Building a Data Value Network and Engaging in the Ecosystem: CESS Course Now Open for All Developers!

5 min readJan 15, 2024

“Web3” is indeed a fast and evolving landscape in the past five years. Gavin Wood, co-founder of Ethereum, who coined the term, believes it represents a new era of the internet that is more secure, transparent, and equitable. Web3 enables decentralization that reduces the influence of centralized authorities and intermediaries, user empowerment that gives users ownership and control over their data and digital identities, and interoperability that allows for more seamless interactions across various platforms without intermediaries. No wonder in this field, we have seen more and more of the press, whether mainstream or new-born, reporting in this area. Even Wall Street bankers are getting into the Web3 and crypto landscape.

Underlying the Web3 movement, an array of services are going to be decentralized, with data storage, retrieval, utilization, and management being crucial components. Therefore, in the midst of the internet revolution and the growing demand for data ownership and value, CESS (Cumulus Encrypted Storage System) is working in this space to offer a fast, secure, and decentralized solution.

CESS is a blockchain-powered decentralized storage and content delivery network (CDN) infrastructure for Web3. Users and creators alike use the platform for on-chain data sharing, whilst builders can develop and deploy dApps. Offering the most optimal Web3 solution for storing and retrieving high-frequency dynamic data, CESS reshapes the value distribution and circulation of data assets whilst ensuring data sovereignty and user privacy.

We hope to see more developers join the CESS ecosystem, collectively building a thriving, diverse, and data asset sovereign new ecosystem for the data economy. We know that learning new technology sometimes can feel a bit like it is all over the place, not easy to find a single source that presents the material coherently and systematically. That’s why we have created this course.

CESS Course

In this course, we have organized the material on CESS in such a way that allows students to build up knowledge systematically from the ground up.

Course Introduction and Outline

This is a seven-week course. We will start from a high level overview of CESS and its overall architecture.

Then we will cover about how to engage in CESS ecosystem as a community member, and using various dApps as a user. Next, we will get to the crux covering how to develop and deploy smart contracts on CESS, covering both Solidity and ink! smart contracts.

We will also have a few end-to-end demos on building a full-feature dApp with both smart contracts and frontend interacting with each other. Finally, we will show you how to run both the storage miner node and consensus miner node.

Each week we have prepared a series of videos for students to digest. There are also weekly assignments to reinforce learning.
Students will mostly interact with each other and instructors through our course Discord channel.
Every week there is a 1-hour office hour where instructors will have in-sync interaction with students answering their questions.
Starting from week 4, students will team up to work on a team project. At the end of week 7, they will submit their projects and create a short video to present the project.

Here is the whole 7-week course syllabus.

Course Timeline

Jan 29th — Mar 17th (7 weeks)

Course Instructors

Course Logistics

Students will interact with other students and instructors through Discord channel.

There is a one-hour office hour per week where students can ask questions and get feedback from instructors in real-time.

Target Audience

You should be a software developer with at least 2–3 years of programming experience. It doesn’t matter in what programming field you are in. We believe technical knowledge can be learned and pick up as long as ones want to learn and willing to get their hands dirty. The course uses Solidity, Rust, ink!, and Javascript.

Course Benefit

CESS Course Unique Advantages:

In-Depth Understanding of Web3 Ecosystem: Through this course, you will gain an in-depth understanding of various Web3 concepts, including decentralized storage, blockchain technology, and encryption techniques, laying a solid foundation for your development in this innovative field.
Hands-on Experience, Joining the CESS Ecosystem: The course is not only rich in theory but also emphasizes practical applications. You will have the opportunity to experience firsthand how to use CESS’s storage and CDN services. Join your classmates in deploying an innovative project on CESS, mastering the practical operation of decentralized cloud storage and CDN networks. For projects successfully deployed and operated on the CESS network, CESS will provide grants from the perspective of ecosystem contributions, helping projects to incubate.
Course Completion NFT Certificate: A unique course completion NFT certificate will be awarded to students who complete the course. This not only recognizes your learning achievements but also serves as a unique digital asset, proving your expertise in decentralized technology.
Project Support and Collaboration Opportunities: For students working in Web3 project teams or with creative projects, we offer professional support to help your project stand out in both CESS and the broader Web3 ecosystem. This includes technical support, resource sharing, and connections with professionals in the Web3 industry.
Community Interaction and Collaboration: The course is not just about transferring knowledge but also about community building. Students will have the opportunity to connect with peers, mentors, and other participants in the Web3 ecosystem, fostering collaboration and exchange.

Through these unique advantages, we are committed to providing students with a comprehensive and practical learning experience, empowering you to achieve greater success in the Web3 field.

Course Registration

The course is free to register, but spots are limited for each session. Click the link below to sign up now: CESS Course Cohort I Application

Just as Web3 has rapidly evolved over the past five years, CESS has been deeply committed to technology, reshaping the industry’s approach to storing, managing, and utilizing data. We provide a truly usable decentralized storage network and CDN, offering online storage and real-time sharing solutions for the high-frequency dynamic data of the Web3 era.

We believe that data is one of the most valuable assets in today’s digital age. Building a prosperous, diverse, and data asset sovereign new ecosystem is our shared vision. Every student who joins the CESS course is an important builder and foundation of this vision.

CESS sincerely invites every builder who recognizes the vision of decentralization and is committed to contributing and creating in the Web3 era to join us in constructing the data value network!

The “CESS Course” is the first official step we are taking together to build this vision!