The DevRel Camp Developer Relations Conference 2025 Experience and Lessons

Last Saturday, on the 26th of July 2025, I attended the Developer Relations Conference by The DevRel Camp, and it was such an amazing and inspiring meeting. I learned a lot from the speakers who came to speak at the conference, and I decided to put my lessons into an article for you, my reader, hoping you also learn a thing or two from my notes and thoughts. Without further ado, let’s jump right in!

Trust and travel matter

Trust Jamin spoke and gave us useful advice about travelling as a Nigerian in the Developer Relations industry and the tech ecosystem overall, and I must tell you, it is hard. His session was helpful as he not only gave us insight into Nigeria’s passport rankings on visaindex.com, but also provided useful tips on navigating visas during travels, what documents will be needed, and so much more. I wrote some tips to ensure a successful visa process from any embassy you visit, and some of these include:

1. Proof that you will come back (marriage or family that is dependent on you)

2. Have a business back home

3. Have a clear plan and itinerary of where you're going and when you will be coming back

4. Leverage any connections that you have

5. Research on what is needed

Nigeria currently doesn’t have the best reputation when it comes to visa acceptance or traveling, as we are aware many of us have misused the visa opportunities given (like being dishonest about our travel intentions, etc), so it does tell a bad tale about the rest of us, even though many of us are not like the few bad eggs. Hence, why I really appreciate Trust’s session.

In fact, according to visaindex.com, we rank very low compared to other African countries and even countries worldwide. We currently rank number 97 on 109 countries listed for visa travels on visaindex.com. That’s just 12 positions till last place. :')

During the conference, I did ask the question, “what if you had dual citizenship in another country that allows you to visit other countries? Would our passport still be a problem?” He answered, “well, just keep your Nigerian passport aside, cause it will not be useful. However, to be a citizen in another country, you typically have to spend at least 5 years living there or pay a fee of $200,000 or so. :)” Yeah, that figure shook me haha.

I think this all stems from a lack of trust from us as Nigerians, and our current corrupt society isn’t helping matters at all. And this was even one of the reasons our visa applications to other countries get rejected frequently (amongst other reasons he stated like weak passport power, lack of information, lack of visa, and village people). He mentioned a whole lot more that this small section does not do his session justice, so I’ll link his slides at the end of the article when he publishes it.

Video is king

Olayinka Oshidipe, aka geniusyinka, gave us a thorough and interesting talk on Video production. I really liked this one because he not only gave us beautiful examples using cool videos he made in past that we can also produce, but highlighted the 5-step process to creating creative high-quality technical content videos, which are:

1. Research

2. Scripting

3. Shooting

4. Post production

5. Publish

This was more practical than theory, which was fantastic. He furthermore gave us insight into how he started his tech journey and his transition into making high-quality video content for brands like Nillion. I enjoyed his talks and our little chat at the back.

Technical writing and making beautiful connections

A talk on technical writing focusing on the topic, Creating High Impact Developer Documentation by Demola Malomz, was super interesting as well. I got to learn how empathy can shape the overall developer experience and how to show empathy in developer documentation. However, I was a bit distracted because of my conversations with Trust and Yinka during the breakout session which came before his talk.

And let me tell you, oh boy did I meet some interesting individuals. I met someone who was a tech lawyer (I never expected to see someone like him there, let alone hear about a field like that!), and as I listened to what he did and his background, it hit me. Tech can really span across all fields and not just software. I won’t be surprised if 10 years from now we have a field like “clothe tech” or “technical cleaner” for example. I know it sounds way off, but I believe the technological ecosystem can span across all fields to further enhance societal development.

After my conversation with my newfound friend, I connected with the speakers, Trust and Yinka, and they gave me more information about their lives and tips in navigating my own journey and getting that full-time job I want. I also had the awesome opportunity to connect again with familiar faces like Tobi and Daniel. This conference truly was something to remember! I truly wish I could’ve stayed till the end to enjoy more talks from the last speaker, but I had work to complete that day.

Closing thoughts

I’d like to thank Idris Olubisi for sponsoring my ticket for this conference, and I’m super glad I learned so much from the speakers and got to connect with awesome technical writers, community managers, and various other talented people in the tech space. Credit to the organisers (The DevRel Camp) for organising such a wonderful conference, I do hope to attend or even speak at one of the future conferences!

If you liked this article, why not give me a follow? Connect with me via my socials below. I’d love to hear from you. :)

P.S. Expect some of the speakers to hop on Tech Chat with Sunkanmi. 😉 Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss any updates in the future. I’m pretty sure they will share useful information about developer relations, technical writing, and more. Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you there! :)

One last thing, thank you, Jedidiah, for buying me coffee to help with the cold (even though I don’t drink coffee, that cold made me to. Thank you!) :)

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