Engaging in the dbt Community as a Vendor

A key aspect that makes dbt stand out from other tools is the dbt Community. This community was built to drive our mission statement of empowering analysts. This includes advancing the field of analytics engineering practices. We are creating spaces where folks can learn from each other, share best practices, discover what it means to use software engineering workflows, and so on. It is and has been a pivotal player in dbt’s successes.

The dbt community extends far beyond what happens in dbt Slack. There are regular meetups, blog posts, and even a conference! Our North Star is to extend the knowledge loop; we are a community, not an audience.

Our community members expect a thoughtful space full of kind, curious, and bright individuals. They contribute to the knowledge loop with their own expertise and benefit from the relevant knowledge brought to the table by other community experts (including vendors). Along those lines, we value diversity and inclusion. We seek to amplify underrepresented communities and have no tolerance for anyone who is disrespectful in this space.

As a vendor/dbt partner, you are also a member of this community, one that we want and deeply encourage to share your expertise in tooling, analytics, etc. Our community members are truly open to discovering and discussing innovative solutions and tools. We have seen folks grow fantastic user relationships for their products when they come in with the mindset to share rather than pushing a pitch.

To guide you on your community journey, we have created this document for you to read and share with your coworkers. By following these guidelines, you will help us maintain this community as well as gain full access to all the benefits that this community can provide.

Dos & Don’ts for dbt Slack #

Dos #

  • Read the Rules of The Road. These rules are the best ways to participate in our community.
  • Fill your profile! We want to get to know you so do upload a picture of yourself and add your company in your name (e.g. “Alice (DataCo)”). Be sure to include your company in your profile so folks know that you work for a vendor
  • Introduce Yourself in #introductions. Tell us about yourself!
  • Be helpful. We encourage folks to answer questions and offer their product expertise to conversations already in motion. You can even invite folks to chat in DMs if anyone wants more info about your product. But be sure you identify yourself and your business interests in thread.
  • Be yourself when posting, speak in your own voice.
  • Participate in all the conversations that interest you. Make a meme if you’re so inclined. Get in a (friendly) debate. You are not limited to only your company’s products and services.
  • Post with intention. If you have a link or product update that is appropriate to share, give context.

Don’ts #

  • Do not do 1:1 outbound. Only initiate DMs if you’ve received active confirmation in a public channel that a DM would be welcome.
  • Do not be anonymous. Folks who identify themselves clearly are able to build empathy and form genuine relationships much easier. This is what we want for the community.
  • Spam channels with Marketing material.
  • Do not post without context. Posts that include context outside of just the pitch are the ones that add value to our community.

Dos & Don’ts for dbt Discourse #

Dos #

  • Ask yourself Is this helpful to the community? Share knowledge that folks would want to repost and use as a guide to their workflow.
  • Write up How-Tos. This is a space for folks to share how people do something.
  • Share discourse posts, whether it’s your own or someone else’s. We have had folks link to posts for internal training, etc.

Don’ts #

  • Our Discourse is meant for technical how-tos with dbt. Do not post context for non-technical users.*

** Think of our discourse as a mix of blog posts and stack overflow. This is where folks who are looking for specific dbt how-tos.

Summary #

This community is centered around feeding into the knowledge loop. It’s a place intended for building genuine, helpful connections. We found that most vendors find success in our space by leading with this intention.

Here are some ways you can contribute to the community:

  • contribute to the dbt core repository
  • write dbt packages
  • write other public content (blog posts, case studies, etc.)
  • respond to questions on slack / discourse
  • host events
  • promote / respond to content written by community members
  • Partner up with community members on blog posts/code/etc.

For more information on the thought behind our community, especially if you are interested in creating your own, feel free to reach out to our community managers.