My braindump on this
Platforms devs engage with
- github
- papers (ie technical)
- blogs (ie less technical)
- social media
- documentation (hard api docs in gitbook, soft design concepts in wiki)
- aggregators (hacker news, reddit)
- community (ie this forum)
Motives for devs to be involved
- curiosity
- utility (safe offers something other projects do not)
- ego (devs want to be involved so they can put their name on a thing)
- simplicity (especially getting started, ie good docs - if it’s hard devs won’t be attracted)
- political / activism
- controversy / gossip
- for a challenge, to work at the leading edge of knowledge
- coolness
- economic, they can earn money for the work they do
Leverage the path of other projects
There’s a lot to learn from the history of other popular projects. Investigating their history may indicate actions that cultivate interest.
- ipfs
- bitcoin
- bittorrent
Actionable items
These are things anyone can do that will attract devs (but don’t just do it, you must also tell people you did it)
- start a project
- help improve or maintain an existing project
- write your opinions about stuff
- test and break things
- ask others for their opinions
Purpose
Why do you want to attract more devs? This will dictate who and how and where and when you take action.
- ‘core’ dev vs ‘app’ dev vs docs vs testing vs libraries etc… all very different dev audiences.
- is it to create new work, or build on existing work
- are they wanting to enhance the quality and volume of conversations
- are you looking for devs to improve the security of the network
- devs can also hype and buzz and create links with media and law and politics etc
- as an economic activity, to employ people and build business
Wait…
I also think it’s too early to be able to attract most devs, since the network isn’t live. The economic motives will draw a large crowd. Preparation helps, but imo the main thing is to keep working and wait for the inevitable.