Originally posted to the internal LD blog, but sharing a condensed version publicly in favor of learning in public.

Overview

Re:Invent was my first conference as a DarkLauncher — and one that made me quite excited for what’s to come in my future. Not only was this my first time meeting much of the team IRL, but it was also my first chance to see projects that I had contributed to in action.

tl;dr

Re:Invent was a triumphant event for the developer experience team and myself. The booth challenge drew considerable interest, and I was able to see how, thanks to ​Cody De Arkland's leadership, different facets of the company, including events, developer experience, and sales, meshed together seamlessly.

Role I played

I was involved in a range of activities, including the booth demo and the Toggle Tunes challenge. These opportunities allowed me to gain a comprehensive understanding of the LaunchDarkly application and start to connect with different team members and users of LaunchDarkly.

The developer experience team, comprised of myself, Ahmed, Brian, Peter, and Tony, under the leadership of Cody, had a substantial cross-functional impact. From building the demos and the Toggle Tunes challenge to engaging members of the booth, it was clear to see how intertwined this team is to different parts of the organization. This was a revelation to me and quite different from other developer relations or developer experience teams I have been part of.

This experience truly challenged my perspective on the role and impact of a developer experience team, demonstrating the power of collaboration and the significant influence a dedicated and collaborative team can have across a company.

💡
Cool thing learned:
Developer experience truly shines when it's embraced cross functionally. At LaunchDarkly, the DevEx team works with teams across the organization to make this event a success. I've never before noticed a team that had such cross-functional buy-in until this one.

Talks/Events I attended

This event had me working the booth most of the time when I was there, but the events I did attend included the following:

  • LaunchDarkly Team Dinner
  • FusionAuth Happy Hour
  • Aiven/Doit Happy Hour
  • Activations I participated in

Activations I participated in

Again, due to the nature of this conference and being very hands-on with the toggle tunes challenge — I spent most of my time at the booth or preparing for the booth when around. Here are the activations I participated in during my time at Re:Invent.

  • Livestream with Jenn Junod of Aiven
  • FusionAuth interview on favorite forms of authentication

Tagged in:

All Posts LaunchDarkly Events Re:Invent Conferences Developer Experience DevEx