NEARWEEK Perspectives: BEExperience
With a unique approach to building and an upcoming launch right around the corner, BEE is here to provide some much needed infrastructure to Web3. BEE offers its users a complete recruitment framework and education experience, giving you all the right tools and services you need to land a job in the space. In essence, the project has two sides specialising in Web3: one side acts as a CV and job recruitment service, while the other acts as an educational content hub. To find out more about the project looking to onboard and upscale the next 1 billion users entering the space, read our holistic overview for BEE.
In this article, NEARWEEK sits down with the founder of BEE, Kobie McGlashan (@kdotcrypto), to learn more about his unique perspective on Web3, what drives him to build on the NEAR ecosystem, and how he envisions the future for BEE.
‘I still remember the feeling I had when I got my first role in the space, I felt like a little kid — it was freeing in a way.’
Tracing Roots
‘I entered Web3 in 2019 with a background landing change and transformation at Openreach [UK’s largest broadband network], where I was responsible for rolling out and landing training for new system integrations and managed a team of 63,’ Kobie answers when asked about his journey into Web3. ‘I originally started in the Solana ecosystem, and after some time I saw a lot of people around me migrating to NEAR — and so, I came to the ecosystem early this year, found my passion, and started building BEE.’
‘I still remember the feeling I had when I got my first role in the space, I felt like a little kid — it was freeing in a way,’ Kobie explains, describing his transition from the traditional working world to the world of Web3. ‘In traditional employment, it’s very much a formal environment: there exists a dress code, you have to request days off, there’s so many limitations on freedom that I never liked myself and have alway attempted to get away from; and I find this freedom unlocks the deeper you dive into Web3. I founded BEE wanting to give other people the same experience I’ve had.’
‘Essentially, we aim to become the Web3 LinkedIn.’
A Unique Recruitment Experience
‘With BEE, we’re planning to expand the concept of traditional recruitment,’ Kobie states when describing BEE’s end state model. ‘We’re going to be a job board, CV database, and account management and agency service that specialises in Web3, filling the current hole of a professional networking platform that supports the Web3 space. And for us, this means creating a platform that allows us to support a whole range of networks and features. Essentially, we aim to become the Web3 LinkedIn.’
Outlining some of the specific features that a Web3 version of LinkedIn is able to offer, Kobie explains, ‘Twitter does a great job at allowing us to have undoxxed identities and I really wanted to carry on that ethos into the traditional recruitment work. We set up the platform to allow you to choose whether to be doxxed or undoxxed. So, for example, if someone does a rust developer course, then they’ll have a badge to display that.’ This, Kobie explains, means ‘you will be able to sign up to BEE with your email, Google account, and Web3 wallet, without any additional information required. We will offer MetaMask and NEAR Wallet integration at the start, and are looking at expanding this to Phantom.’
Later on, Kobie provides further insight, ‘just like BEE is looking to host a whole set of wallets, we’re also looking to facilitate the education and recruitment for any role, job, or sector within the Web3 environment. It doesn’t matter if you are a community manager on Solana, a UX designer on Ethereum, or a product manager on NEAR — for each type of role and job we will have education services and offer a recruitment process,’ detailing how BEE’s reach into Web3 extends far beyond more technical oriented services (like GitHub) that only focuses on developers.
When creating an ambitious service like BEE (that aims to continually expand its services and offerings), you still have to pick a place to start. Kobie imparts that ‘post launch, BEE will focus heavily on NEAR integration. We are going to kick off with educational content and build out that framework. For instance, we’re planning to work with NEAR University to expand their offerings and collaborate with in-person events like NEARCON. We really want to facilitate and foster these pockets of talented individuals and help them build cool stuff. We aim to offer grants in our ‘‘gifted-individuals program’’ — so that if users have an innovative idea we can help them get it off the ground! We hope to be a lot more than just a hiring entity.’
‘We hope to be a lot more than just a hiring entity.’
Kobie’s Journey on NEAR
Impressed with BEE’s dual vision as a recruitment framework and educational hub, BEE received a $50,000 dollar grant from the NEAR foundation in March, despite not being bound to any particular chain. Without any obligation to keep building on NEAR, we ask Kobie what drives him to place such a heavy emphasis on continuing to expand BEE’s offerings for the NEAR ecosystem in particular:
‘What makes NEAR so great is the community and team involvement. When I first properly joined the NEAR ecosystem in January we were having people like Illiaia (Polosukhin, Co-Founder of NEAR) come on regular spaces with really small NFT projects to help out and engage with their communities. I find that the mindset on NEAR is very much, ‘‘a rising tide raises all ships’’ — you don’t often see that on other chains. Moreover, the builder-friendly documentation provided, coupled with the Rust language itself, creates a fantastic build experience and is a genuine testament to the team behind the protocol. It’s what makes BEE really want to work with NEAR.’
Kobie continues on a personal note, ‘I admire NEAR tech-wise, myself, because of the NightShade scaling technology. I always tell people that it’s very similar to the concept of ETH 2.0, (Kobie pauses, giving a small laugh) except without the 64-shard limitation and actually implemented.’
‘On NEAR the mindset is very much, ‘‘a rising tide raises all ships’’ — you don’t often see that on other chains.’
Written by Johan (@achildhoohero)
About BEE
BEE offers a complete recruitment framework and education experience, specialising in the Web3 space. Essentially, BEE is the LinkedIn of Web3, acting as a service that provides users with the full experience they need to land a job in the space. BEE features a multi-purpose job board, CV management service, and hub for learning educational content. Additionally, BEE has a neat NFT collection that provides users with additional benefits.
About NEAR
NEAR is a sharded, proof-of-stake, layer one blockchain that is built for usability and scalability. NEAR combines the power of both PoS and sharding in a technology called Nightshade, making the chain infinitely scalable without compromising security and decentralisation.
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