An Introduction to David Jones-Gilardi, Developer Relations

Hi there. I’m David. While I’ve been at DataStax for some time in many roles, I’ve recently come back to DevRel. My soul was telling me it was time 1) get back into code, and 2) to take everything I’ve learned and am learning in the generative AI space back to others so they can benefit from my experience. 

The GenAI space is extremely exciting right now. We are all learning what we can do with large language models and how to apply them, hopefully to improve our lives. As an application developer, I am particularly interested in how we can quickly and effectively leverage these capabilities to build something amazing—things we’ve never been able to build previously.

 

 

I love helping people learn; it’s part of what makes me tick. Both from seeing the joy in the “aha” moment of others, but also because it forces me to learn as well. As Richard Feynman would say, "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." I believe this wholeheartedly and it forms part of the foundation of my core.

My Journey

I am very much a kid from the 1980s. I gratefully had a Commodore 64 around the age of eight years old and loved “creating” games in BASIC. I say “creating” because it was really me copying lines of code manually from coding books (the original Stack Overflow 😉), but it started something in me and, almost 30 years later, I’m still loving it.

 

 

Over the years, I've held various roles in the tech industry. My journey began in my teenage years when I started building and repairing computers. From there, I progressed to tech support, systems integration, database administration, launched my own consulting business, transitioned into defense, and managed development teams. I’ve even thrown in with product management a couple of times. 

 

 

However, it was when I entered developer relations that I truly felt a sense of belonging. This role resonates with me deeply—it's exactly what I should be doing.

The future of GenAI

Developer relations have always been exciting, but now we are witnessing something truly remarkable in the GenAI space. This technology enables everyone to perform tasks that were once out of reach, simplifying and improving lives. However, much of this shared experience depends on us—the developers, engineers, and scientists. So, what will we do with it? What new capabilities can we bring to elevate all of humanity?

I can’t wait to see what all of you build and I hope to be a helping hand in this journey. Let’s learn and create something wonderful together.

To keep in touch, you can find me on X as @SonicDMG or LinkedIn as david-gilardi. Follow the DataStax blog to keep up on the latest happenings, and check out the DataStaxDevs YouTube channel for more content.

Happy coding!