RaidGuild Reflections ⚔️
It’s been 6 months since I first heard the word “RaidGuild” uttered by some über cool cartel folks congregating around the 5th floor bean bag lounge of the ETHdenver sports castle 🏰
Since then I have heard that word repeated ad nauseam from insiders, outsiders, and everyone in between. Ultimately, for better or worse, Peter ‘pet3rpan’ is responsible for my joining, when asking him if there were any paid opportunities inside the MetaCartel, he suggested I try “The Guild” as they have affectionately come to call themselves.
At first I imagined I wouldn’t be a good fit for such an elite group of Web3 ninjas, not being a developer, nor a researcher, more of a generalist than a specialist. RaidGuild was a group, I imagined, of Web flow ninjas, cryptographic cypherpunks, and quantum contract developers that rivaled the likes of Citizen 4 “What do I have to offer a group like that ?” I thought.
Well I was both right and wrong. The Guild is filled with high level Wizards 🧙🏼♂️ whipping up smart contracts for fun and profit but aside from their technical skills which are many they are a group of humans who care deeply about progress, access to resources, and creating equal opportunity. They also put those concerns into actions with every project they take on. It’s not an “Agency” in any sort of the traditional sense, it’s a collective in the truest sense, focused on collaboration over competition.
Defining Your Role
At RaidGuild you are expected to define and assign your own roles, you can take on many roles such as Cleric (account manager), Warrior (Front End Dev) , Archer (Designer) , Angry Dwarf (Treasury) Rogue (Legal Council) we’ve even created some awesome characters to help us visualize these roles in a more 3 dimensional context:
It is truly a “Choose Your Own Adventure” game that some people love and others loathe, you find out quickly which type you are when your land in our Discord server and Sink or Swim 🤷🏽♂️
Personally I am a swimmer, even in uncertain waters it’s often best to just keep moving at all costs and don’t get to hung up in the details. I like to think big picture and find allies to fill in the gaps along the way. Drafting people like Burrrata and Mano lingam in the project who can help articulate and manifest the necessary tooling and create opportunities has proven to be of high value to the Guild on-boarding 25+/- new members in total in the 6 months since joining myself.
A Personal Journey
Since joining the Ethereum space in early 2017 I have been “trying to find my way” jumping around from org to dOrg and Dapp to DAO. At times it’s felt frustrating, confusing, hopeless and other times it’s been inspirational, mind blowing, and enlightening. These days I swing more to the side of amazing experiences than sucky ones and mostly I attribute that to being in cahoots with other Guild members, these people aren’t just colleagues, they are friends, advisors, employers, and allies. At any point in time the relationship dynamics can switch from give to take and Iv’e found members are almost always willing to provide feedback and input on anything you post.
The sense of community is strong, the alignment of members is clear, and the path ahead is forming nicely. Some people see the RaidGuild in a less than favorable light because of it’s slow progress towards capitalization but I don’t see this as a problem:
Because our focus is on ensuring that our members are aligned as a community, that our actions are aligned with our values, and that our resources come from projects we actually care about. As such we don’t simply take on every project that comes in the door, we work with projects we truly believe in and people who we know care about things like open-source, sustainability, and equal access to opportunity. We are forming key partnerships and building bridges between communities through our work with orgs like https://lexdao.org/ , https://aragon.org , https://gitcoin.co/ ,https://tellor.io/ and https://savedai.xyz/ and many more. I have found my personal strong suite as a connector between people and projects or as my Personal Token would have you believe “Community $GLUE “
I love bringing people together, watching them work on things they care about, and allowing the efforts of a few multiply beyond what is possible in our often siloed environments.
It is my hope that I can continue this deeply fulfilling work.
That the work becomes a more sustainable and recognized career path.
That the Ethereum community overall takes a stronger position on rewarding the essential work of community organization (AKA: Business Development)
That building bridges extends beyond just between DeFi Dapps and DAO’s whom are already familiar with the Ethereum chain.
That we continue to push the beyond what we thought possible.
That I can continue to welcome people from diverse backgrounds into this space, that those who are looking for something more in life can find a place here with us, that everyone who wants to can find their own path towards a more equitable, generous, and abundant future 🌟
Sincerely Yalor
- Ambassador of DAO Hack Month.
- Cartographer of the MetaCartel.
- Tavern Keeper of RaidGuild.
- Shaman to the MetaGame.
~ Sayonara
