Re-Introducing Twilio Developer Evangelist Lizzie Siegle

Re-Introducing Twilio Developer Evangelist Lizzie Siegle

I was so fortunate to have the amazing opportunity to intern on the Twilio developer evangelism team last summer. That mind-blowing and fun experience made my post-graduation decision to join full-time easier so here are four reasons why I am beyond excited to be back at Twilio as a Developer Evangelist in San Francisco.

1. I learned a lot.

Sure, I was a big fan of Twilio intern activities like lunch with our CEO, but I also loved the work itself. I had a blast writing some of the first Haskell posts for the blog and diving into Twilio Video and ARKit in Swift. Speaking about how to make music with Node.js at QueensJS was probably the best talk I'd given and I smile thinking about how much I practiced the talk with my NYC evangelist teammate Sam and mentor Greg hours before.

2. The Evangelism Team

I remember my first five-minute live-coding demo last summer. It was early one Saturday morning and even though he had another hackathon to go to, Sam still came to support and cheer me on. That meant a lot to me and this kind of support from my team is not unusual.

The whole Developer Network team is like a family and I look up to everyone. As the only intern, I felt very welcomed and included even though the team is primarily remote. The best part of the summer was the Developer Network Summit where I got face time with everyone who flew in to HQ for a week of bonding, learning, and working together. I learned so much from them in a span of three months, and know I will do so again as a full-time team member!

3. The Evangelism Team Motto and Leadership  

Twilio's evangelist team motto is "to inspire and equip developers build the future of communications."  This really resonates with me because, as I mentioned in my intro post last summer, I got into computer science by attending a girls in tech event. I want to give back to those communities and what better way to do so than by inspiring and equipping developers? 

Similarly, when I went to meetups or events with members of the Developer Network, they would all respond to "What do you do for work?" with "I serve on the [Developer Network team]." That service leadership mindset trickles down from the top so that the whole team is driven to focus on external developers. 

4. Consideration of Burnout

The job of a developer evangelist can get confusing and overwhelming when such a wide variety of tasks command your time and attention. When you have to work odd hours to attend, mentor, sponsor, or speak at various events, it can be easy to burnout. The Twilio evangelism team understands this and encourages time off and work-life harmony. So many team members have been here for three years or more--that is almost unheard of amongst other developer evangelism teams.

First Full-Time Role

I am so lucky and excited to serve developers on the Twilio evangelism team. If you’re interested in attending or organizing tech meetups, want to teach coding, play ping pong, or wish to fangirl over Serena Williams or Disney, feel free to reach out!

• Email: lsiegle@twilio.com
• Twitter: lizziepika
• GitHub: elizabethsiegle