A place where developers tell their stories of how they became part of web3.

Donate and get one of these NTFs here!

What did you do before getting into web3?

I was obsessed with entrepreneurship, created many tech startups (all failed), also was organizing events for entrepreneurs, taught formally entrepreneurship in a college, and even had my own startup incubator. 

What were the first things you did in web3?

I did a lot of simple projects to get to know web3 better, I participated in tons of hackathons, virtual and physical, and started my own web3 startup named affogato, doing coffee-related products with web3. I hacked some tools related to coffee farmers, like collateralized loans using coffee as collateral, a splitter contract for tipping farmers, some DAO tooling, and I think one of my last was a push notification protocol, way before EPNS existed.

When and how did you start to think about quitting your web2 job?

I felt an immediate connection with web3, I quit my jobs and started focusing on web3 full-time, the only issue was that it was the start of the bear market, it was really hard, not because I lost money or anything, but because it was impossible to get a job or raise funds. I remember getting interviews or being ignored on email chains and it's funny because, after covid + bull, some people started pinging on those old years’ mails to see if I was still interested

I managed to survive by doing contractor work, winning hackathons, and some grants from ConsenSys. In the end, was all worth it. I now work full-time for Cryptex Finance DAO.

How did you hear about EthernautDAO?

A good way to learn is to follow good developers on Twitter, by following some I found out about EthernautDAO when it was in the creation stage. A few to follow are @gakonst @transmissions11 @bantg

Did you post a mentorship? How did it feel?

I did, and it felt really good seeing so many good and talented candidates. Actually, wish to have more time to pick more candidates.

If you have transitioned to web3 full time, how different is it from your previous career?

Really different, the community is an important part, virtual relationships are a blast, I can breathe and I don’t have to waste time on the commute. I also, travel a lot to events to compensate for the lack of physical interactions. If you want to work for a DAO you can just enter their discord and start collaboration it’s that simple.

What advice would you give to web3-curious devs?

Give it a try, will change your life. Go to a lot of hackathons, hone your skills and learn from the bests. Of course, getting a mentor will give you an advantage as you won’t have to do it all by trial and error.

Follow Crisgarner on Twitter: @crisgarner

EthernautDAO offers free mentorships to experienced web2 devs trying to break into web3. If this sounds like you, check out the available mentorships in the EthernautDAO Discord and follow us on Twitter to get notified when a new mentorship is available.