(1) Tell us about your role at TomTom.
The Developer Relations Team’s mandate is to build the developer community around TomTom Maps APIs via the developer portal (developer.tomtom.com)
I am the VP & GM of Developer Relations at TomTom, the leading independent location technology specialist, shaping mobility with highly accurate maps, navigation software, real-time traffic information and services.
(2) What brought you to this point in your career?
Prior to joining TomTom, I served as the VP of Strategic Partnerships & Alliances at Cint, where I was responsible for developing a new business unit around data collaboration and supply with “non-traditional” partners such as publishers, app developers and Data Management Platforms (DMPs) for data distribution of self-declared, deterministic, first party data. I also founded SearchnWork, a recruiting and confidential job search platform, as well as TrazeTag, inventing a visual durable radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag for tracking high value assets outdoors in harsh environments.
The funny thing is that even though I have only been at TomTom for a year, I have been working with the TomTom team for the last 6 years from the other side of the table, when I was at Cint and at Quixey. I really enjoyed working with the team in both instances so I am super excited to be on this side of the table now.
(3) How does developer relations work at TomTom?
In this role, I sit at the intersection of product and business, leading TomTom’s Developer Relations organization: a global, multidisciplinary team including sales, marketing, product marketing and developer relations, with team members in the U.S., Poland and the Netherlands.
(4) What’s your developer relations’ philosophy?
For me the idea is to build a true developer community. For me a true community is “a group of people that care about each other’s welfare” as Charles Vogl says in his book “The Art of Community”. This means we want to make sure developers build meaningful relations with TomTom and with Themselves. So we launched the to have a more authentic conversation than just showcasing our tech and documentation, our Twitter handle (@TomTomDevs) for true conversations, and more tools and features to connect and collaborate so people can connect not only one-to-many, but many-to-many and one-to-one.
(5) What do you see as the big challenges for developer relations right now?
I see some challenges in inclusion as the developer community and the profile of who is a developer is evolving, and we are taking steps to tackle this providing an inclusive environment where developers, regardless of experience, feel they have a place to learn and collaborate around location technologies
(6) What are you hopeful about?
I am hopeful and excited about the new applications the new generation of developers is and will build to tackle meaningful problems with real impact in making this world a better place.
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