Hive Vibe: These Bounty Users Are Working Across Borders to Bring Web3 to the World
Community spotlight on four Bounties creators and fulfillers and the diverse skills they’re bringing to the Ethereum ecosystem.
When I joined The Bounties Network in February this year, we had a grand total of 70 community members, most of them talented open source developers with a passion for building out the Ethereum ecosystem. Fast forward just three months and we are pushing 500 people from all walks of life, professions, and levels of tech proficiency who are all connected by the same passion — broadening Ethereum applications and taking collaboration to a whole new level.
I spoke to some of our most active community members and asked them four simple questions:
- What are you working on?
- What interests you about blockchain and the Bounties Network?
- What are some of the projects you’d like to work on this year?
- How would you define blockchain in simple terms?
Let us know what you want to hear from the Bounties community!
Mitch Kosowski — Ethereum Foundation
“As a community, we need to drastically streamline UI/UX across the board.”
Mitch is a Product Manager for the Ethereum Foundation and focusing on http://ethprize.io/ bounties.He’s passionate about improving the Web3 ecosystem for all participants. Fun facts: he’s learning Korean and enjoys long walks in NYC subways.
— What are you working on now?
I’m a PM for the Ethereum Foundation focusing on ETHPrize at http://ethprize.io/. Currently, I have two live bounties, one for an Ethereum Package Manager and an Open Source Block Explorer with many more to come soon!
— What interests you about blockchain & The Bounties Network?
Blockchain as a technology is compelling to me because for the right use cases, it can eliminate a lot of middlemen and friction. The Standard Bounties Contract from Bounties Network is a great way to facilitate that.
— What are some of the projects you’d like to work on this year?
I am mostly interested in projects that improve the ecosystem for everyone involved in the space. Unfortunately, I’m not at liberty to talk about the many exciting things coming down the pipeline so keep those eyes on this space!
I can, however, talk about a major area we’re putting a lot of effort in — improving the UI/UX for the average user. For the most part, I think a lot of dApps in the ecosystem have been designed by people with very technical backgrounds for people with very technical backgrounds. This has been fine as the technology has been getting off the ground, but in order for blockchain to go mainstream, we need to as a community eliminate pain points and drastically streamline UI/UX across the board. Very excited to work on this!
— How would you define blockchain in simple terms?
A blockchain is a distributed ledger, like a database shared across the world.
Abdulhameed Al Beirouty— Operations
“I was attracted to the Bounties Network because of the community behind it.”
An Iraqi product developer/Operations lead, Hameed has worked on many projects, but his favourite was as a social impact associate helping a social startup secure investment. He’s “obsessed with user experience design and creating a better, more usable and universal web.” His last personal project was a failed startup. He’s learned that failure is frustrating, but very important, and ultimately productive.
— What are you working on now?
Well, a few months ago, I shut down my own startup company so now I’m helping launch a new venture with the family business in an operational role. I am desperately looking for something to get obsessed about again. A blockchain project might just be the ticket!
— What interests you about blockchain & The Bounties Network?
What I like most about the blockchain is its ability to potentially open the floodgates for new ways of storing and transferring information.
The reason I was attracted to the Bounties Network is mainly because of the community behind it, not necessarily the idea. It is just a bunch of great people coming together to collaborate and create interesting projects. The whole is much greater than the sum of its individual parts.
— What are some of the projects you’d like to work on this year?
Honestly, I’m at a crossroads. I feel like I will have to make a choice between going in a super technical direction or towards a more operational/Product management role. While I like operational/planning/research roles better, I feel like I would be missing out on a lot by not perfecting my development skills. So I guess the project I want to work on is... myself.
— How would you define blockchain in simple terms?
I have spent too much time trying to oversimplify the concept but always fail miserably. I guess the blockchain is a distributed database that no one really owns and anyone can add information to.
Mekyle Naidoo— Developer
“Bounties is a great way for people in developing countries to find work online, regardless of where they’re located or whether their governments haves shut down access to centralized sites.”
Meeka is a South African Ethereum developer who’s creating an application called Affinity, which aims to bring the blockchain to the mass market. He’s focusing on developing countries and trying to find ways of bringing in foreign investment and capital as a means of reducing unemployment. Meeka’s other loves include fitness, gaming, blockchain and FREEDOM!
— What are you doing now?
I’m creating a project called Affinity that is a crypto-wallet, social media, dApp browser, and integrated decentralised storage app. The aim here is to allow users to be 100% safe and secure with end-to-end encryption forced for everything, unlike Telegram which just uses encryption for “secret chats” and WhatsApp that uses encryption but sells user meta data to companies.
The crypto-wallet will be tethered to DAI and be converted to any other ERC token and creates and scans QR codes so businesses can use it. The end goal is to replace your wallet, just like the smartphone replaced your camera, PC, and landline phone.
It would also give people in countries like Venezuela or Nicaragua a fighting chance.
— What interests you about blockchain & The Bounties Network?
Ok, time for the truth: I’m lazy and don’t want to do everything myself so The Bounties Network allows me to hire others. It’s also a great potential fix for people in developing countries to find work online, regardless of where they’re located or whether their governments have shut down access to centralized sites.
The blockchain also allows for global transactions. I believe in one world rather than 200+ segmented countries. The internet allows me to connect with all of you from all over the world and the blockchain will allow me to trade with all of you too!
— What are some of the projects you’d like to work on this year?
My Affinity project!
— How would you define blockchain in simple terms?
It’s a technology that allows for consensus between parties, one state as the truth and thus enabling parties to transact and send data trustlessly and securely.
Matias Forbord — Software Engineer
“The Bounties Network is a massive piece of the puzzle when it comes to ending poverty.”
Matias is a Norwegian software engineer living in New York. He is focused on serverless and decentralized technologies, with a passion for education and sustainable access to work. He recently began learning solidity and smart contracts to utilize blockchain technology for good. He is loving human to a wondrous rescue dog named Daisy.
— What are you working on now?
I am making work accessible to the most impoverished people around the world. Specifically, bringing microwork to slums, starting in the Philippines. It is still early, but it involves the Bounties.Network, microwork websites like Amazon MTurk, and Coins.ph, which is making cryptocurrencies immediately usable in day to day life in Southeast Asia.
— What interests you about blockchain & the Bounties Network?
To me, the Bounties Network is a massive piece of the puzzle when it comes to ending poverty. Decentralization through blockchain is exactly what’s needed as a foundation for online work to become accessible to the poorest areas of the world. Nothing matters more to me than lifting people out of poverty Blockchain gives me the means to do it.
— What are some of the projects you’d like to work on this year?
In addition to my efforts in microwork for slums, I want to work on categorization of bounties on the Bounties Network. Specifically, how can the types of jobs that can be done without much experience or knowledge be made available to slums? What separates a job anyone can do, from a job that only someone with strong programming or design experience can do? What is paid little, but is easy to do, so would be well-suited for complete beginners (never used a computer before)?
— How would you define blockchain in simple terms?
A never ending story, written forever every few minutes, by all of us together.
Explore the live network and see what the fuss is all about. Join the Bounties Slack community to become part of the hive.
My thanks to each and every member of our community — you make our world go round.
