Grant Proposal: Defy Foundation - Web3 development course: empowering the next generation

[admin]

Grant ID: 86854e9w7

Summary:

DEFY FOUNDATION

At our core, we are committed to creating and sharing top-notch, open-source educational material on crypto and decentralized finance. Our goal is to empower every individual with this knowledge and technology. We owe our success to the unwavering support of Defy Education and the protocols and companies that share our vision of making education accessible to all in Latin America. Together, we will continue to expand the reach of free education.

About this course:

Our Web3 development course is a comprehensive 12-week program that equips our students with the knowledge and skills necessary to build decentralized applications with confidence. Our students will learn about Ethereum, smart contract programming, DeFi, frontending, security, and external data connections, among others. Upon completion of our program, our students will have become proficient in Web3 development, and will be well-positioned for the numerous career opportunities available in the decentralized ecosystem.

Our Web3 development course spans over 12 weeks and consists of 36 hours of intensive learning. Every week, our students will have access to a 2-hour live theoretical class, followed by homework and a 1-hour live practical class on another day of the week. For those who lack the necessary knowledge, we offer an intensive crash course on blockchain, Ethereum and DeFi.

We understand that life can be unpredictable, so we’ve got our students covered. All classes are recorded and uploaded to our LMS platform, where our students can access them at any time, making it easy to catch up or revise any missed classes. To access the next class, our students will need to complete a questionnaire at the end of every class.

Our final practical exam is corrected by our team and partners, and in some cases, students will be given the option of completing a challenge from a specific protocol or Dapp. The aim of this exam is to give our students a chance to showcase their skills, and use it as a tool to introduce themselves to potential employers who will be interviewing them in the near future. With our program, our students can be confident in their abilities to succeed in the world of Web3 development.

Application process:

We will open an application where potential students will answer questions regarding their knowledge. We will filter applicants based on their previous knowledge and experience. The main focus here will be Semi Senior and Senior web2 developers. This is based in talks we had with different protocols and dapps regarding the knowledge a dev needs to start working in web3.
Professor: Sebastian Leonardo Perez - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebaleoperez/
Dates:
Start date: Aug 22, 2023
Theoretical classes: Tuesdays from 6.30 to 8.30 pm (GMT-3)
Practical classes: Thursdays from 6.30 to 7.30 pm (GMT-3)

Syllabus

Module 1:

• Introduction to Ethereum and programming of smart contracts
• Ethereum’s history
• Consensus / PoW vs PoS
• What is an smart contract
• Use cases
• DeFi
• EVM
• Metamask

Module 2: basic solidity concepts
Basic structures
Data types
Inheritance

Module 3: libraries & utilities
OpenZeppelin

Module 4: setting up the development environment
Hardhat

Module 5: Tokenization & DeFi

Module 6: frontending
ethers.js
web3.js

Module 7: testing

Module 8: basic security concepts

Module 9: external data connections and oracles
Chainlink

Module 10: data indexing
The Graph

Module 11: monitoring
Tenderly

Module 12: working with layer 2s
Optimism / Arbitrum / Polygon
Intro to Starknet

I have read and agree to the privacy policy:
true

Describe what your project does or is aiming to do in 50 characters or less:
Web3 development course for decentralized app building

If available, please enter a link to your project below:
https://defy.foundation/

How far along are you?:
Our course is clearly defined in terms of schedule, duration, and content. We have already enlisted a professor to cover the general Ethereum content in the initial classes. We are currently pursuing protocols to bring on specialized educators for each of them and secure funding to ensure that we can deliver this course to all developers in Latin America. Our team is confident that we will achieve these objectives and offer an outstanding learning experience to our students.

Why did you pick this idea to work on? Do you have domain expertise in this area? How do you know people need what you’re making?:
At our company, we confidently acknowledge that the shortage of web3 developers is a major issue that needs to be addressed. Without programmers, no tools can be developed, which hinders the potential success of projects in web3. Our solution has been to educate over 5,000 individuals in crypto and cybersecurity over the past 2 years. We understand that everyone learns differently, and we provide constant support and guidance to ensure successful completion of our online training courses.

We take pride in carefully selecting the content of our courses. We consult with projects and protocols to determine the necessary technologies and skills that are in demand. At The Graph, we even work with Simon Emanuel Schmid, the current Lead Developer Relations Engineer, to ensure that our course content aligns with the needs of the industry.

Rest assured that we are fully committed to producing successful products in web3 by educating and supporting a new wave of skilled web3 developers.

What’s new about what you’re making? What substitutes do people resort to because it doesn’t exist yet (or they don’t know about it)?:
This course has been meticulously designed to meet the specific needs and requirements of protocols seeking developers with particular skills.

We firmly believe that there exists a significant disparity between web2 and web3 technologies. This is due to the lack of a clearly defined path for web2 developers to transition to web3. Our course aims to bridge this gap by identifying the key technologies and skills required for a smooth transition to web3.

What’s your vision for how your project will impact The Graph and/or web3?:
We are confident that we can provide the necessary protocols and human resources with the required skills and capabilities that will meet and exceed your expectations.

How will you measure success?:
We will measure our success by achieving a course completion rate of over 85% and closely monitoring our graduates throughout their job search as web3 developers. We are confident that we can assist at least 60% of them in securing a job within this industry.

What milestones will you achieve in the coming weeks/months, with or without the grant?:
In the upcoming weeks, we will be confidently promoting the course and welcoming new students to register. We will diligently review applications, carefully select the best candidates, and formally commence the course on August 22nd.

Please select who you think will benefit from your project?:
Subgraph Developers

How much funding are you looking for? (USD):
5000

Provide a breakdown of your requested funding:
Social media promotion -$1,000

Content creation - $1,000

Students support - $1,000

Professors - $2,000

Have you applied for (or already received) funding from somewhere else?:
No

If yes, please describe where you’ve received funding from and how much you have, or will, receive:
We have not yet applied for another grant, but we are confident that we will do so this week. We have developed new protocols that will support our project and benefit other companies by onboarding developers in the use of their technologies and tools.

Can you share any information about current/past web3 experience?:
At Defy Education, we have a proven track record of successfully educating over 5000 students in the past two years. Our experienced team not only creates high-quality educational content and effectively teaches it, but also provides unwavering support to our students and keeps them engaged throughout their learning journey.

Why are you interested in contributing to The Graph and/or web3?:
We have a deep understanding of the crucial role that accessible and trustless data plays in the world of blockchain, and we recognize the challenges that come with achieving this goal. We firmly believe that decentralization is the key to success, and it makes no sense for data to remain in the hands of a select few companies who control its accessibility. Our mission is to bring true decentralization to the forefront of the blockchain industry.

Are you applying as a team or individual?:
Team

What type of grant are you pursuing?:
Project (one-off)

Please select the category your project best fits into:
Education

Primary Community Poll

Do you fundamentally support this grant application, knowing that the final scope and grant amount may differ from the requested proposal?

• Yes
• No

Grant Committee Vote

Do you recommend this grant to the DAO?

• Yes
• No

[asadus16]

Hey there! I read your grant proposal seems productive to me but i have some questions regarding it:

@admin

Social media promotion -$1,000

Content creation - $1,000

Students support - $1,000

1. How does the budget for student support work? And how will you conduct social media promotion?

2. What strategies do you have in place to ensure the course content aligns with the evolving needs of The Graph ecosystem? Does this course involve building subgraphs or substreams?

3. How will you build interest in the students to start building on The Graph after they have completed the course, as I don’t see many topics related to The Graph in the syllabus?

Will be waiting for your reply.
Best of Luck!

[juliannaMLN]

Thank you for the proposal, it is pretty comprehensive and exciting, but unfortunately, your website doesn’t provide any information about your experience in organising similar courses by your organization. Can you share the topics and content of any of your previous courses, and share the information on how successful it was?

I would also like to ask why you are interested in the support from the Graph community in particular. What is so special about it for you?

As I understood module 11 should be created and presented by somebody from The Graph, do you already know who that person would be, do you have a volunteer to do that? Or is it a role some of the Advocates with Technical Teacher role may be able to fill in?

Once again thank you for the application and good luck!

[doxe01.eth]

Greetings! Thank you for your proposal, in general, from what I saw and reviewed, I had a rather pleasant opinion. However, I would like to clarify perhaps a few things.

I would like to start with the fact that I would like to know how this proposal will help The Graph? So, as I understand correctly, you have some interest in the protocol, but alas, it is mentioned only 1 time, in almost all 12 modules, which is quite a small number.

Continuing the topic of reasoning, I would also like to hear about what the module itself is that you plan to tell? How long will it be? What terms and topics will be covered?

Do you plan to seek support from other projects, organizations for this proposal? Since there will be considered quite a lot of interesting topics that are related to web3 development and the ecosystem in general. And in addition, have you previously received funding for these types of proposals?

The same goes for how you will measure the success of this proposal. I think it will have minimal impact and benefit The Graph. After all, in fact, we will simply help people find work in the web3 field, while receiving, thanks.

@admin

We will measure our success by achieving a course completion rate of over 85% and closely monitoring our graduates throughout their job search as web3 developers. We are confident that we can assist at least 60% of them in securing a job within this industry.

Thank you for the time! And wish you good luck with a grant!

[Mr.1776]

Thank you for submitting your grant application. This is a very compelling proposal. A few questions in addition to the ones my friends already posted above

• The website you linked showed up as entirely in Spanish. Would this course be available only in Spanish as well? It’s not a bad thing at all if it is, just curious so I can better understand who the audience would be
• For the deliverables, you mentioned having a completion rate of over 80% and over 65% securing employment in the industry. I would recommend adjusting the objective(s) to something you are in more control of. With us in the heart of a bear (build*) market, it would be tough to reach that deliverable. Personally, I’d be more in favor of setting a target of the number of students who sign up for the course and the number that complete a post-course feeback survey.
• You mentioned having served over 5,000 students in the last 2 years. Is there any documentation we can review to confirm that?
• Just to confirm, would this course be free for students?

That’s all my questions for now. Thanks again for applying! I’m excited to learn more about this course.

[Br1]

Thank you for showing interest in our grant proposal for The Graph Protocol. We appreciate your questions, and we’re more than ready to address them in the following points:

Budget for student support: The budget allocated for student support is designed to ensure an exceptional learning experience for every participant. Our dedicated support team will be readily available to assist students with any inquiries or challenges they may encounter. Additionally, we will conduct regular online group sessions, and Q&A sessions to foster a vibrant learning community.

Social Media Promotion: Our social media promotion strategy is poised for success. Leveraging influential platforms such as Twitter and Telegram, we will actively engage with our target audience organizing spaces and AMA for promotion of the course . We Will keep them informed and inspired with valuable insights and updates. Collaborating with key influencers and actively participating in relevant communities.

Course Content Alignment: The alignment of our course content with the evolving needs of The Graph ecosystem is a non-negotiable priority. We maintain a robust feedback loop with Simon Schmidt, current Lead developers relations engineer, to ensure that contents that are going to be teached in The Graph module are the ones that the protocol is looking for developers to know.
We also encouraged you and all the community members to suggest topics you think will ad value to this course. Such invaluable insights will ensure our course material remains cutting-edge, relevant, and in sync with the latest advancements in The Graph protocol.

Building Subgraphs or Substreams: Our course goes beyond theoretical learning. It empowers students with hands-on experience in building subgraphs.

Building Interest in Post-Course Development: While our syllabus may not explicitly detail post-course topics, rest assured that we have stimulating initiatives in store. Hackathons and coding challenges will offer students a platform to showcase their prowess and earn well-deserved recognition. Furthermore, networking opportunities with esteemed developers within The Graph community will unlock a world of possibilities.

If you are interested in having access to our Blockchain & DeFi basics course to see the quality of our content and how we educate our students we will be pleased to give you free access to our platform if you submitted us an email.

We are exited about the opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to The Graph ecosystem. Empowering aspiring developers with the requisite skills and knowledge is our mission, and we’re absolutely certain of achieving remarkable results. If you seek further clarification or additional information, please do not hesitate to reach out.

[Br1]

Greetings,
Thank you for your positive feedback on our proposal. We understand the importance of providing evidence of our experience, and we are more than happy to share information about our previous courses:
In the past year, our organization has successfully organized several educational courses in the blockchain and decentralized technology domains. Some of the topics covered include Bitcoin & Blockhain, Ethereum fundamentals, Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Fundamentals.
If you want to see a few open lessons we have you can look at our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DefyEducation/playlists
Also if you are interested in having access to our Blockchain & DeFi basics course to see the quality of our content and how we educate our students we will be pleased to give you free access to our platform if you submitted us an email.

Regarding our interest in support from The Graph community, it stems from the protocol’s unparalleled potential to transform data accessibility in the decentralized landscape. The Graph has shown exceptional growth and adoption, making it a dynamic platform for developers to build innovative decentralized applications. By collaborating with The Graph community, we can provide aspiring developers with the exact skill set required to tap into this flourishing ecosystem successfully.

Once again, thank you for considering our application, and we truly appreciate your good wishes.

[asadus16]

Thanks for the clarification, voted in the favour of this grant proposal. Best of luck!

[Br1]

Thank you so much for your support!

[Br1]

Hi! Thank you for taking the time to review our proposal and sharing your feedback. We appreciate your positive impression of our proposal and welcome the opportunity to address your queries and concerns.
We are aware that The Graph it’s only covered in one module, but the main goal of this course is to onboard web2 developers into web3, surely a full course about The Graph could be consider more valuable for the community but the target audience for a course like that its restricted to developers that are already in touch with Ethereum and web3. We think our approach its also valuable because aims to reach a more wider audience that maybe as never listen about The Graph protocol and the possibilities to build in it.
In terms of what topics will be covered and how we ensure that topics are aligned with the protocol needs, we are already working with Simon Schmidt, current Lead developers relations engineer in this subject, but we are definitely open to hear the community opinion and suggestions about which main topics must be part of The Graph module.
About seeking support from other projects, we are open to collaboration and support from other projects and organizations within the blockchain and web3 space. In fact, we encourage partnerships that will enrich our students’ learning experiences and expose them to various facets of the decentralized landscape. By forging such connections, we can offer our learners diverse perspectives and a broader understanding of the web3 development ecosystem.

Previous Funding Experience: This is the first application requesting funds for this particular project that we made but we have successfully secured funding for other educational initiatives in the past with partners like Open Zeppelin and Starkware who contribute to our scholarship funds program. Our track record demonstrates our ability to effectively manage resources and deliver high-quality content. Previous funding experiences have enabled us to reach a wider audience, and we are confident in our capacity to do the same with this proposal, ultimately benefiting The Graph and its community.
Also if you are interested in having access to our Blockchain & DeFi basics course to see the quality of our content and how we educate our students we will be pleased to give you free access to our platform if you submitted us an email. Or you can find open lessons we have recorded in our Youtube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/@DefyEducation/playlists)

Hope this helps to clarify your doubts, thank you for your interest!

[doxe01.eth]

Yes, thank you so much! It would be interesting to see your grant at a grant presentation to perhaps get a better idea of what the proposal is all about. The letter should already be in your mail, so you can schedule one.

About the invitation to review your materials, I’ll send you my email in private messages and would be happy to look into anything.

Thanks again!

[juliannaMLN]

Granting access to one of the courses would be great, let me DM you my email address

[doxe01.eth]

Greetings!

The presentation of the grant will be in the public-voice-chat channel on the Graph AdvocatesDAO Discord server on August 1st at 18:00 UTC. Entrance is open and everyone is welcome to come in and ask their questions during the presentation!

Thank everyone for your attention!

[JonathanZy]

HI thank you for applying the grant and push it forward, this proposal is interesting and may help the people transite from Web2 to Web3, I have some questions after checked your proposal carefully:

1: How many protocols/projects you have applied grant for this proposal, seems it’s a general business, will apply for different protocols.

2: How this can benefit for Graph, since I saw there are not lot’s of content will make for Graph, the syllabus showed many contents are not include Graph. maybe it’s better to generate education course dedicated for Graph

3: Is this course fee-based or free of charge?

4: Is this course open-source or is there some tracking video or materials of previous course

And thank you again for applying

[doxe01.eth]

The majority decision of the Grant Committee concludes to not recommend this proposal for DAO funding. Please recognize that this is not a statement on the proposal itself, but rather an aggregated reflection by committee members taking into account a number of factors, such as alignment to The Graph and web3 ecosystem, budget available to support grants and prioritization relative to other proposed grants.

Below you find brief feedback brought up within the committee to not recommend DAO funding that may help you to submit successful grant applications in the future:

At this stage, the modules that are presented do not show the fullness of The Graph. Only one module is devoted to The Graph, which in the context of the grant is a rather small indicator.

Thank you for submitting this proposal, and you are encouraged to stay engaged in the Graph community. You are also welcome to submit new grant applications in the future with proposals that may generate stronger support from the committee.

Sincerely,
Graph AdvocatesDAO