Developers don’t judge a platform solely by its features. They judge it by how it feels to use. A confusing onboarding flow, inconsistent API behavior, or vague error message can turn even the most powerful system into a frustrating one. But a thoughtful, well-crafted developer experience (DX) can transform complexity into clarity, reduce integration time, and turn adopters into enthusiastic advocates.

In this session, we’ll explore what truly makes a developer experience delightful, from first impressions and documentation to API design, trust-building behaviors, and continuous iteration. Drawing from 20+ years of software engineering and 10+ years in developer relations, I’ll share practical patterns and real-world examples to show how small improvements can make a massive difference.

Whether you’re building APIs, SDKs, standards, platforms, or internal tools, you’ll learn how to reduce friction, improve usability, and create a developer journey that feels intuitive, humane, and irresistible to use.