Create 2024-10-30-openrefine-developer-role.md

[magdmartin]

Following the conversation on the forum https://forum.openrefine.org/t/seeking-input-on-new-developer-role-for-openrefine/1756 here is a draft job description for the developer role we want to hire for 2025. I am opening directly as PR to increase visibility with other developers on the project.

As mentioned in the forum, I can lead the process (job posting, resume triaging, outreach, scheduling, and performing non-technical interviews). For other hired roles, members of the Advisory Committee participated in some interviews. I would be more comfortable if a senior developer were involved in the process to validate technical skills of the candidate.

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[ej2432]

some edits to the work environment section

[magdmartin]

@thadguidry, @tfmorris, Following discussions between @antoine2711 this weekend at WikiConvention francophone/2024, and in light of our previous conversation, I believe that OpenRefine would greatly benefit from having a Developer Advocate or Evangelist. The role description will remain unchanged regarding day to day maintenance but with an increased emphasis on outreach and community management for developers. This will leave the core team focusing on merging PR and the technical direction of the project. Let me know what you think.

[thadguidry]

Ideally you would want someone who has a history in community engagement, volunteering, in any domain. I think someone who evokes strong empathy and a fun demeanor goes a long way to making our community a place to call home.

[magdmartin]

@thadguidry thanks. So my thought is that the role would start with initial focus on Bug Fixes & Quality Improvements and then once the person is more familiar with the project expand to include more community management.
In the long run, I suggest targeting 50% of the time on development and 50% on community management.

I will prepare a new version with more emphase on the community aspect.

[tfmorris]

I posted more on the email thread about this from the most recent program committee meeting minutes, but a couple of quick things:

• community management and DevRel are distinct roles in my opinion. The linked Wikipedia description is about marketing to developers to get them to adopt your APIs, SDKs, etc, which isn't really relevant for OpenRefine. We're trying to attract more developers to contribute to the product itself
• depending on how it's envisioned, the technical contribution and developer development aspects of this would have very different skill profiles (not to say one person couldn't have both sets), so it would be important to highlight what's most important
• PR review won't be a responsibility until they are voted into the core team

I'll make more comments inline...

[magdmartin]

@tfmorris, can you hold until tomorrow before commenting on the line? I want to prepare the updated version that emphasizes the devrel role.