ErgoLearn is service provided by the ErgoLend team that intends to teach students a solid foundation of the technology behind the Ergo Platform.

ErgoLearn had its first classes last week, January 6th. The course begins with basic eUTXO Concepts and slowly builds upon these fundamentals to help students acquire the knowledge and obtain the skills to understand and explain concepts such as designing basic financial systems via smart contracts on top of Ergo’s Blockchain, and the knowledge to navigate through basic ErgoScript.

Student Luca recently began the First round of ErgoLearn courses — we had the pleasure to ask him some questions about the upcoming experience.

I started learning about blockchains by reading the Bitcoin whitepaper back in 2018. I dove into Cardano last year by watching the notorious Charles whiteboard video. I subsequently fell into the rabbit hole of his AMAs. I got into Ergo this past summer, mostly just learning about it but not getting involved in the community. I read the Ergo Manifesto and fell in love with the ideas and spirit behind it. I am particularly inspired by their goal to empower normal people like you and me with better financial tools. I take this principle to heart when deciding what I would like to develop on Ergo in the future. The community is amazing and filled with highly competent people from all walks of life.

I’m hoping to learn skills that will help me think properly about dApp and smart contract design. I understand the first iteration of the course is not technical, so I hope having a good high level mental model for thinking about and understanding the Ergo blockchain, eUTXOs, and smart contracts will help me when actually wanting to implement a dApp design later on.

I’m expecting this class to be a good introduction to the world of Ergo, sort of like a mini pioneer program, from which myself and the other participants can use a starting point for development on Ergo, whether it be in a technical or non-technical capacity. I have done my own research, unfortunately not as experienced as some or most people currently developing on the Ergo Platform. I’m currently teaching myself React, Rust, Scala and Haskell on the side, and I hope the skills I learn in the class will complement the others.

I’m hoping to use what I learn to help me develop my own dApp ideas on Ergo. When a technical ErgoLearn course becomes available in the future, you can guarantee I will be there as well. Although we are in a global economy, hopefully the things we build not only help others all over the world but in our own communities as well.

I think this will be a great opportunity for anyone wanting to know more about Ergo and help be part of dApp development in any capacity. Personally, I also find it valuable to be around other people keen on learning. In my opinion, the Ergo community is one of the most welcoming and wholesome, and thus a great place to start learning about blockchain development.

I have a background in physics and computer science. I’m new to blockchains though, but I am interested in their potential to transform an antiquated financial system, and hopefully increase net human prosperity as a consequence. Due to my science background, I am particularly fond of the fact that both Cardano and Ergo are research first projects. These technologies will be the foundations of a new global financial system, people should demand they be built properly. Adopting a rigorous academic and research mentality guarantees this, I think it also attracts people who want to be in a more professional environment, devoid of vitriolic nonsense.

I hope the Ergo ecosystem grows in popularity and that more people become aware of it. I hope more developers join and start growing the sigmaverse. I’m particularly excited about scaling solutions becoming a reality in the future as well as decentralized identity coming to Ergo. So much cool stuff to look forward to.

I’m most excited about building a solid foundation for understanding Ergo and learning from others as well. Hopefully this is the first step in what will become a fully fleshed out course that can educate many more people in the future — Ergonaut training! Wherever knowledge flows, so too does liberty.

So far the prerequisite beta sessions have been good. Mostly getting an understanding for how the course will work and setting expectations. I enjoy listening to the organizers and the other participants asking questions. It’s cool to be on a learning journey with fellow Ergonauts from all over the world.

It was a pleasure to speak with Luca and learn about his experience and expectations going into the ErgoLearn program. We look forward to keeping up with Luca as the ErgoLearn curriculum continues.