Get your engineers to write

We’ve all done it.

Find the one who knows all the technical details and ask them to write the content we need.

Maybe beg them.

And then follow up in the nicest way possible.

How I thought about this changed early in my time at SendGrid. One of the engineers, who I’d bribed with breakfast in downtown Boulder, replied to my follow-up:

I should have some time to write this tonight or this weekend

They didn’t see it as part of their ordinary work. Even with the blessing of the VP of Engineering, this was outside of their responsibilities.

And that’s only the first of several reasons it usually does not work out.

Contributions from internal engineers may:

• Not be prioritized
• Take longer to receive
• Consume too much of their time
• Be below your quality standards
• Focus too much on product
• Not fit your strategy
  ​

Yet, engineers are often the first place where dev-focused marketers look for content. And there are many engineers who can produce great technical content. In my experience, they have many other competitors for their time. An engineer who understands the audience’s problems and can communicate them well is going to be pulled into product and management.

Even in these best cases, you’re being more reactive than proactive with your content.

Ideally, the contributions you receive from engineers should be consistent with other marketing materials. But when you find a gem of a content contributor, you take what you can get.

What if you could still share their insights as content, but apply it to concepts you already know your audience cares about? What if you took way less engineering time to do it?

I’m thinking a Zoom call that’s short enough that their watch won’t remind them to stand.

You can “get engineers to write” without actually making them write.

By the way… you don’t even have to do this yourself if you find the right partner.