Landing a Web3 Job via Developer DAO

So, I just landed a Web3 job with www.pointer.gg, where I'll be creating educational content for developers who want to work in Web3. This article is just a quick recap on how being a part of the Developer DAO (D_D) helped me get that role.

How it Began

In short, I started my Web3 journey about 6 months ago. I was really curious about Web3 technologies after learning about how different blockchains worked and followed whatever seemed interesting to me at the moment. There was no plan! And, to be honest, that would be my best advice to others who want to get involved in the space: stay curious and follow what interests you. None of the How to become a Web3 Developer guides will be able to tell you what you enjoy working on ;).

Oh, and be patient.

But to step back a bit, the reason I joined D_D was that I wanted to explore DAOs as a way to learn more Web3 skills, and the buzz around D_D caught my attention. The idea that I could learn with and from a community seemed like a positive approach. And it was! D_D is full of immensely ambitious and capable people. Not only is this vibe infectious, but it puts you in contact with lots of new ideas.

When I joined, I just started out by asking questions and chatting with others. I noticed other people from the Buildspace discord had also joined D_D, like Jose Velez. Jose and I had already exchanged ideas about working on projects together. We were both helping each other learn. I'd help him with some JavaScript stuff, and he'd get me up to speed on Solidity concepts.

Winning an IPFS Bounty

Jose had also been exploring Merkle trees as a way to create NFT allowlists and introduced me to the concept. When D_D organized the web3con hackathon, we decided -- together with other D_D members Orlundo and Kenny of voice-chat-5 fame -- to build an API that abstracts the majority of the Merkle proof and allowlist verification process using the merkletreeJS package. We got the second place IPFS bounty for this project and had a blast doing it!

learn more about our web3con project >> MerkleMe

Finding a Job on Twitter

At this point, I should note that I had been building a portfolio and documenting my projects there, as well as sharing content and connecting with others on Twitter. And it was through Twitter, that I found out about the job opportunity with Pointer.

After seeing the announcement and being familiar with Pointer and Kenneth's other work, I knew right away that I should apply. So I spent the weekend whipping up a mini-tutorial about automated market makers. I was somewhat familiar with how they worked but needed to dive deeper.

I decided to go all out and try my hand at creating animations, an interactive coding example, and a short explainer video to complement the tutorial. I developed a knack for this stuff because of my past career as a teacher and tour guide. I had also presented a couple of projects on D_D's "Dev'n'Tell" series, so I generally wasn't shy about getting in front of the camera and recording myself for the tutorial either.

If you're interested in seeing the tutorial I sent to Pointer as my application, you can check it out here.

Closing the Deal

So, yeah. To my surprise, this landed me an interview with the team, and a week later, I had an offer! I feel extremely fortunate to have found this gig, given that it suits me so well and allows me to use many skills I've developed over the years. Not only that, but Kenneth and the Pointer team are remarkably forward-thinking in their approach, and they favor ability over credentials. They didn't care so much about my past experiences; they were interested in what I had built! And a big reason I was able to convince them I could do the job was that I had been learning and building in public.

Interestingly enough, this is precisely what Pointer is planning to make possible for tons more developers in the future by building a sort of learn-to-earn pipeline:

The idea is that you learn on Pointer and use the skills you gained to finish small bounties for Web3 companies, earn crypto for your work, and build a portfolio of solid work for yourself that can help you ultimately land a job.

Alright. That's enough about me. But I hope this inspired you to find some fun people from D_D, some fun ideas to work on, and get hackin'!

Peace ✌️