Project Title
Crystalize
Description
This proposal is for a contribution of 40 WETH from Moloch DAO to Crystalize. This grant will address the issue of lack of supply for web3 devs in the Ethereum ecosystem by contributing to an all-in-one solution that will train, mentor, equip, and place the finest quality web2 devs into the web3 environment and marketplace.
Crystalize is a team of developers, mentors, and blockchain advocates that are dedicated to onboarding the next wave of developer talent to contribute to a decentralized web future. The team offers a 12-week intensive boot camp that up-skills, and prepares qualified web2 developers to place them in the web3 job market. We offer a complete curriculum that is tailored around the EVM and Ethereum in general. The curriculum ends with job placement through close mentorship from renowned builders along with a refined syllabus that integrates the building of real web3 projects and dapps. Our program ensures that developers will have a stacked GitHub with all the relevant experience they need to enter the workforce with the right mentality, skills, and confidence.
Manifesto/Vision
Our vision is to make opportunities as equally distributed as talent is in the world. I.e., as the world becomes more global and boundaryless, we want to help expand opportunities by enabling worldwide access to high-quality education and work opportunities.
Our mission is to onboard the next wave of the best talent to the web 3 job market by enabling all qualified talent to be mentored and trained no matter their geological location or financial situation. We do this by offering the option of no upfront cost of tuition by offering ISAs, and by hosting our training program 100% online.
Problem
Many educational resources talk about the different concepts applied in web3. However, this does not provide developers with all of the necessary resources to launch their careers.
- An average software developer won’t land a web 3 job only by watching online videos. It is cumbersome to navigate the fast pace of innovation in the space and learn a fundamentally new tech stack from the scattered materials on the web. Without proper mentorship, problem-solving, dapp building, and navigation through the web 3 world, most programs leave developers unequipped and unprepared for interviews and for starting their web 3 developer careers.
- Everyone knows there is a lack of devs in web3 - companies raised $32B last year and $10B in Q1 2022 and need qualified devs to deliver their promises. There are less than 20,000 active web 3 developers. with over 75% of open Web3 dev job posts being for remote positions.
- One-on-one mentorships are effective but not optimal because mentors don’t get to share their highly sought-after knowledge with everyone eager to absorb it.
- Many talented developers don’t have the financial means to continue with targeted training designed to place them in the web3 job market.
- Many skilled and willing developers cannot physically attend programs aimed at launching their web3 career due to geographical constraints.
Solution
- Crystalize provides a clear syllabus with the end goal being job placement for its students. Throughout our training, students will have to create dapps, and complete other assignments that will color their GitHub and equip them with the skills, mentality, and confidence to become strong developers that contribute to our shared ecosystem and thrive in a professional environment.
- Students are admitted through cohorts which grant each student access to different one-on-one mentors and educators.
- We offer various tuition options, including one with no up-front costs that allow future builders to sign up via income-sharing agreements. This keeps the incentives for job placement high and makes sure that a successful career launch remains our priority.
- We offer the options for students to be admitted with no up-front costs by offering ISAs.
- We host our program online so that our developers can tune in from anywhere in the world.
Product Features
- Thorough applicant screening
- Refined curriculum designed to transition web2 devs into our web3 universe, not only through technical training, but also non-technical
- Partnerships with recruiters for our students
- A variety of different mentors from top-notch tech teams and DAOs
- Career, portfolio(GitHub) and interview preparation
- Graded assignments: projects build from scratch by the students
- No upfront costs
- Remote, mostly async training
Validation/Progress
For our first cohort, we have received over 150 applications. Out of all the applications we have filtered the top 15 students who come from 11 different countries. Our educators come from tech teams such as WorldCoin, ConSensys, Maple Finance, Aldrin and BanklessDAO. We have partnerships with multiple recruiting firms and hiring managers in the place.
So far we have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from our students (NPS = 8.3) who are eager to learn and build a community out of themselves by being active in the Discord server and supporting each other.
Differentiation (from other projects)
We focus directly on job placement so we provide only the highest quality training, we assign projects that will help shine the best light on our student’s GitHub Portfolios, we help with interview preparation and we offer ongoing mentorship throughout the course. We have partnered with recruiters to ensure they help and oversee our students throughout the program as well as continuously comment on and validate our curriculum to ensure we are producing high-quality talent ready for the job market.
Team
- Francisco Lopes
- Harrison Shulman
- DC Builder
- Jorge Antonio
- Pradhumna
- Lucas Manuel
- Ray Hernendez
- Massimiliano
You can read more about the team and our bios here: Notion – The all-in-one workspace for your notes, tasks, wikis, and databases.
Grant Request $
40 WETH is approximately 2.6% of the DAO’s treasury.
What the Funds Are For
- Audit the program after the first cohort has graduated and iterate the syllabus according to feedback ~$5,000
- Keep the course material relevant to the current job market trends and technologies being developed in the industry ~$5,000
- Research and implementation of emerging tech that will give our students an edge ~$5,000
- Recording sessions with high-quality guest speakers ~$5,000
- Offer scholarships to rockstar developers that need funding to attend, i.e., covering their life expenses so they can focus on the cohort: ~$12,500
- Marketing (content asset creation, Twitter, ads): create brand awareness and generate more applications: ~$17,500
Help Requested
We are searching for guest lectures from senior Devs, CTOs, and technical KOLs in the industry. If you wish to give a lecture, please contact francisco@crystalize.dev