Effect Network’s First Hackathon
Talented individuals and developers from across the world are invited to build a dApp on Effect Network and compete for $55k in prizes.
To enhance the growth of the Effect Network ecosystem, we’ve launched our first hackathon to help early-stage projects, developers, and those with just creative ideas build the next-generation decentralized application on the Effect Network. Our goal is to accelerate innovation and encourage talented individuals and developers from across the world to discover the value of the Effect Network and become a builder in the Future-of-Work.
Why is this a big deal?
Many aspects of business and employment changed dramatically in 2020. The popularity of virtual platforms for work grew, as did the freedom provided by working from home. Meanwhile, changes in a variety of industries have been prevalent well into 2021, with no indications of dying down. More blue-collar employees than ever before are migrating to the realm of gig platform models. While this strategy had once been considered to be volatile and unpredictable, it has shown to be steady enough to generate consistent revenue. Currently, about 57 million Americans¹ work as independent contractors.
Companies are rapidly advancing digital transformation in order to remain relevant in our new economic reality, and the future of work and jobs is approaching quicker than anybody could have predicted. These fast-moving disruptive trends are anticipated to continue in the long term, with the World Economic Forum forecasting in its latest Report on Jobs² that as technology usage rises, 50% of all employees will require reskilling by 2025.
Along with the widespread acceptance of remote work, employers are trying to ensure they have access to the essential skills to keep their company running. Hiring gig workers allows businesses to provide greater compensation to attract superior talent due to cost savings, which increases profits on the bottom line and generally entails less training and onboarding.
With remote work becoming the norm throughout the world, AI is swiftly driving our work toward being more task-oriented. Pioneering into this sector is the first decentralized Future of Work platform, Effect Force. This platform allows anybody to quickly access the world’s diverse talent. The objective of Effect Network is to establish a fair and vibrant online workplace for workers, while also providing businesses with the best solutions for human-in-the-loop and the outsourcing of repetitive tasks.
Accessing On-demand Skilled Talent
Accessing a global, on-demand, 24x7 scalable workforce is now possible by utilizing Effect Network’s SDK. The Effect SDK is an open-source and decentralized platform for the Future of Work. Businesses, teams, governments, and institutions can use Effect Network to connect with a global, on-demand workforce for all their automation and data structuring needs. Eliminated are the traditional pain points of setting up payroll, currency conversions, and costly wire transfers. All tasks paid to workers utilize the utility token EFX for payments. Workers are paid instantly, in real-time for their work, which reduces the workload of HR and payroll staff.
Building on Effect Network
As previously stated, we are hosting a hackathon with $55,000 USD in prize money to attract new developers and drive the development of new applications that leverage the Effect SDK and the microtasking platform, Effect Force, which give earning opportunities for individuals all over the world.
If you’re not familiar with blockchain or even have little knowledge about coding, don’t let that stop you from joining our hackathon. The Effect SDK abstracts blockchain code, and it’s also possible to call smart contracts directly or deploy your own for special use cases.
“The Effect SDK is the end result of years of dedicated development from the technology team, and I am beyond excited to share this open-source and decentralized ecosystem with the rest of the world. We envision a world where the Future-of-Work is decentralized and accessible from anywhere at any time. We look forward to welcoming more developers to build dApps on Effect Network and to be able to contribute to enhancing the overall experience and being one step closer to realizing our goal.” -Jesse Eisses, CTO, Effect Network
Effect Network Hackathon
The Effect Network hackathon is now open for submissions! The online hackathon is hosted on the popular hackathon platform, Devpost.
Developers of all skill levels will be able to use our software development kit to build decentralized apps that can post and complete tasks on the network. There are endless possibilities. Although the developer tools are still in beta, there is a lot to learn and a lot to win, with over $55k in prizes!
Submission Criteria
Submissions will be judged on four key questions:
- Does the application integrate well with the Effect SDK and is the software working well?
- Is the Effect WorkForce used in a smart way, and does it offer learning opportunities and potential for high earning?
- Does the application have a thoughtfully planned out interface?
- Does the application solve an issue or streamline a process, and is it scalable?
Each submission will need to include a 3-minute pitch video, source code submitted to GitHub, a campaign created on the Effect Force testnet, and a user interface, which can be functioning or designed.
Judges & Prizes
We have several judges who are eager to review submissions and award prizes. In addition to the three co-founders of Effect Network, we’re happy to announce that Olivier Rikken, Founder at Emerging Horizons, and Sebastiaan van der Lans, Founder at WordProof have joined the Hackathon as expert judges. Their expertise in blockchain technology, business, and understanding of the Effect Network ecosystem make them valuable members of the hackathon.
Last but not least, Guardians of the EffectDAO will be evaluating and choosing winners of the hackathon as well. Voting members of EffectDAO, as many as 234 of them, will be voting to award several prizes, all on the blockchain through the EffectDAO. How cool is that?!
Let’s Get Building
Are you ready to dive in and begin building? Get started today by joining the Hackathon here.
Determining where to begin your project might be a struggle in your development journey. Our team is here to help you every step of the way to submit a successful project. We have many resources to help you get your footing. Aside from the hackathon page itself on Devpost, which has resources available to you, our Discord server is where the heart of the hackathon resides.
Are you already working on your application but might need some help and support? The Discord server is where to go to help get you one step closer to a successful project. Whether you’ve begun working on your application or not, the Discord server is a great location to meet other devs! Not only can you bounce ideas off one other and seek other developers for technical assistance, but you can also utilize the Discord server to ask the Effect Network Team anything!
Stumped on what to build? Requests for projects are posted on the server to get you inspired.
Workshops and Office Hours
We have several workshops scheduled during the hackathon, in addition to office hours, where you can work one-on-one with the development team. These workshops are accessible on our YouTube channel, and the office hours are hosted on our Discord server. We hope you’ll join and leverage these resources in your dApp building journey.
