The ultimate Web3 journey: decoding Kanishk’s incredible journey as a DevRel Engineer│DevStories
Meet Kanishk Khurana, a full-stack Web3 developer who loves shipping code and building communities. His Web3 journey started during the Covid-19 lockdown when he was practicing his react.js skills alongside internships and freelance gigs.
He then started exploring Web3 development with Solidity and dApps. Back in 2022, resources were very scarce, so, Kanishk experimented with a lot of different tutorials and courses. He built exceptional knowledge and skills, participated in hackathons, joined college clubs, and went on an epic Web3 journey.
With his newfound passion, he meticulously evangelizes Web3 to new developers and made it a full-time job at Lumos Labs as a DevRel Engineer. (Yeah, he’s one of the kickass devs who work with us. 🙌)
So, without further ado, get ready to be inspired by Kanishk’s Web3 story!
How did you discover blockchain technology?
I discovered Web3 and blockchain by attending events and finding passionate people around me. What motivated me the most was the permissionless architecture blockchains have and decentralization as well!
This means that if my bank is on the blockchain, I no longer have to wait for my “web2” bank to finish their lunch break and do my transactions because DeFi stays on 24/7. 😆
This really caught my attention and I kept learning more and building more! I created my cheatsheets and even built some freelance projects around the same. As I kept exploring, I kept meeting more and more people and it kept making my trust in web3 stronger.
What excites you about the Web3 space?
Opportunities!
Web3 is filled with opportunities. As a developer, there is always something to learn here. As a community leader, there is always something to explore. Anyone can become a BUIDLer here. All you need is belief in your motive and hard work. Honestly, this builder mindset is what I love about the Web3 space!
Where are you currently working?
I currently work as a Developer Relations Engineer at Lumos Labs. Lumos has been the foundation for my career and I couldn’t be happier with my team, my leaders, and my community here.
Lumos Labs happened to me on WhatsApp! I was, back then, working a not-so-fun job and I wanted a fast-paced ecosystem where I can learn more. I saw someone post on a WhatsApp group that they are hiring for a front-end engineer. I applied with almost no hopes. But, luckily, I caught the Founder’s eye and my interview process started. I did my best in the assignments and wrote clean code as well as I could. And finally, I joined THE Lumos Labs! And here I am now.
What are the necessary skills for a successful Developer Relations Engineer to have?
A successful developer relations engineer must have empathy!
They must be able to understand where a fellow developer or community member is coming from when they need help. This doesn’t mean you should be the best developer around, it simply means that you should be a developer who is willing to sit with fellow developers and help them solve their problems and complete their projects. Writing good documentation, delivering a meaningful session, coding good projects, everything comes after this. The first step here is empathy to build a helpful community. So, if you see a DevRel like this around you, please let me know, I’d love to connect with them.
Any interesting college clubs that you are/were a part of?
I was the Google Developer Student Club Lead of my college and Co-founder of the drama society of my school. My GDSC days gave me some of my fondest memories from my college days. We all worked till 3:00 am on projects, and everyone was equal. No bhaiyas or didis. We had established very early on that learning and growth only happen in an environment where you are given freedom for your ideas and help in building those ideas. So, we made a dedicated app development team, web development team, and so on, just to ensure that everything we do gets delivered on time and so, we can keep moving ahead with our projects! Learning here was immense and I could do it all over again!
With the drama society in college, the motive was the same. It had to be a safe space for ideas and we focused on building a strong team! We went on to write nukkad-nataks (street plays) and stage plays that won international and national awards. That really shaped all of us for the future. Especially for me as I now work as a DevRel Engineer.
How did you balance building your Web3 knowledge and pursuing your education?
This has been tricky!
Coming from a tier-3 college, support was extremely low for me. In my first year, I used to be a FAANG fanatic and thought only a job at Google could save me. So, I worked for that and got to the Google interviews stage. I couldn’t go past that but it just made me more aware of the hard work I need to do to be a good developer. So, I only spent the bare minimum time in college and spent all my energy on building software and learning new technologies.
I saw this trend where a traditional college education was just not enough for an engineer to land a good job and they all were eventually learning React or Node once the college ended. So, I thought why not now! And I found mentors, courses and kept building.
This finally worked out for me and I was able to build a good portfolio. Hackathons helped me explore more and add projects to my arsenal quickly! There was a time when each weekend I was just participating in hackathons like a madman!
So, yes, building my web3 knowledge and balancing college education with it has been difficult but it’s been a tradeoff I do not regret.
Was it easy finding web3 folks in and around your college and how has it impacted your journey so far?
It was not easy finding a Web3-friendly crowd in my college. My college doesn’t really have a ‘coding culture’, so, I relied mostly on communities around my city to learn more and meet good developers.
I guess that is where I got lucky because my city has a good blockchain community with some of the best devs I have seen. It impacted my journey tremendously. Once we became friends, each week we had conversations around building scalable dApps, choosing the right frameworks, balancing studies and development, and of course teaming up for different projects. Now, whenever we face issues in our projects, we know whom to call or where to ask! Having such help really boosts your growth, no matter which field you are in!
What was your first-ever Web3 hackathon experience like?
My first-ever web3 hackathon experience was online with Chainlink!
This is during COVID when I had freshly learned Solidity and was still learning Solidity and React integration. I formed a team with my seniors. One was a pro at the backend development, one handled design and I did the frontend development. We built a small app that helps you send messages over the Ethereum chain and won a pool prize set up by the organization and that is how I got introduced to Web3 hackathons!
During this hackathon, we didn’t sleep for 2 nights and all we did was explore! We had so many questions about how to deploy a smart contract, how to connect various functions to buttons, etc., etc., and I genuinely loved the experience. The learning was immense and it really got us all closer to the web3 ecosystem.
How did you overcome challenges you most often faced at hackathons and with Web3 development in general?
The biggest challenge I face at hackathons and in Web3, in general, is poor documentation.
It is very hard to build on a particular chain or protocol if its documentation is not up to the mark and doesn’t cover basic development problems.
Usually, I ask the devils around from such protocols and chains to help me with this and they save my projects. But otherwise, I move slowly and make basic functions first and then move on to more difficult tasks. This is a slower process but helps me understand the ecosystem without clear documentation.
Another helpful factor here is a good community! Getting stuck is okay, but having a good community that can help you when you are stuck is what makes or breaks an ecosystem. As a DevRel Engineer myself, I make sure that documentation for our projects is on point and that the community is always helpful!
What was your Eth Tokyo experience like?
EthTokyo was surreal. ✨
It was a new country, new people, and new ideas and I was just blown away when I found out I am competing against 30–40-year-old engineers. I met as many people as I could to understand what is the general trend of the hackathon and which kinds of projects are being developed around me! I learned so much from the amazing developers, founders, and engineers around me and I will always cherish this experience.
Apart from this, the food I ate there was also unforgettable! They even gave small goodie bags to take home as a memory and I appreciated that. Solo hacking at EthTokyo was memorable. I remember when six hours before the submission, the main protocol I was using crashed and I had to pivot my entire app; otherwise my app would not have been created.
As I told you, SURREAL EXPERIENCE!
Tell us about the projects you are looking forward to working on next.
The list is endless!
I learned so much about new SDKs during EthTokyo that I was filled with ideas on my flight back.
I saw Account Abstraction and ZKDapps being the new hit, so I will start with that, but beyond that, I want to work on projects and simply make them open-source.
Not only will this help a developer in need, but it will also help me because people who have been in this industry for a long time can mentor me here and help me become a better developer. After all, practice makes perfect!
In terms of technology, I had a newfound interest in React-Native recently. So, I will now try and become a mobile developer and hopefully keep the same energy as I do with web development.
What is your most amazing Web3 story?
The Web3 ecosystem has been a blessing I did not know I needed. I don’t really have a “most amazing web3 story” but rather a string of web3 stories that just makes me trust this ecosystem more and more! I was able to get my first Macbook through web3.
My first offline solo hackathon and a trip through a Web3 event are some that come to mind. I could afford my own college fees and even buy my parents a phone because of the rewards I won at Web3 events.
Looking back, had I not actively been a part of the Web3 space, I’m not sure this would have happened! The people, the connections, the team, and of course the support I got, were all web3. I guess when you compile this, I do have mini web3 stories that are sort of amazing (at least to me).
What chain do you enjoy building on the most and what is the toughest one according to you?
I find Polygon to be the easiest one to build upon. With their elaborate suite of tools, it is quite easy to explore and build tricky dApps quickly! Even for the EthTokyo hackathon, I deployed my smart contract on Polygon. Even for the Lumos Labs events, we usually use Polygon for educational blockchain sessions and demonstrations.
On the other hand, it is hard to pinpoint a difficult chain. I guess any new chain that is still figuring out its roadmap and documentation is difficult to build on.
I like Polygon because their documentation is quite elaborate but in case some other chain has weak or incomplete documentation, they will be difficult to build on.
What are your other interests?
I love running! It allows me space to think, listen to good music and just relax. I used to be an avid athlete in school and even played basketball and volleyball!
Apart from the gym and sports, I love music. I play the guitar. I formed a band with a friend who played the drums back in middle school. I have two guitars and I go back to them from time to time!
The theatre is also something I can’t live without. I love good movies and just art in general! It was a good part of my high school and even the first year of my college! So, in case you have a good movie suggestion, please send it over (chances are I have already seen it though! XD).
What is your dream job? Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
Honestly, I guess I’m quite close to what I want my dream job to look like. I love coding and I love helping people with whatever I know! As a DevRel Engineer at Lumos Labs, I get to explore new tech on a daily and I also get to preach and propagate things that I use and code using daily. Therefore, I am quite happy as a DevRel Engineer.
In the next 5 years I see my community growing, and helping out more people get amazing jobs and good pay. I aspire to learn more technologies but explore the world and see what is out there! But all in all, I see myself in a job where I get to build products, help others, and, of course, travel. I think I have found that role, but in case you have a better one in mind, do ping me.
Driven by a will to develop amazing projects, he goes ahead to attain make the most of his journey in the Web3 space. Kanishk’s story incredibly inspiring tale for any developer out there!
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