It’s still fresh in my mind when I first stepped into web3 & got my first payment in crypto. Since then, working here in web3 is so awesome & it has changed my life entirely. And today, I would like to share my experience here & it’s totally based on my personal perspective of how I understood web3 & so it’s not a financial advice or anything related. One should do their own research before diving fulltime in web3.

Crypto is not trading alone

The first thing that comes to people’s mind when they hear the term crypto is trading. But it’s not. Crypto is a term that encloses a lot within & trading is one such thing people can do with it. A currency that’s virtual and cannot be felt is generally known as crypto. Since Bitcoin gained a lot of popularity much earlier with the sole purpose of being an internet money that’s peer to peer, the term crypto was understood as such. Bitcoin is not just the internet currency’s name but it’s the name of the actually blockchain itself, Bitcoin. And there are many other blockchains that exists these days & any currency that exists within a chain is called crypto.

The Real metaverse

Ethereum is one such blockchain but unlike Bitcoin, this chain is built for many things that can be built on top of it with any kind of utility one can think of ranging from finance, ownership, supply chain, governance and anything that fits in. Imagination is the limit. It has got a whole new world built around like a parallel universe & it’s becoming more better these days with new projects being built. This also goes by names like Web3, Metaverse, etc.

Let me start by sharing how is it like to work in web3 as a developer.

The Super dev

I am basically a full stack web developer which is a common role in traditional web2 companies. Web2 by the term I mean is the normal web but without involving Web3 stuff. Basically no blockchain. And being a web dev in web3 is like a supercharged version of yourself & I used to mention myself as a Blockchain Application Developer or even a Super Dev. I said supercharged coz, web3 is something that is built over web2 like how we have cellular network evolutions like 2g, 3g, 4g & 5g. 5g is not possible without 4g & so on. They all provide the foundations for the next big thing.

Charting the metaverse

Next is how to get a job in web3. Unlike how you apply for a normal company with resumes, degrees, certificates, etc. finding a place in web3 is something different. Skills, curiosity, creativity are the keys. Though you need to have something to showcase your skills but it doesn’t certainly need to be a resume, you don’t need to think too much on how to format that, cover letters & related. No, those doesn’t matter. I didn’t had good grades or even any previous work experience in big tech companies. All I had was the urge to learn more fueling my curiosity by exploring anything that interests me. I was & is my own cartographer by exploring the unexplored. There is no single guide that one can follow to master web3. Each one will have to make their own maps & guide.

It all started for me from a single tweet that I came across one day at random. It was an invite to something called Metagame which said that it’s a community for anyone interested in building an alternate economy based on the famous Doughnut Economics by using the all in one tool, Ethereum. Previously, I was interested to join the Metacartel ecosystem which was some kind of a DAO built using a framework called Moloch.

New age startups

DAO? Moloch? It was all entirely new terms for me when I first heard & I had no idea on how this is going to become the next big thing. All I knew was the people in metacartel uses this DAO to manage their treasury. And I was hoping to get some funding for something which I don’t even remember what it was now, lol. Since there were people from metacartel in metagame, I joined the fam which I mean is by joining their discord server. Even discord was too new to me at that point of time.

I then got amazed by the conversations happening over there which I wouldn’t even thought of if I weren’t there. It felt like a secret society or MIB kind of guys doing extraordinary things that the normal world wouldn’t know. I then totally forgot about that funding thing I was into & started interacting with people, reading the topics that were shared & all other things that existed in web3. Since I was familiar with web2 tech, I was able to grasp the web3 tech pretty fast & it also made sense.

There were these projects which I first explored: Pooltogether, Compound Finance, Gitcoin, SourceCred, Aragon, etc. Each of them having their own purpose but what’s common is the technology used, Ethereum or EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine).

Then it’s the network of people. Getting connected with people in web3 is so much important as there will always be people in common between projects. It’s also the reputation you receive by connecting with people as trust is a must to thrive. And that’s mostly because, web3 is decentralized & it’s peer to peer. No HRs, no managers, etc. You are your own responsibility failing which costs you the reputation which in turn affects your employment opportunities. It’s much like an open world game or DND where you chart your own character & the same applies here in web3.

As I progressed with such knowledge, I started contributing to projects & take bounties in Gitcoin. It then allowed me to branch out more to other different communities. And RaidGuild is one such community which is a team of designers, devs & all the different roles one can find in a tech company. Yeah, it’s a guild of builders but running on web3. Much like a startup in web2 but the difference is, raidguild is a DAO.

DAO is Decentralized Autonomous Organization. As the name implies,

• it’s decentralized (no central authority like board members, CEOs & others who have the control over an organization).
• it’s autonomous (doesn’t rely on people to make the laws as it all goes by code).
• but it’s still an organization.

There’s a lot that can be talked about DAOs and how they work but for the sake of not getting too long in here, let’s just remember this

DAOs are the new age startups that lives totally onchain run by it’s members without the intervention of any governments, agencies or centralized authorities.

After hearing about RaidGuild, understanding the basics of DAOs & how it all comes together for a potential employment opportunity for me, I was heavily motivated to join the guild. But it either required people to stake money in the DAO in return for a membership (which is not applicable today) or get into the DAO by means of proof of skills. And that required me to work on a raid (project, yeah, raidguild has all fancy terms) as an apprentice supervised by an existing raider (member) & only upon successful completion of the raid, I can join the guild.

Due to the interest I had, I delivered the raid in 12 hours at god’s speed which was a frontend work. I was asked to bring the designs to life & I did. My champion (supervising raider) & almost everyone in the guild was happy & I got championed as a raider officially. I was then invited to three different projects along with a gitcoin bounty I was working already. And this is what I meant earlier,

Reputation & Skills are the key to getting yourself employed in Web3

Since then, my network, my skills, my exposure got branched out more while rooting myself deeper in web3. I started learning more & started looking into more projects built as it both improves your knowledge on the current happenings & also sparks new ideas.

The Golden rules

You might also have question on how good the pay is. I would say it totally depends on you as there is no fixed paycheck.

The more projects you take, the more you get yourself involved in other projects, the more you explore, the more you connect, the more you build reputation, the more you enhance your skills, the more you receive back.

What I mean by more specifically is, there are multiple different ways to make money in here if done right. For example,

• the more you involved in other projects; maybe you will be airdropped tokens. Projects such as Uniswap, 1inch exchange & the recent ENS domains dropped their own tokens to their users for being early. Though they were mainly airdropped as a governance token so that the community can govern things instead of a single guy or a team passing new proposals, the tokens also gain liquidity on decentralized exchanges which in turn makes them valuable.
• the more projects you do is especially applicable if you are in any DAOs as the contributions are generally tracked by tools like sourcecred, coordinape, etc. & then paid as per your contribution. One such great example is Metagame which rewards contributions in their native tokens called Seeds.
• the more you explore is in the sense, keeping yourself updated on the happenings in the metaverse as it all happens so quick. One such example was the NFT project CryptoPunks which was made to be claimed free when launched & now it’s a whole lot of value such that a normal family can making their entire living by selling one of them. Of course there are NFT spams which tries to lure you in by raising your hopes that it might be the next cryptopunk and many fall for it. Research, research! Explore! Understand & most importantly don’t get greedy.
• the more you enhance your skills, the more you receive back goes without saying that keeping your skills up to date and delivering projects as promised raises your value & also your reputation.

Quality is greater than Quantity

• Finally, the more you network, the more you know. You will later realize that all projects in web3 will have at least one person in common & it’s always good to get connected with people. It’s like a family in here & everyone is connected in one way or the other.

The Challenges

As much as web3 offers, there are also a few challenges it comes along.

Secure wallets

All the stuff you do in here is connected to your wallet & that’s all you need but at the same time, its too easy to lose everything you have earned in just a fraction of second. Securing your wallet is not something to be taken for granted. Since wallets are non-custodial, if someone has access to either your private key or seed phrase, its over. Metamask is one of the most popular wallet providers which is also more vulnerable to attacks. One common mistake that people do is revealing their secret phrases either known or by mistake. Never ever do that. There are now wallets like Argent which eliminates the need of a seed phrase & instead uses guardians. It’s more secure than Metamask but it only supports a limited number of networks. You cannot store assets that lives on a unsupported chain. If you do, the assets are lost.

Bridge right

Next comes the bridging of assets between chains. Since there are different sidechains & layer two solutions like xdai, polygon, arbitrum, zksync, etc., transferring assets between chains should be done with more attention as a single slip on switching the networks, using wrong address, setting improper gas limit & fee can result in loss again.

Time the gas

One of the main reason for bringing in other L2 solutions is coz of the high gas prices these days due to the network being used more than ever. As much as it says, we are going mainstream, it’s also a nightmare to time the moment for making a transaction, setting gas limits & prices. Low gas prices results in your transaction not being mined on time or even fail while also an improper gas setting can revert back creating loss in dollars.

On ramping & Off ramping

It’s both difficult to on ramp & off ramp if you are in a country that doesn’t support all those centralized exchanges due to regulations. And it’s also possible that you either on ramp or off ramp to a wrong network or address causing a loss again. There’s also the swaps that you might need to do if your off ramp solution requires the deposit to be done in a specific token other than the one you have in your wallet.

Price volatility

Crypto is highly volatile and that’s why stablecoins are used to manage fluctuations staying consistent on the base price. You need to strategize on how you wanna get paid & how much percent of your portfolio should be stable & unstable. And whether if you wanna lend your assets for interest or offer liquidity for pools, etc. The investment options are too unique from your traditional finances.

Filtering spams

Crypto has a lot of spammers looking forward to use even the slightest opportunity on getting someone fooled. Airdrops & NFTs are nowadays used to lure people by using one’s greed on quick money. Never click on anything or get involved if you don’t really know what it is. Research & Validate!

Contract Bugs

Since all financial happenings are based on smart contracts, it’s possible for a protocol or project to get hacked if there are any bugs in them. Though major protocols & projects have them well audited, new born projects are more susceptible to such bugs & attacks. Think before putting in your money on such things.

A typical day

For me, I have my own way of overcoming those challenges such as using different wallets for my identity & vaults, using a separate browser for just web3, reviewing connected sites, researching on projects based on how many of the reputed people and projects are into them, etc.

I am a member of few DAOs & a contributor to various web3 communities. And a normal day starts for me with Discord being the first place to check when I was away. Then it goes by reviewing PRs, creating PRs, monitoring onchain proposals & finally watching out twitter for all the new web3 happenings. There’s also something I do each day for the betterment of myself or for the community by creating something fun or by just learning a new skill or writing stuff like this. Swapping and monitoring token assets comes next depending on the need of the moment.

Discord + Twitter + Hackmd + Notion are the new age tools of modern era web3 companies.

I then talk with my dev mates or community mates, listen to what others say & read stuff as it helps to stay motivated and curious always. It specifically pushes me forward to do more as there’s always something to get inspired from.

I would have never been more satisfied about my employment if it wasn’t for web3. Everyone is cool & everything is awesome. It’s also extra cool for me as no one in my family or friends circle work the way I do & I love to come up with these different ways of saying what I do like,

• I am super dev
• I program money, etc.

There’s still more I can write about as everything that I know of cannot be covered in a single article & it would also be more to go through at one go for anyone who’s reading. And so I have kept it to the surface while conveying the overall of as many as I can. Hope this experience of mine helps others navigate or get started in web3.

If you have made till here, all thanks for your time!