Software engineers - how to get their attention

Everyone knows it's hard to get software engineers' attention.

So I asked Twitter for advice. Here's what I learned.

Connection and clarity

Being clear and concise is extremely important (especially if you only have 140 characters).

Share the important information straight away. Explain the problem that you are solving in a simple way.

Show that you understand the pain and challenges that they specifically are facing and why your product is the best solution for them specifically.

Tom disregards all blanket approaches.

Find 'motivated' engineers

“Software developers, unlike most people, are capable of building tools for themselves. In fact, developers love building tools for themselves, even if it means reinventing the wheel.”
Povilas Korop, Selling to developers: Ten lessons learned

It can be a tough job to get software developers excited and motivated for a new product (that they haven’t built themselves).

As Philip says, if you're struggling to get the attention of developers, maybe you should instead focus on finding those who are already motivated.

Finding motivated engineers is itself challenging but here are two good ways:

• Putting out content related to the challenges you are solving and reaching out to those who engage with your content
• Another way is to use a tool like Syften to find developers already writing about their challenges on the internet (e.g. Twitter, Slack, Reddit)

Curveball - cold code reviews

A few of the people I spoke to mentioned code reviews. If you think you can help with a common challenge, why not review some open source work?

As Harvey said, share your thoughts, show that you’re interested in their work and suggest how it can be improved.

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