What do chickens have to do with performance testing? More than you'd think. 🍕

Heather Thacker — developer advocate, performance testing champion, and former professional baker — joins Don't Forget the Pizza to share why DevRel is less about nailing the KPIs and more about nurturing the culture. Like sourdough.

In this episode, we talk about turning kitchen disasters into DevRel wins (if the chocolate cake doesn't rise, make brownies), why you can't rush community growth, how to make performance testing approachable with play and curiosity, and where human creativity still beats AI.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• The "brownie philosophy" — adapting when talks & demos don't go to plan
• Why DevRel is like maintaining a sourdough starter
• Chickens & performance testing: Heather's most creative talk idea
• Community nurturing vs. obsessing over metrics
• Making complex topics relatable through technical public speaking
• The human edge in DevRel as AI scales — creativity, play & lived experience
• Lightning round: yoga, Slack vs Discord, stickers vs T-shirts, and pineapple on pizza

ABOUT HEATHER THACKER: Heather Thacker is a Developer Advocate at Gatling. Before tech, Heather worked as a professional baker — on the Bread Team at Dozen Bakery and building the pastry program at Farmer's Daughter, where she won two biscuit awards. She's an international speaker known for connecting seemingly unrelated worlds — like chickens and load testing — to make technical education engaging and fun.

ABOUT DON'T FORGET THE PIZZA: Community, Served by the Slice. 🍕

You were hired to build an ecosystem; you ended up managing lanyards and venue Wi-Fi. Hosted by Isabel Ruiz, Community Engagement Manager with 10+ years in community & events, this is the podcast for Developer Advocates, DevRel Managers, Technical Evangelists & Community professionals who run events as the unwritten part of their job.

🎧 Enjoying the show? Subscribe to the channel so you don't miss the next slice: Subscribe to Don't Forget the Pizza on YouTube here:

Watch the video version of this episode here:
https://youtu.be/lLsHQ3Jc0Ws?si=q50LYibLVJd0nwOA

And follow every future episode as soon as it drops here:
https://www.youtube.com/@dontforgetthepizza

#DevRel #PerformanceTesting #CommunityBuilding