Are you ready to be a Champion? Have you applied for our next cohort of the Camunda Champion program? If not, there’s still time to submit your application by May 1. The Camunda Champion program is a one-of-a-kind experience to get deeper technical knowledge of our products, collaborate with other passionate community members, and of course, get cool swag.
Don’t just take our word for it. Read below a first-hand account from Markus Stahl, one of our inaugural Camunda Champions. You might’ve interacted with him in our forum, at one of our conferences, or on social media. There’s no doubt he’s been making the most out of his experience, and he wants to let others in on it too.
I was appointed to be a Camunda Champion. How do you become a Camunda Champion? What are the perks? What does it mean?
How Do You Become a Camunda Champion?
The process sounds simple, you go here and apply. But in order to apply, you need to bring a few assets: your account on the Camunda Discord forum, GitHub, and social media handles. Also, you need to state the contributions you’ve made. That can be contributions to open source projects, organized meetups, or talks at conferences – something for the community in general.
You see, since the community is in focus, the term “Camunda Champion” is a bit misleading. You do not need to be an expert on the Camunda tool stack. I doubt you can even be a full stack expert if you are not a full-time Camunda consultant. “Champion” means you are somehow recognized for your contributions to the community.
What Are the Perks?
First, swag. Anyone who has given a talk at a Camunda conference knows Camunda hands out awesome swag. I am still fascinated by the disco bag with an integrated Arduino that I got for speaking at the Camunda Community Summit.
Second, events. You get invites to meet peers from Camunda, ask questions, pitch your ideas, and network with other Champions.
The magic element is “Developer Relations.”
Most of all, appreciation. Camunda is very close to its community already. One reason why is probably its culture. Another, which is in a way the conclusion derived from that culture, is the developer relations department. Everyone is authentic. You are taken seriously as a person. It’s a complete contrast to cringing in front of a sales team pressing to score.
When you become a Champion, it feels like the whole company knows you. Your office suddenly has a virtual extra corridor with new teammates. Of course, you talk about Camunda and your ideas, but you also discuss streaming equipment, ergonomic keyboards, or how to attract communities to join your meetups.
What Does it Mean?
“Champion” clearly does not mean, you are an expert in all Camunda tools. I think most users use what I call “Camunda embedded,” meaning a Java application with Camunda as an embedded workflow engine. I have no experience in using it that way, although it is probably the most popular use case. My use case is Camunda Platform as a service, but I continue learning as I use it.
You remain appointed as a Camunda Champion for one year. You might take that the wrong way and see it as doing extra work. But I do not think so. You are appointed for community work that motivates you. You would be doing it anyway. If you eventually stop doing it, it is because you’ve found another topic that interests you.
Becoming a Champion only for the perks is highly inefficient!
Do not aim for the rank of a Champion only for the perks. You would be better off investing in a few consulting hours.
But since you become a Champion with artifacts that motivate you, you will continue with your community work anyway and get appointed again. To be certain, you need to check out my blog at the end of 2022!
