2025-11-09-vercel-dx-engineer-developer-community-cover-letter

Monday, November 10th, 2025

Dear Vercel Hiring Team,

I'm Gary Sheng, and I want to help activate Vercel's global developer community.

I started my career as a software engineer on Google Cloud. And I recently graduated top of my class from Gauntlet AI, where I got very comfortable with Next.js and Vercel.

But my real differentiator is a proven track record of creating passionate digital-first communities.

I've shipped programs that support developers and innovators:

• Grew Gitcoin Passport from 200,000 to 1M users through strategic community programs and developer-focused content
• Co-founded Civics Unplugged, training 2,000+ across 70+ countries through programs designed to activate and empower civic innovators

I've executed world-class developer events:

• Organized Edge City Denver 2024—a seven-day developer event with 3,000+ attendees and 4.6/5 satisfaction. I designed programming, recruited speakers, managed logistics, and built the community buzz that made our Telegram the nerve center of the entire ETHDenver conference. We sold $25K in tickets while competitors struggled to fill free events.
• Sample event documentation: https://garysbrain.notion.site/Edge-City-Denver-9335a536a5a646398d955243cef7f653

I create content people actually use or watch:

• Published technical documentation that educated thousands of early users of Naval Ravikant's startup
• Filmed and uploaded hundreds of videos across platforms (130k followers on TikTok)
• Forbes 30 Under 30 for creating content and programs that drive impact

I'm excited to travel worldwide to support developer communities, host high-quality events, and represent Vercel at conferences. I'm comfortable being on stage, giving technical talks, and networking with developers to help them build better on Vercel.

Let's ship!

Gary Sheng