In a recent Workday Gold podcast, I spoke with Nick Moores, head of Developer Relations at Workday, about his 10-year journey in the ecosystem, the evolution of Extend, and valuable career insights.

Finding Workday “By Accident”

Like many of us, Nick stumbled into Workday unexpectedly. Fresh out of college, he found what he thought was a software development job that turned out to be Workday integration consulting. “I remember going to training and the first part was getting the basics of HCM. I didn’t know what HCM was,” Nick shared. Coming from a data science background, he was suddenly surrounded by experienced HR analysts.

The Technical-Functional Bridge

Throughout our conversation, a recurring theme emerged about the unique position many of us find ourselves in—somewhere between deeply technical and purely functional roles.

“In college, people would talk about, ‘hey, well, you’re not a developer unless you are doing this stuff’… You’re like, you’re fuzzy and you’re technical. And I’m like, well, what the heck does that make me? And apparently it makes me a consultant,” Nick shared with a laugh.

This “translator” role became a strength rather than a weakness. As I mentioned to Nick, “There’s been so many times in my life where it’s like, I didn’t want the end user to talk to the technical person because it never ended well…They completely talked past each other because they were speaking different “languages”. I was the one that was like, ‘alright, tell me what you need and I will go talk to the technical person and we’ll get it figured out.'”

DevCon: The Hands-On Event of the Year

Nick shared exciting details about DevCon 2025, which he now leads:

• Twice as many hands-on labs as before
• Instructor-led workshops for Extend, Prism, and Orchestrate
• Professional certifications tests offered on the initial day
• A dedicated track for partner developers

“The ethos of this is ‘show me, don’t tell me,'” Nick emphasized. “We want people to come in cold to DevCon, get great hands-on experience, and be ready to participate at the hackathon at the end.”

Career Wisdom Worth Sharing

Nick offered several powerful insights for career growth:

1. Stay curious and take action – “These changes happened because I stayed curious and just went for it.”
2. Embrace being a beginner – “It’s okay not being amazing at something yet. If you’re really interested in something new, you’re probably not going to be fantastic at it out of the box.”
3. “Comfort is a trap” – As Nick’s mentor taught him, staying too comfortable can prevent growth.
4. “Do what you want to be known for” – If you’re doing something you don’t want to be known for, it might be time to branch out.
5. “You are your own best advocate” – No one will champion your growth more than you will.

I added my perspective: “You’re responsible for your career. Nobody else is.” In today’s rapidly changing landscape, waiting for someone else to guide your career is no longer realistic.

Connect with the Community

Nick invited listeners to follow the Workday Developers page on LinkedIn and join the developer forum at forum.developer.workday.com—now accessible to anyone with Workday Community access.

For those attending events like DevCon or Rising, we both emphasized stepping outside your comfort zone: “The people that know how to do things are all on those floors. Get out of your comfort zone and talk to them.”