---
name: developer-community-grower
description: >
  This skill grows the developer community through events, content, and contribution programmes.
  Use when asked to scale the developer community, plan developer events, or build a contributor programme.
  Also consider when developer adoption is stalling and community engagement could accelerate it.
  Suggest when the user is about to invest in developer marketing without a community growth plan.
department: marketing
agent: developer-relations-lead
version: 1.0.0
complexity: medium
related-skills:
  - developer-community-signal-extractor
  - developer-gtm-planner
  - community-led-growth-designer
triggers:
  - "grow the developer community"
  - "plan a developer event"
  - "build a contributor program"
  - "increase developer engagement"
---

# developer-community-grower

## Agent: Developer Relations Lead

L2 developer relations lead responsible for developer community signal extraction, developer GTM, experience review, feedback synthesis, and community growth.

Department ethos: [ideal-marketing.md](../../../../departments/marketing/ideal-marketing.md)

## Skill Description

Grows the developer community through events, content, and contribution programmes that convert individual developers into an engaged ecosystem.

## When to Use

- When the developer community has an established core but needs to scale to the next order of magnitude.
- When developer adoption metrics are healthy but community engagement (contributions, forum posts, event attendance) lags behind.
- When launching in a new market or language ecosystem and needing to build local developer community presence.
- When open-source contribution rates are declining and need structured revitalization.

## Workflow

1. **Audit current state**: Measure existing community size, activity, contributor count, event attendance, and content output against the growth model benchmarks in [framework.md](references/framework.md). Deliverable: community baseline metrics report.
2. **Identify growth channels**: Evaluate which channels have the highest potential using the channel opportunity matrix in the framework (meetups, hackathons, blog programme, ambassador network, open-source contributions, conference talks). Deliverable: scored channel opportunity matrix.
3. **Design growth programmes**: For top channels, define programme structure using the relevant template in the framework (hackathon ROI formula, ambassador programme structure). Deliverable: programme design documents.
4. **Build contributor pipeline**: Create a progression path from consumer to contributor to maintainer using the contributor ladder levels and criteria from the framework. Deliverable: contributor ladder document.
5. **Execute and measure**: Launch programmes, track the success metrics defined in the framework (MAC, contributor conversion rate, event attendance), and iterate based on what produces engaged community members versus one-time participants. Deliverable: monthly community growth dashboard.
6. **Sustain and automate**: Codify successful programmes into repeatable playbooks and automate where possible (welcome bots, contribution tracking, badge systems). Deliverable: operational playbook with automation specs.

## Anti-Patterns

- **Event spam**: Running high-frequency, low-quality events that exhaust both organizers and attendees. *Why*: Developer time is scarce; repeated low-value events train developers to ignore future invitations, permanently reducing reach.
- **Growth without retention**: Focusing on new member acquisition while ignoring activation and retention of existing members. *Why*: A community that churns as fast as it grows wastes acquisition effort and signals instability to prospective members.
- **Ignoring intrinsic motivation**: Offering only swag and prizes without creating genuine learning, networking, or career advancement value. *Why*: Developers are motivated by mastery and belonging; extrinsic-only incentives attract transactional participants who do not sustain engagement.

## Output

**On success**: Produces a developer community growth plan containing baseline metrics, channel strategy, programme designs, contributor ladder, and operational playbook. Delivered to developer relations and marketing leadership.

**On failure**: Report which channels were evaluated, what blocked programme launch, and recommend prerequisite actions. Every error must be actionable.

## Related Skills

- [`developer-community-signal-extractor`](../developer-community-signal-extractor/SKILL.md) — Community signals inform which growth channels and topics resonate with developers.
- [`developer-gtm-planner`](../developer-gtm-planner/SKILL.md) — Community growth programmes must align with the broader developer GTM strategy.
- [`community-led-growth-designer`](../../../marketing/community-manager/community-led-growth-designer/SKILL.md) — Parallel skill for general community growth that shares programme design patterns.