How Shubham burnt his midnight oil & built DAOMail | DevStories
Meet Shubham Patel, a third-year CSE student and an incredible Web3 developer. He's been in the Web3 space for about 2 years now and he works relentlessly to hone his skills and make his projects better with each passing day.
Every developer has a unique set of skills, in-depth knowledge, and a strong will to innovate. And these inspiring stories are meant to be shared with the new Web3 enthusiasts out there. We’re excited to bring you accounts of incredible developer journeys in the Web3 space; we’re excited to bring you Dev Stories by Lumos Labs.
For this edition of DevStories, meet Shubham Patel - a third-year CSE student and an incredible Web3 developer. He's been in the Web3 space for about 2 years now and he works relentlessly to hone his skills and make his projects better with each passing day.
He has a knack for building and networking. His exceptional knowledge and skills, help him be a part of hackathons, fellowships, and much more while also imparting this knowledge to newbie developers.
Read ahead to know more about Shubham and his Web3 journey.
How did you discover blockchain technology? What made you step into this ecosystem?
When I started building on a blockchain, it took me about 3 tries to get it right.
My first ever interaction was with cryptocurrency and trading. But, initially, I didn't really explore the building side of it. But by the end of my third try, I learnt how to write smart contracts and store data on the blockchain.
I also participated in MLH (Major League Hackathon) and met a lot of interesting people with whom I shared some memorable late-night conversations. I learnt more about what others were building and what new things can be explored in the Web3 space. This way, I started building projects in hackathons.
But the first time was really hard for me and ended up taking a break from developing the project. After about 7 months, I met one of my friends who spoke to me about DeFi and how it's revolutionizing the finance world. And I was quite intrigued by that. Because in Web2 what you have is a centralised database, front-end tech and some other components to work with and you cannot innovate as freely as you can with Web3.
In blockchain, the possibilities of making a good new product, it's endless! You can do so many things, the sky is the limit. So, when he introduced me to all the steps, I was very overwhelmed. And on the next day, I started learning Solidity.
What excites you about the Web3 space?
First, it is the people. I was building this one project during a hackathon but I found some errors in it. I asked some friends for help but they were not able to solve it. So, I asked around on a couple of Discord Servers.
I met with a developer who was a Co-founder at a startup who was ready to help me with that particular issue. We got on a call and discussed my problem, and what I was trying to build and they helped me.
Second, if you build a good product you would gather a lot of admiration from the community. 🤩
What was your best hackathon experience?
That would be the EthIndia Hackathon. We were very hyped because it is the go-to hackathon for builders in India.
A lot of people said that we didn’t have a chance to be selected for the hackathon, as it's very competitive like 20,000 people had applied. Only 1,500 builders were going to be accepted. And after hearing that, I sent in DM to the organizers with a nice text explaining my work and added my portfolio to it too. After a while, my team received our acceptance. It was only later that I realized that none of the organisers ever saw those messages. This is how we ended up at the EthIndia Hackathon.
We presented a project to them, and they were really happy with what we built and we received some really good feedback for our project. We pulled, like, two all-nighters at the hackathon. And when it was time for the demo day, my voice was absolutely dead and I was the guy who was supposed to give the presentation. I still managed to do it though. It was such a good experience.
Challenges you face at hackathons and in Web3 development and how you overcome them
The first big challenge is to ideate effectively. The second one is finding good teammates. If you have a pre-existing team, then it's good; finding a team in a hackathon can be pretty tough. You could end up with a teammate who is not very good at development or is not knowledgeable.
The third challenge you could face is some errors or bugs while working on a project. To solve this, you could go to the platform's respective Discord Server and ask for help in the developer channels. Every protocol, nowadays, has developer channels where you can open a ticket which would get the attention of a moderator. So these are the major challenges I have faced.
Tell us about the projects you are looking forward to working on next
During the DAO Global Hackathon, I was working on a project named DaoMail which is a decentralized email platform built on the principles of blockchain and DAOs. I'll be working on it in the coming months.
By leveraging the power of blockchain technology, it seeks to address the challenges and limitations of traditional centralized email systems. With its decentralized architecture, DaoMail offers users increased privacy, security, and control over their email communications.
The project aims to enable users to send and receive emails in a peer-to-peer manner, eliminating the need for intermediaries and reducing the risk of data breaches. By incorporating DAO principles, DaoMail encourages community governance and decision-making, giving users a voice in shaping the future development and evolution of the platform. DaoMail represents an innovative approach to reimagining email communication in a more secure, transparent, and user-centric manner.
How did you balance building your Web3 knowledge and pursuing your education?
I believe you should give yourself two hours to study whatever you have learned in college and revise it, but with full concentration. Don't keep any smart devices around you. Keep them all in different rooms and study with all your focus. After studying, I'll just see check if I have any missed calls or messages. Also, I would say that since we are young, we could stay up late at night.
If you like to focus on building Web3 projects, go through good documentation, have good knowledge about a protocol, and then build on it so you'll see how things are working in the background. Taking the time out late at night helps.
What is your dream job? Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
I love interacting with people. I like explaining stuff to people. I like building. So, I think, my dream job would be being a DevRel Engineer in a good company. I like travelling and I often see these DevRels going to these beautiful places and like working from there.
I'd like to do that and in the next five years, I plan to help to onboard more people on Web3. There is huge potential in the Web3 space if you're a good builder-developer; there are ample opportunities. I want to help more and more people in the upcoming years and elevate my own skillset and make my parents proud for sure.
Shubham's will to innovate and solve complex problems inspires every developer out there. His story is a glimpse of the little things that developers change in their daily llivesto accommodate academics and self-implemented Web3 education simultaneously.
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