I got into web3

The biggest change with no doubt is a transition to web3. If you have no clue what I'm talking about (no worries, I haven't either) then think of Bitcoin, blockchain, decentralization, cryptography, and all kind of similar things. I was oblivious to the intricacies of the crypto space for a long time and was really only associating it with trading. It's funny how ignorant we can get at times. Luckily, a very special person in my life had a very strong influence on me getting involved and diving deep into web3. I remember lying in bed with covid without any energy whatsoever when my boyfriend came back home from a conference. I get it! I finally get it! he shouted and went on talking about something called DAOs, the decentralization, community, amazing cooperative energy and incredibly interesting people. It was such a shock to my poor exhausted system that I simply fell asleep and ignored his outrageous excitement.

He didn't stop though. Everyday I would hear about the self governed communities, progressive projects, public goods and other exciting concepts in web3. To be able to hold a conversation, as the only other topic was our dog, I started digging into it. The beginning wasn't easy, as I didn't even know where to start, but I kept on searching and reading about things I couldn't at first understand. Like... at all. But then came the light bulb moment and I got hooked. It didn't happen through another article or a youtube video, but through a community. I got onto some Discord servers mainly focused on supporting women entering web3 and learning the tech stack. From one day to another I started having calls with various people all over the world, sharing the feeling of confusion, excitement, exchanging resources and experiences. Never have I ever experienced such warmth and openness to one another in a digital setup.

One thing led to another (cheers Greg) and I landed a job as a DevRel at Snapshot. Developer Relations people have one of the most undefined jobs in this world. You literally make it up as you go. The objectives are clear - be the bridge between the technology and developer community, make it easier for them to build on top of it and understand the challenges they are facing. In practice though there is no one way of doing that job. You can think of it as a cross between coding, product management, teaching, writing, networking and psychotherapy.

For those who know me, you probably understand why it's a great fit for me, personally 🙃 I am planning to write a bit more about it, so I'll cut it short here and you stay tuned for some future devrel writings.

I built a course

One other fun life update, a classic why not, zuz?case - I have designed, built and recorded an online course about Web3 Infrastructure together with Surge Women. It came out of nowhere, took me a restless month and a half to tackle, made me wonder how some people (mum, looking at you) can work 7 days a week for extended period of time without any break, brought about lots of fantastic people into my life and extended my limits to the new highs.

The result was amazing and definitely worth the commitment and ignoring all my friends during that time (sorry friends, you know I love you all).

We created a course that's so needed in the space - an entrypoint for all of those that are intrigued but don't know where to start (been there myself), for those who work in web3 but lack technical understanding, for devs who have web2 coding experience but have never seen a smart contract (it's like a mini program on the blockchain). Going from the basics like what is a block, how does it know where to go, through the consensus mechanisms, a full blockchain architecture, scaling solutions, to web3 identity and the interaction with the entire ecosystem from a user's standpoint.

Working on the course and teaching it reminded me about how much I enjoy education. Being able to pass the knowledge on to other people and see them grow is one of the most rewarding things you can do.

I worked at a company for 10 days

Massive life learning.

I found a job shortly after quitting my previous one, and before I started my 3 month long break between the jobs. And I will never do that again. Why? Because I never had the time to ask myself a question of what do I want to do in my life? and to respond honestly.

Being in a hot rush of changing jobs, being tired with the previous professional adventure, going through a super fast recruitment process and having the shiny promise of the novelty, I went for it.

Long story short, during my break I learned a lot about myself and became very aligned with what I want and not want to do. Hence when I joined I instantly knew that something is not right. Some corporate flashbacks from the past, the feeling that being a full time dev is not for me, not being fully aligned with what the company does and plenty of small things quickly made me realize that I don't see myself working there. Before I got involved and contributed largely to the codebase, before I was overwhelmed by the negative emotions and before I had a bad influence on anyone around me (I hope so at least), I handed in the notice. It felt weird, but it also felt right.

A big lesson from this experience is to allow yourself to change your mind and really listen to yourself.

We went ice dipping

Very much a not-professional-life update, yet so important to mention. While spending some time on the polish countryside in January we consciously decided to strip down to swimsuits in a below zero situation and walk into a cold lake for a couple of minutes. And we did that on a regular basis. Before you judge us or say that it's not for you, try it yourself.

First of all, it is not as hard as it seems.<

Second of all, it works better than a double espresso.

And third of all, it releases so many endorphins that you are instantly a happier, nicer, kinder, more wonderful human being!

I'm so fascinated by what ice dipping does to your body and mind that I may actually spend some time on researching it and writing a little somethin' about it.

I'm on a plane at the moment

And lastly, we are currently flying to Azores to take part in a coliving / coworking experience with one of the DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) in web3. You may still think that crypto is all about money, technology and weird nerdy things. Trust me when I say there is much more than that!

‍Cabin DAO is an organization building decentralized cities and communities around the world. They can function thanks to the blockchain technology which allows a community driven governance of the organization, however what they do is very much down to earth. For people, in a cooperative manner, with respect towards the nature. Our next two weeks are about combining our everyday jobs with living with others, working together on rejuvenating the area where we will stay and building new relations. I'll tell you more about how it went when we're back 😉

That's it for a life update! If you're curious about my experience of transitioning to web3 or want to learn some ice dipping best practices, hit me up.

Always happy to hop on a call and have a good conversation.

‍