to clients for our ABOUT YOU CLOUD. The Tech Evangelist needs this knowledge to be capable of internally identifying topics and evaluating whether they’re worth spreading externally.

So, the Tech Evangelist serves as a kind of external representative for ABOUT YOU TECH?

Yes, one main function of this position is to spread the word about the unique ABOUT YOU spirit to an external audience. But that’s not the only task! Additionally, the scope of work also comprises to act as an enabler for our tech employees. The Tech Evangelist should identify their strengths and encourage them to play an active role, e.g. in internal tech-talks or external conferences etc. Therefore, it is essential that the Tech Evangelist is on the same level as our developers in his/her technical competence.

Why doesn’t one of your already employed developers take on this role in addition to his daily work?

Because we want somebody, who devotes his or her full time with full focus on this job.

How can a newly hired external be capable of spreading the word about the ABOUT YOU TECH spirit?

It goes without saying that the Tech Evangelist as a new ABOUT YOU employee will get a proper onboarding. Next to general administrative onboarding procedures, he or she will get to know the tech teams and the people, processes and tasks to understand their work, spirit and know what is going on “behind the scenes”.

Does the Tech Evangelist have a team?

The Tech Evangelist has a very special role, which is detached from our established team structure. But of course, the Tech Evangelist is not an “lonesome rider”. Officially, he or she will belong to my team, the Lean Process Development (LPD). But practically, he or she will have a hybrid position between the LPD, the Corporate Communications team, the code.talks team as well as our Chief Technical Officer Sebastian Betz. This is a very interesting and unique position — and a great chance for anybody, who identifies with the job description! We are really looking forward to finding our very own Tech Evangelist.

Thanks, Alex!

If you’re interested in learning more about the job description of the Tech Evangelist or if you even see yourself in this position, head over to Career Corporate Page! We’re looking forward to your application!

In case of questions about this vacancy, please feel free to contact our Tech Recruiting Lead Caro via [email protected].