Twitter developer advocate: site reflects ‘pulse of the planet’

Newsroom 23/07/2014 | 10:07

In Romania for a tech event, Andy Piper, developer advocate at Twitter UK, tells BR how he was recruited and what working for the micro-blogging site is like.

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“I’m a developer advocate with the Twitter developer and platform relations team. Our team is focused on helping developer and API (application programming interface) partners build successful Twitter integrations and tools,” Piper, who was a speaker at the Techsylvania event in Cluj-Napoca, tells BR.

He joined Twitter over two months ago, following a recruitment process that started in February. “I was contacted directly by the global head of developer relations, as they were looking for someone with a strong background in the technical community across Europe, and who was known as a public speaker but with hands-on technical credentials,” says Piper.

The interview process was “quick and decisive,” he says. “After one or two conversations with the team leaders, I was interviewed at the London office to assess my technical knowledge, cultural fit and industry understanding,” he says.

When asked by Business Review about the projects he has worked on so far, Piper says they have been “slightly less ‘visible’ than changes or projects you may have seen externally.”

“This is because the developer relations team works on programming APIs and documentation more than we deliver big new features to the Twitter web or mobile clients,” he explains.

One thing the team worked on was the ability to “mute people” a user follows temporarily. “This means that you will not see tweets in your timeline until you un-mute the user, without having to un-follow them. I spent a lot of time testing the technical implementation of the feature, and worked on the documentation that enabled our third-party ecosystem partners to integrate it into their libraries and applications,” he says.

“More recently I’ve been privileged to work with a couple of startups on such things as mapping flood plains, with Twitter used for alerts; and a new restaurant recommendation mobile app based on Twitter conversations. These are both amazing examples of how Twitter can be used to connect people to things they are interested in, and how it reflects the ‘pulse of the planet’ – exactly the kinds of new technology experiences I am most excited about as part of this team,” says the developer advocate.

However, he says his role is a diverse one, which includes working with developer communities. “I get involved in forums and online technical discussions where developers need support, and we are responsible for providing good quality documentation and samples to the community. Another very important part of the team’s role is to work directly with startups and established partners building integrations with Twitter, for example with our Twitter Cards technology. (…) I’ve always been passionate about enabling developer communities around different technologies, and I’ve been a Twitter user and fan myself since 2007, so this is a natural fit for me!,” he says.

What are the best parts and the not so good parts about working for a company like Twitter?

“Tough question! Twitter is growing really fast and there is a huge amount of energy and excitement around our offices. It is very fast-moving. I think the pace of innovation and shared team vision is definitely one of the best things about what I get to work on. Of course, sometimes that pace of change and growth can be a disadvantage too, simply because I’m a team person and want to get to spend more time learning more about all of the new people I meet, and the technologies we get to work on. The other great thing I’m seeing is that my team is making a real impact with developers using Twitter APIs – we are seeing increased engagement and positive responses to our proactive and transparent approach, and I’ve seen some wonderful tweets and comments thanking us for being so open and supportive to the people working with our technology”

Otilia Haraga

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