This week, I am delighted to share a new interview on Out of the Clouds with Wesley Faulkner. 

Wesley is a first-generation American, public speaker, and podcaster, and he currently works as a Head of Community at SingleStore, co-hosts the developer relations focused podcast Community Pulse and serves on the board for South by SouthWest. He is a founding member of the government transparency group Open Austin and a staunch supporter of racial justice, workplace equity and neurodiversity. 

A tech enthusiast since his teens, Wesley first trained as an electrical and computer engineer (despite growing up without owning a personal computer himself). He shares with me the arc of his multipronged career, from hardware to software, and how being an early adopter of Twitter led him to social media management and later to ‘dev rel’ (or developer relations). 

We discuss how Wesley navigated his life and career with a late diagnosis of ADHD and dyslexia, and how he became a passionate advocate for neurodiverse populations in the work environment. 

His THAT conference keynote, ‘Be like me… different’ was a great starting point for us to discuss how ‘community shapes us’, during which Wesley gives me his perspective on the evolution of the role of social media manager, what to consider when building a community and his vision for the metaverse. 

We end by discussing how organisations can work towards being more inclusive for neurodivergent populations—for example, by measuring effort, not just success, using the SMART goals format and encouraging experimentation. 

A very passionate, in-depth and honest conversation. Happy listening!

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