I’ve always preferred to think of myself as anything but a Marketer. In business school, there was a clear hierarchy assigned to the functional classifications amongst us. At the very top sat the investment bankers, commanding the most respect and highest paying job offers. And always at the very bottom the Marketing folks groveled, earning less and often viewed by their peers as having a “softer,” less competitive skillset.

However much I disagreed with this classification — knowing that the digital age has made modern day marketing every bit as analytical and numbers-intensive as corporate financing jobs — it didn’t change the fact that I didn’t want to be called a Marketing person anyway. With the success of the Mad Men series and the constant headlines about privacy invasion and digital media, it seemed impossible to completely shake the Marketing job function from the stereotype of scumbag executives on Madison Avenue, or even a dirty car salesman whose only real skill is the ability to smoothly tell lies.

In corporate America, no matter what job function you’re in, you’re all there for the same purpose – to drive profits (also referred to by business-schoolers as “maximizing shareholder value”). But the Marketing folks are more directly involved with sales metrics, and so the stereotypes live on. But being a Marketer at Mozilla is different. As a non-profit, mission oriented company, we’re not trying to sell you anything at all. Our only goal is to provide greater value – to our developers, our users, our community, and the world.

As a Developer (un)Marketer, my job is to make you successful. Does this mean I’m never going to try to get you to do anything? Or could this mean I’m ready to be embrace the Marketing title? Okay, no on both counts. But it does mean that when I ask you to do something, I’m really asking just so I can, in the end, help you.

Take the Survey

Surprise – the Marketer that won’t call herself a Marketer writes her first blog post asking you to do something. Mozilla has teamed up with research company VisionMobile to get the latest, most accurate facts and insights surrounding the mobile app economy and developer ecosystem. We need this to make sure we’re prioritizing our efforts to provide you with the tools and resources that help you the most. The research relies heavily on developer surveys, and we want to ensure we get a representative sample of Firefox OS and HTML5 developers around the world. We also need this sample to be large enough to for the data to be statistically significant.

If you’re an HTML5 or Firefox OS developer, we’d love you to participate in this 10-minute survey for their research report on Developer Economics. This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the app economy and developer ecosystems based on the largest and most global developer surveys. The results of the survey will be available as a free download in July, plus I’ll be back to talk about some of the best challenges and opportunities for developers based on insights from the full report.

The survey will run until May 9th, and there is also a lucky draw for survey respondents to win prizes! Please help us generate the best research possible with your participation. And please comment or tweet us (@mozhacks) with any thoughts or ideas on the survey questions!

Survey Methodology

The research in VisionMobile’s Developer Economics report is based on survey responses from its global developer survey, in addition to one-to-one interviews with mobile app developers. The developer survey is entirely administered online. Respondents for the 5th edition of Developer Economics came from 115+ different countries, led by the US (18.7%), India (13.9%), and the UK (5.9%), followed by Russia, Germany, and France. This is outlined in more detail in Developer Economics: Methodology.

About the Survey

Developer Economics is a semi-annual report series published by VisonMobile, providing benchmarking of developer attitudes, trends and monetization by region. The report is now the largest and most global research available on the apps economy, surveying over 6.000 developers worldwide. You can also download a free copy of the 5th Edition (Q3 2013) of the report.

About VisionMobile

A leading research firm in the app economy and mobile business models, VisionMobile’s team includes PhDs, MBAs, economists and engineers that analyze the strategies behind the world’s most successful technology companies. Visit their website to learn more.