Authored by: Griffin Hall & Tobi Plumpter

Web3 is a buzzing space that has grown exponentially in 2021. The transition from being a user in web2.0 to being an owner in web3.0 has been attractive to early adopters. Users of OpenSea, Decentraland, Metamask, and other web3 apps have grown in 2021 and will continue to grow in 2022.

The growth of web3 apps creates a need for builders and developers that are willing to transition from web2 to web3. There is a new set of technical skills needed in order to make that transition. Some of these skills include knowing how to build a decentralized application, a token, and an NFT. More senior skills include building decentralized exchanges and writing secure smart contracts. A central hub for learning these skills is needed.

Kacie Ahmed is one of the people that recognized the need for courses to teach these skills and we had the opportunity to interview him for this article. Ahmed graduated with a degree in Computer Science in April 2021 and later joined Blockchain Developers United in September. This culminated in a hackathon called BlockHack in Toronto, in which he was scouted by companies after winning 3rd place. His idea of creating web3 courses organically occurred after creating his own web3-related content and participating in panels on Twitter Spaces. This is how LearnWeb3DAO was born.

Ahmed is one of LearnWeb3DAO’s co-founders. LearnWeb3DAO is a collection of courses that ultimately brings one from beginner to senior developer that can code to Ethereum development standards.

The courses are created with the idea that students have a base understanding of developing using CSS+, Javascript, and HTML but the freshman track includes basic programming lessons to start. The course is broken into 4 learning tracks ranging from the freshman track to the senior track. Each course builds on the last, therefore they have to be completed before moving on to the next. The freshman track was released as a beta version in December to their first 1,000 Twitter followers.

The freshman track includes building a dApp, creating a token, and creating an NFT. The sophomore and junior track go deeper into building with Solidity, creating a DAO and DeFi protocols, and building on other chains. The freshman track is asynchronous with mini-lessons while the later courses will possibly have cohorts with live instructors. After completing the tracks, the user will be awarded a certification to show their web3 developing proficiency.

The LearnWeb3 courses could have been hosted on Udemy but instead are run through a DAO. Ahmed says that the reason for this was to help build the community and allow for governance tokens. The governance tokens also allow for token holders to vote on hackathons to participate in and other initiatives in the future. Utilizing a DAO allows for growth and scalability more than Udemy courses would.

LearnWeb3DAO’s goal is to transition 1 million developers from web2 to web3. In the long term, they aim to be the main place developers go to make that transition. This will allow for recruiters to use LearnWeb3DAO’s network as a strong talent pool for hiring web3 developers. The certification for completing all 4 tracks would hold weight when recruiting Senior Solidity Developers. The demand for web3 developers is high and is continuing to grow, therefore a central location for proficient developers would benefit both developers and recruiters.

We asked Kacie for his thoughts on these questions and here’s what he had to say:

“What about Web3 interests you?”

A huge part of what interests him is the fact that the space is so new. The biggest people in the space are coming up right now and that means there is a great opportunity to be a thought leader. The work being done right now in web3 is more impactful than the work one can do in more established tech spaces. Ahmed says he wants to “see where the web3 space goes in the next 10 years and carve out [his] path in that.” He went on to say that “this space is a frontier and everything is being built now.”

“What can non-technical people do in the web3 space?”

Like other tech spaces, there is room for non-technical people to make money. One does not need to be a developer in order to be in the web3 space. He believes that developer advocacy, technical writing, and community management are a few roles that are currently needed and are hiring. He says “whatever your strengths are in the space, you can make money from it.”

Web3 is a growing space that needs developers with web3 specific knowledge. LearnWeb3DAO will be an important player in transitioning those developers to the space. There is also a need for non-technical people in web3. Everyone will be able play a role in the growth of the web3 space.