They'll hear exciting news about the company's plans to advance on many fronts, from artificial intelligence to virtual reality.
They'll also get the chance to interact with the senior team, and to find out how they can profit from this very powerful platform.
That, at least, is the official view of Facebook's mostly-annual F8 developer conference.
And a couple of months ago, when the attendees were making their travel plans, that may have seemed believable.
Since then, however, the Cambridge Analytica scandal has broken.
Mark Zuckerberg has been (lightly) grilled in Washington, the co-founder of his firm's WhatsApp messaging service has announced he's to quit - reportedly over a separate data privacy clash - and, perhaps most significant for the developers attending F8, the rules which govern their access to Facebook have been tightened.
Growing anger
If you have a look at a Facebook developer forum online now, you will find the mood is fairly grim.
"Oh boy now nothing works," says one angry post. "Is this the beginning of the end for Facebook?"
"You've killed this platform," says another.
Together with some abuse for Cambridge Analytica, there is also anger pointed at Facebook's senior managers. They're being blamed for not keeping up their guard.
I experience a much calmer view though when I visit Ben Parr's office in San Francisco. His start-up Octane AI helps retailers reach customers through Facebook Messenger.
When I ask him for one word to sum up the mood among developers, he chooses "anxious".
"These kind of changes that Facebook definitely had to make after everything that happened has an impact on everyone," he tells me.
"You can't acquire new customers if the platform is paused."
But he also tells me that Facebook "doesn't want to screw over developers" and says he's hopeful things will get back to normal soon.
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