A few months ago, I came across a post on one of the Discord communities I’m part of, about how the Ethereum Foundation (EF) had a Devcon Scholars program, where they’d pick 50 Scholars to attend this year’s Devcon in Bogota, Colombia.
I was curious, and intrigued. As I’d been delving deeper into the web3 space, I started looking into it. A lot of people in the space seemed to be really psyched about it, and this felt like a major event.
As I started digging deeper, I came across EF’s philosophy of long term thinking, subtraction, and stewardship of values, and I instantly knew this was going to be it.
Here they are:
Reading these had me feeling so inspired, and I immediately went to the app to apply. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t make it, but I thought why not give it a shot. It felt like an incredible experience to be around people who believed in the same philosophy and had these values. Long story short, I got chosen.
The Scholars program was pretty incredible. We had different sessions on Ethereum, growing Eth communities globally, and on building our vision of how we’d contribute meaningfully to growing the use of blockchain. There was a lot of emphasis on getting to know other scholars and collaborating. We met virtually a few times before we met IRL. It felt like college times all over, where everyone was new and we were sort of figuring things out. We came from different parts of the world, had different ages, experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives. The two things we all did share: a passion for growing and building, and a genuine, welcoming vibe. I made so many friends, and I was so inspired by everyone’s story, and that’s what led me to deciding what my “Artefact” would be.
Now what’s an artefact? It was one of the requirements of the program. Each of us were asked to create an artefact. It could be digital, or physical, and we could interpret it however we liked.
Thinking through the last two weeks in Bogota, which have been nothing short of glorious and magical (more on this later), since the other Scholars were such a big part of this experience, I decided my artefact would be sharing some of their stories. So here they are, hear more about each of them in their own words.
This photo was taken from the Devcon Scholars Breakfast, the first big Scholars event where we officially met each other IRL.
Starting with Daniela, Albert, Camilo, Narayane, and Anya.
I asked them all the same questions:
Tell me more about you (who you are and what you expected from Devcon)
How your experience was, and anything interesting that you’ll take away from the scholars experience and devcon/web3 as a whole
What you’re looking forward to post devcon, what will you do from now to the next devcon?
Here are their stories, in their own voices and words. This is part I.
Daniela Marotazo
[from Peru]
My name is Daniela Marotazo and I'm a 22 year-old Peruvian. And, I met crypto this year and I consider myself as a crypto enthusiast, I felt in love with the technology, and its whole potential. So, I got to participate in many communities and activities through social media. And through this, I got to know about Devcon and the hackathons. An experience like the whole hap about though - about Devcon being the World cup for the blockchain community, by the time I realized it, I knew I couldn't miss this opportunity if I wanted to build my life up on it. So when I realized that it was taking place in LATAM, in Colombia, it meant the world to me. Because I'm aware of the impact it has and will have in developing countries. And, how it is an alternative to an unstable and corrupt governments. This was an opportunity for all my fellow Latinos and to me, to shine, to learn, and get the most of it - to build safer economies, to find fairly-paid jobs, get better education programs, and the list could go on. But, especially to build supportive communities that act as a whole and provide solution, not just for Latinos but for all people around the world who go through similar scenarios.
For me, it was realizing that we can be very similar and unique at the same time - no matter country, our beliefs, our backgrounds, we all want to grow in terms of the ecosystem and ourselves, to impact in a positive way. And, the most valuable thing I carry with me is the friends that I made and all of their stories i was lucky to hear. For me, it wasn't just networking but actually connecting with amazing and talented people that are building the future of the world, and of course web3.
I started with the communities, the duty that I have is with them. My goal is to create a local Ethereum community called EthBura to connect this small town with countless opportunities. For the next Devcon, my goal is to come with many more questions, and challenges, of how can I do better, what can I bring to my local community, what can I build next. The thing is I really expect to come with many many questions, so I'll know I'm on the right path. And, of course the one thing I can't miss is to gather with my old friends from the Devcon Scholarhsip.
Albert Cervera
[from Argentina]
Hi, my name is Albert. I’m 27 and I’m a blockchain engineer. This was my first Devcon and I was expecting it to be a great, big venue with lots of web3 enthusiasts, some networking and good talks. Probably nothing else.
Devcon itself was an incredible adventure. I met lots of amazing persons with so much talent, so passionate and eager to help grow the community. The venue was so nice and most of the people seemed incredible. Just good vibes everywhere. Now, the Devcon Scholars program was indeed one of the best I have ever been. All of the Scholars are very very great people to talk with. They’re very talented, and yet so humble. I will treasure a lot their friendships. I learned a lot from them, and hopefully I also left something with them. Now, if you add the Scholars project + Devcon itself + beautiful, beautiful Bogota - I really feel like I miss them so so much.
I was talking to a friend and then he heard that for me there’s definitely going to be a before and after Devcon. I can say this in many different areas: from the Developer perspective to the more human and sensible side. After meeting these incredible people and projects, I feel like I don’t want to just sit here and do the same things as before. I don’t want the same things again. I want to help people within the community. I feel that with all the knowledge and potential we have, we are meant for greater things.
Cristian Camilo Ramírez Martínez
[from Colombia, residing in Canada]
My name is Cristian Camilo Ramírez Martínez, from Medellin, Colombia. I’m an industrial designer and I used to work as an Art Director and Assistant for music videos, specifically for Reggaeton videos. Right now, I’m living in Edmonton, Canada and working there as a Technician Installer. And, what I was suspecting about Devcon is learned a lot about Ethereum, Ethereum ecosystem, meet new people, connect, do networking. But, to my surprise it was an amazing experience. Way better than I was imagining. It was incredible because I met so much people and I made new friends from all around the world.
Devcon was one of the most amazing experience that I ever had in my life. It was incredible to be part of the Scholarship program and to have the opportunity to meet 50 people from all around the world and talk to them and know more about them and how they started in the crypto ecosystem. And, for me, it was so nice to know all of this because I never met people from so many countries. That was awesome. I learn a lot, during the Devcon days specifically about the importance of decentralization, zk-proof, privacy, importance of public goods, and ??? All of these topics were very new for me. Because, maybe I heard about them in the past, but I never had the opportunity like to get into or to learn so much about it. I really like it, and I would like to continue learning about these in the future.
After Devcon, I would like to keep studying and learning about Ethereum. This ecosystem is so big, then there are so much things that I would like to learn a little more and understand better. Another thing, this industry always has new releases and new develops. Then, I feel this is important to keep updated about what is happening here. And at the same times, I want to start work in the crypto space, then I am looking the opportunities. I am an Industrial Designer, and I feel its close for me to move as a UX/UI designer. Then, I'm trying to learn more about this role in the last stage. then, I see I like to help understand this, like education. Then, it could be nice if at the same time, I help people in my city in Edmonton to understand Ethereum, and to start to build an Ethereum Edmonton community. Could be nice too. Then, for now, I think this roles could be my goals for the next month, and even until the next Devcon.
Narayane Ribeiro Medeiros
[from Brazil]
Hi, I am Narayane Medeiros, one of the few women studying engineering at the best university of technology in Brazil. I'm a front-end anti-Web2 developer and UX designer. I discovered the Web3 world this year when the Ethereum-Brazil community was created, and it started doing the first Ethereum hackathons in my country. If the first hackathon is ahead, I decided to decide my transition to Web3, as soon as I understand the potential of decentralization.
After studying, doing some related projects, I got a scholarship from the Ethereum Foundation to Devcon, one of the biggest Ethereum events in the world. About Devcon, I had decided to go because I believe it was a perfect place to really have a complete mission in the web3 community.
As I had said, the Brazilian community started to form this year, so going to a place with a lot of developers, community builders, reference names, and other related people in the same place with representations of the biggest Web3 community in the world would be a place that you really know how is this new decentralization world since the technical past through the expectations of future impact goals of the next projects onto the more social, past-like representation and projects in all about the community. Honestly, it would be the place for me to really see how are the mission, vision, and values that guide Web3 today and consequently, if it is a place that I would like to dedicate my efforts to see grow and happen more and more.
I had already had high expectations for Devcon, but the event surprised me in size and presentations. The event lived up to the title of one of the biggest Ethereum events in the world. There were many people taking part in the event and they had four floors with different presentations, exhibitions or talk rooms. But what impacted me the most was the approach towards Latin America. The explanation given by the organizers of the event being held in Latin America was the fact that the region is underdeveloped and the objective of the free and community is to grow and therefore they should grow together. Doing it in Latin America would be a way to encourage the region to develop. That was what impacted me the most.I'm Latin and seeing a community that is not Latin or social organization care about Latin America was very important to me because I know the people who grow up in this region and they deserve to be recognized, not dismissed by a wall or by traffic history or by financial position in a world of hacking.
We are more than numbers, more than money, more than job disputes, and more than commerce. We are people. We are people full of warm colors and a vivid closure of miscegenation and resilience. Seeing the world look at us like that was priceless. And I saw it even in the mascot of the event, which was absolutely colorful. The food was not common in colonization communities, but there were in general cheap representations of Colombia. The opening brought Colombia dance and the closing brought artistic representation and flags from all over Latin America. This was very important because it was one of the few times I saw a global impact event not caring so much about marketing or sales, but about representation and impact.
For example, maybe it would be more successful if the food at the event was Pizza and if the dance performance were international pop, maybe with a globally no singer. But they cared about getting alternate elements with local people, even if they weren't as famous and risk not being so successful due to the fact that a large part of the public from other continents probably does not identify with these local elements. But look, it was really successful. Devcon had many amazing things, but the value of having true of more than 500 million people living in Latin America was immeasurable.
What I take away from this event is that the web3 community really seeks to be more than people think. It seeks to be more than calls and virtual occurrences. The community really has values and this is the most important and this is an argument for me to invest my career at web3 to spend time of my future dedicating myself to grow and develop in this community.
Now, one special thing that I take from the Ethereum Foundation Scholar Program is the people. I met people from all over the world and with the most different territories. I made invaluable friendships in scholarly support network that I had no idea how much impact it could have on my life. What I loved the most is that it wasn't just a paid trip like men's scholarships do. The Ethereum Foundation took care to organize previous meetings for web3 or Spanish classes to arrange individual meetings between scholars and in groups. The Ethereum Foundation Scholar Program has keen to make the participants get to know each other and have all the help before, during or even after the trip. It was a program to make the participants involved in several areas, being networked and technical among others.
Between now and the next Devcon, I'm going to do a lot of hackathons. Because if there is one thing I learned during the Ethereum Foundation Scholar Program is that out of one sleepless night of code and can emerge the next big impact DAO or the next unicorn company that will take web3 to the world. Who knows? Maybe in the mid-set of these hackathons, I will help take that next big step for the Web3 community.
Anya Singh
[from Canada]
Hello, my name is Anya, I'm 17 years old, and I work in blockchain research and development. I originally started off working as a developer, I was building web3 tools for developers to get on board into web3, so it was making it very easy for people to learn web3 and then land their first job, but I eventually got into academia and learned a lot more about cryptography and the underlying technology behind the blockchain. That was really interesting because I got to work in areas like cryptographic automation, which most people wouldn't really think about, but the research field that I'm currently working in is on how we can automate the discovery of vulnerabilities in different blockchains, and then eventually how we can use these new advancements that we have to integrate the blockchain with more mainstream technologies like SMS.
What I expected from Devcon was really just, I thought it would be like another tech conference, I'd never been to any Ethereum or DevCon event, so I don't know if this is even as helpful, but I'd never been to an Ethereum event, and I thought, yeah, DevCon was amazing, it was nothing like any tech event I've ever been to, people were so energetic and curious, and the excitement was incredible, and I very much miss it. My experience overall was great, a lot of very interesting people I met that weren't even part of Web3 or blockchain or even part of the ecosystem, but it was just as inclusive for them. Everyone was so energetic and very, very curious and interested in everything that everyone was doing. The amount of people that I met that were just interested or curious about the ecosystem but had come from a different background was amazing because I'm personally exploring a lot of different areas in tech, so it was cool to get that kind of perspective, plus it wasn't, I still feel like with those people that were outside of the ecosystem, they were so super energetic and excited about it, which was great. Overall I would say DevCon just did a really good job of exposing to a lot of different areas, so on the first few days I mainly attended talks in zero knowledge and cryptography and engineering because that was what was interesting to me, but they did have a lot of cool formats like they had workshops and discussions that led me to explore many different areas. I looked at DAOs and other areas that I hadn't really considered, so I went to a workshop for recruitment, which was really cool because I'm personally not recruiting and I'm not looking to get recruited, but it was a cool experience nonetheless to hear everyone's perspectives and I'm sure I'm going to be using some of that knowledge maybe a few years from now. So, yeah, I would say DevCon overall, amazing experience, I loved the jungle room and the entire, like the foosball tables, the chess tournaments, it was such an all-in-one encapsulating experience that made people feel like a lot of the conversations I even had weren't even about Web3 and like they were just about biotech or AI and then we talk about cryptocurrencies, it was just such an encapsulating experience where you could ask people their perspectives on things and it was amazing, it was incredible, and there was a lot of room for serendipitous things to happen, like the workshops I went to, I met so many incredible people, the booths I talked to, so many amazing people who were looking for interns, looking for research, looking to even fund research, which was great, so yes, overall amazing experience.
What I'm looking forward to post DevCon, I'm looking forward to the next DevCon of course, what I'm going to do moving forward, I haven't completely decided, but I think I'm continuing with the research for a while and then hopefully connecting with some of the companies that I met and seeing if I can contribute to their pool, but generally I think that the amount of perspective and ideas that I've gotten from this conference, I would love to explore other areas as well, there was someone I met who was working in the intersection of bio and cryptocurrencies, which is awesome, and then someone else I met who was working in funding like reproductive health research in a DAO, so those kinds of things I feel like are so exciting when you can take what you learn in this bubble and then go outside of it, I also, I forgot to mention this, but I was at a climate round table also which was incredible, there was like the side events were amazing, I didn't mention that either, side events were amazing and the climate round table that I went to just really opened my eyes to a lot of movements in ReFi which I hadn't been exposed to, so that was, it was cool, it was a great experience and I hope that between now and next DevCon, I can work on contributing more to the Ethereum ecosystem and really trying to do better research, be a better researcher, be a better developer, I want to gain all these perspectives that I've met so many people now and I want to take what they've learned and see if I can connect with them to build better things moving forward.
*Special thanks to Whales for transcribing Anya and Narayane’s answers.
Follow me on Twitter at @arlery
I loved reading this in full :)