DeFi Talents Program | FSBC
It was back in the month of August/September 2021, that I had come across this program. I had been following Philipp Sandner for quite sometime given his pioneering background in Blockchain and DeFi(Very few that you can find in the Academia!).
When the Call for DeFi talents program (Cohort of 2021–22) got announced back then I didn’t hesitate to apply given my deep curiosity in the domain beyond the traditional investing angle in Cryptocurrencies.
The process was quite competitive and I had the opportunity to land the 100 member shortlist amongst 450 Applicants! The experience so far has been nothing short of amazing despite the Core traditional tech background that I had come from, although I was part of a few hackathons in the Web3 space.
The diverse set of people in the program made it all the more exciting
My DeFi Talent experience — Part 1:
Introductory sessions:
The DeFi talents winter Cohort that began back in October 11, 2021 had a pretty neat schedule that was thoroughly flexible for working professionals. We had hands-on support from the team on their Slack channel.
My key takeaway from the program was to get across and understand the macro insights from the program and be a Technologist/Generalist of sorts to help people understand DeFi and the Crypto space a lot better. With the amount of information that gets updated, it is beyond traditional media to ever understand the space.
The sessions were very well structured and designed in a very autonomous way (which is very much needed for the DeFi space). The structured learning process was very effective where we had a lot of breakout rooms to meet & greet fellow DeFi talents and moderated by some of the expert panel from FSBC.
The chance to meet amazing DeFi talents across the globe:
The network effect was pretty heart-warming to say the least. We had an active turnout of the DeFi talents across all the sessions and they were very accessible to reach out to. We had an unprecedented accumulation of knowledge base across the length of the program. The topics ranged from the basics of DeFi, DAOs, the nitty-gritty behind DeFi protocols and a lot more.
Alpha teaser: We expect the talents to be displayed on the website pretty soon on https://my.defi-talents.io/ :)
Review of the first few sessions:
The very first session gave us an introduction to the program. It was kick-started by Prof. Philipps Sandner who introduced us to his efficient core-team members.
During the first session we had the chance to get into the breakout sessions moderated by mentors from the Core team who made it very conducive to have the interaction across the board. We were also handed out some assignment tasks prior to the following session, which were pretty fund to work on.
Sneakpeak to one of the first assignments that I had done:
Each session had amazing keynote speakers towards the end giving key insights from domain expertise from Finance to Legal.
The next few sessions covered some deep topics that formed the fundamentals of the DeFi organizational space. They also kept us updated on the parallel hackathons that were running in the space. The most interesting topics related to the DeFi space to me was learning the basics about Lending platforms, Flash loans & the basic risks associated with DeFi lending.
The depth got more interesting with the essentials on Decentralized Exchanges (shortly referred to as DEXes), which seemed the most flexible options in the space to experiment in token swaps compared to the inflexible options that the common users face in Centralized exchanges like WazirX, CoinDCX, Kucoin & Binance. It took me a while to understand the basics of Liquidity provider pools, but the assignments done by my fellow peers helped me understand it even better.
About DAOs:
This was my favorite session during the first half of the DeFi talent programs given how accessible the concept has become. The earliest version of DAOs wee mostly involved in controversial DeFi spaces even though we have seen some quality projects like UNIswap come through with great progress.
Redefining the modern concept of DAOs:
- What are DAOs?
DAOs are essentially an effective way to form self-actualizing organizations where like minded people with clear mission alignments across the globe. By collaborating with more people you have more chances of removing central points of failures. In the upcoming trends, sometimes DAOs undergo a lot of updates where there is no one-size for all definition since it tends to become very structure specific depending on the type of communities and mission.
In simpler terms, DAOs are internet communities with a bank account.
During the session we had a familiarity mind-map on Slido with a Live poll of the DAOs that the DeFi talents had known.
DAOs are the most interesting space to learn a lot more about the space in a synchronous manner with talents across the globe.
I’m also looking to cover more on DAOs in the next part of my review. From your familiarity of DAOs, what DAOs would you like to be explained better? Feel free to drop a comment on my socials to know more.
Note: The call for applications has been open for the next cohort as well. Keep an eye on their website & socials to stay updated about the program.
