How to Learn Web 3.0 in One Day
Hey everyone! So I was in Europe last week, which is why my blog is coming out a little later than normal. It was an awesome time, and amazing memories were made (check out my Insta post to see: would embed, but medium does not support Insta embeds 😠) but I am excited to get back to the blog grind.
Whether I am talking to curious friends, confused adults, or cautionary skeptics of Web 3.0, I usually get a response along the lines of, “it is something I need to learn more about” or “I should look into it at some point.” However, these empty statements are typically…well… empty, and people never actually learn more about it or look into it.
The reason for this empty speech isn’t a lack of motivation or people simply lying so they can stop talking to me (maybe I should be worried though) as people seem to genuinely want to learn about Web 3.0. I believe people just have no idea where to start. And guess what; I DON’T BLAME THEM! There is a lot of noise out there in the crypto world saying to click this link or buy this coin, that it can be hard to separate the wheat from the chaff.
My goal with this blog is to help the Web 3.0 hopefuls by providing a plan to follow in order to learn Web 3.0 in one day!
If you made it this far, then I guess my plan worked, and clickbait actually is a thing that plagues modern-day journalistic standards. When I say a day, I truly did mean A DAY: I’m talking many…many hours. If you thought you could get a grasp of Web 3.0 by watching a single video over your frozen chicken tikka masala from Trader Joe’s, you are wrong (good choice for dinner though). However, if you are willing to spend just ONE hour every day for less than a month, you can get as good of a grasp of this stuff as many people in the space who have spent months or years trying to figure it out. More importantly, just getting a high-level grasp of this stuff will put you far in front of most people in the world. So, I’ll stop stalling now, and will present you with a structured plan to learn about Web 3.0.
1. Laying the Foundational Knowledge
Understanding the internet’s history and Web 3.0 at a high level
The main point of this first section is to create a foundation to set you up for the next two sections so you don’t just say “I don’t know wtf is going on” and then quit. You will not go into the nitty gritty technical details like understanding what MEV is (which I still barely understand) as I know that’s the quickest way to get people reading this to say “I don’t know wtf is going on.” This section will also teach you about the earliest era of the internet, which you probably know less about than Web 3.0 (to your surprise). If you walk away from these materials and this Web 3.0 stuff isn’t “new” to you anymore, it’ll be a job well done in my book.
Resources:
- From Web 1.0 to Web 3.0: How the Internet Grew Over the Years
- From the Origins of the Internet to a Decentralized Web 3.0
- Web3 for Everybody (Start at minute 3:00 — End at minute 32:15)
- The Great Online Game
- Own the Internet
- Video Describing How Blockchain Works
- Bankless Podcast Episode 1
- Decrypting Crypto
Notes:
- A lot of great resources out there explaining this stuff. These are just some I recommend. Can find more here.
2. Setting Yourself Up to Enter the World of Web 3.0
How to access and stay updated on the space
Now that you (hopefully) understand Web 3.0 at a high level, you are a lot closer to entering the world of Web 3.0 than you were previously. The goal of this section is to prepare you to take the baby steps into traversing and exploring Web 3.0. To use an analogy (PG version), think of this section as going to Office Depot and buying all the folders, books, pens, and pencils you need for school. To use another analogy (R version), think of this section as going to the liquor store and buying the solo cups, Titos, mixers, and Four Locos (if you dare) to make some memories you will definitely forget.
Set Up Your Crypto Exchange:
Create an account on a platform where you can purchase cryptocurrency. Here are my favorite ones:
Note:
- All of these companies have mobile apps that make the experience easy and simple; I would recommend going the mobile route over desktop tbh
Set Up Your Non-Custodial Crypto Wallet
Create a crypto wallet to interact with the blockchain. Here are my favorites:
- MetaMask (most used wallet by far)
- Coinbase (easiest to use, especially if you buy crypto using Coinbase)
Resources:
Notes:
- You will be told when setting up your wallet, but MAKE SURE YOU WRITE DOWN YOUR 12 WORD SEED PHRASE!!! Don’t type it on your computer, don’t save it on your Notes app, WRITE IT DOWN. Follow this graphic, and you should be good to go.
- Both MetaMask and Coinbase wallets have Google Chrome extensions and mobile apps. I suggest getting both.
Send Crypto from Your Exchange to Your Wallet
Now that you have your exchange and wallet set up, you are ready to go. Buy some crypto on your exchange using your debit/credit card or bank account then send it over to your wallet. To make the most out of the next section, I would recommend buying ETH (this is not financial advice…I feel way too mature saying that).
Resources:
Notes:
- If it is your first time using a crypto exchange, you may encounter a delay in sending crypto to your custodial wallet. Can take a few days or even a week. To circumvent this, you can start with section 2, then read all the materials from section 1 while you wait.
Create a Discord Account
When you start playing around in Web 3.0, you are going to want to have a Discord. Almost all NFT projects, DeFi protocols, and more have Discord servers where the leaders of the project and others involved can communicate with one another. You can either just use the web app or download it to your Mac or Windows computer.
Resources:
Notes:
- You can clearly tell I’m a Web 3.0 person when you see all the servers flooded in my Discord
Most of y’all reading this probably already have a Twitter, so this one should be easy. Although it is known for its quick, polarizing, and sometimes toxic 140-character thoughts people have, there is actually a lot of Web 3.0 news and education that occurs on the platform. It includes everything from very well-thought-out Twitter threads or memes that explain complex topics in one, simple funny graphic. So…just make sure you have a Twitter.
Resources:
3. Playing Around in Web 3.0
Discimus Agere Agendo
When I started trying to learn Web 3.0 (shamelessly promoting my last blog), I was in the same position that you are now: clueless, nervous, and even a little scared. To get past this scary barrier, I simply followed my high school’s slogan mentioned in the subtitle above. In English, it translates to we learn to do by doing. Thus, simply use the money you now have in your wallet and play around in the Web 3.0 ecosystem. You may make a bunch of money, or you may lose a bunch. However, the education and knowledge about the industry you will receive through doing so will be worth much more than that initial amount. Just think of how much money you (or really your parents) spent getting you through school and ask yourself “Is learning about Web 3.0 more valuable than at least one thing I learned through my education?” I can certainly tell you that putting $100 in a wallet and exploring the Web 3.0 ecosystem provides much more bang for your buck than my freshmen year Greek Religion class (for a full-tuition student at Tulane, this class costs upwards of $300 Per Class).
Here are some major topics that are worth exploring, with resources to learn more and sites to explore for each (recommend not just sticking to the provided sites/resources: there is so much more you can find with a quick search on Google or YouTube).
NFTs
Resources:
Sites to play with:
DeFi
Resources:
Sites to play with:
DAOs
Resources:
Sites to play with:
- Snapshot
- Google (partly for humor, but just search for a DAO that interests you and join)
- List of DAOs
Other
- Rabbit Hole (learn & earn crypto by using the best Web 3.0 applications)
- Bitcoin White Paper (Once you learn everything else, go back to where it all began: will see where many dots connect)
How to stay up to date
Given the nuance of this industry, there are things constantly changing every day. Thus, it is extremely important to stay up to date and learn about the latest developments in order to not fall behind. Continuous learning in Web 3.0 (or any field) is crucial if you are looking to be successful. To help get my point across, here is an inspirational quote from someone I’ve never heard of put into a nice graphic to make this blog a little less bland.
To stay up to date on Web 3.0, you should subscribe to newsletters, listen to podcasts, and/or follow specific accounts on Twitter. Thankfully, through working to develop an educational series at a Web 3.0 startup in NOLA called Nieux Society, I helped curate a “must follow” list of newsletters, podcasts, and Twitter followers. I believe this list can also be a great resource for anyone reading this.
Resources:
Notes:
- They are included in the link above, but anything from Bankless and a16z are gold IMO. Those two companies are the ones that really helped teach me about the industry and keep me up to date.
- If there was one thing I would recommend to keep you up to date on Web 3.0, it would be the Bankless Weekly Rollup podcast episode they publish every Friday.
Conclusion
This was kinda a lot, so I will try to keep this conclusion short. There are two main points I want to get across to you.
- Just like anything worthwhile — learning to drive, cook, or develop any skill — learning Web 3.0 will take time. However, as I stated at the beginning of this blog, I hope that this rough guide will help expedite this process for you so you can understand Web 3.0 before the vast majority of humans living and breathing today.
- Although I have directed lots of my attention to this field through listening to podcasts, reading newsletters, interacting with the ecosystem, etc. I in no way, shape, or form consider myself an expert in this field. If you believe in Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000-hour rule of achieving world-class expertise in something, then I would argue that there are very few people (if any at all) in the world who would be considered “experts” in Web 3.0. This guide is simply to provide resources that helped me personally. If in your exploration you veer off this plan and start following someone else’s guidance (someone who probably knows a lot more than me tbh), that is fantastic! As I stated in my last piece: All Roads Lead to Rome.
I hope you enjoyed this week’s blog. I’m not exactly sure what I will write about next, but given that the NFL season is almost here and I am one of the biggest Saints and football fans I know, I may dip my toe in the sports writing category for one blog. We’ll see what happens I guess.
Here are my links if you feel inclined:
