Hedges Stake Pool Catalyst F9 Proposals
Cardano is a powerful and well-designed blockchain which needs talented developers to reach its full potential. The team behind Hedges stake pool is well aware of this concern. As software engineers, they understand the difficulties of recruiting and keeping talent in the ecosystem. They have several proposals in Catalyst F9 that are focused on recruiting and keeping the talent that will help Cardano reach its full potential.
Job & Event Center (Woolly Map) (ideascale.com)
Category: Cross Chain Collaboration
Requested Budget: 32,000
There is so much going on in the Cardano ecosystem that it is becoming impossible to keep up. Projects, mints, contests, drops - it is impossible to get accurate, up to date information. Longtime community members are struggling to keep up. Newbies must be absolutely overwhelmed. Keith Hedges and company have a fledgling platform designed to help the community help itself - initially with events and eventually in finding employment as well. Woolly Map will offer a searchable, customized database of community events and employment opportunities. Users will also have the option to share them on social media. The platform will leverage the power of smart contracts to support the community fast, fair interaction. Some examples directly from their catalyst proposal:
A newbie will be able to find an educational Twitter space or new blog post.
A veteran will be able to hawk out a new project that looks promising.
Allows anyone of any knowledge level to get up to date info to educate themselves.
Ushers in people that are new to Cardano, new to crypto and also further equip people already in the community.
A network of information hunger people can start connecting, networking and sharing what they have learned.
Smart Contract Job Facilitation (ideascale.com)
Category: Developer Ecosystem
Requested Budget: 23,000
The beating heart of blockchain technology is the ability for two parties to interact effectively without the oversight of a regulatory body, such as a government or bank. The Hedges team wants to encourage developers to work on Cardano. However, they are aware that it is difficult to know who to trust when contracting for work. If you aren’t connected, it can be difficult to transition into a new community. Who do you trust? Blockchain technology means that you don’t have to trust anyone. The team intends to create a smart contract platform that allows employers to contract developers safely and efficiently. Basically, it will work like this:
An employer posts a job and the required credentials
Interested parties who meet the requirements will be able to apply
The funds for payment will be held in escrow by a smart contract
Once the job is complete the funds will be released
Later iterations will create a method of resolving disputes
This should encourage developers to explore opportunities in Cardano
Create Local/Online Job Fair System (ideascale.com)
Category: Challenge and Scouted for Students
Requested budget: 17,500
Cardano needs talented developers. Full stop. Talented developers are hard to find and, quite frankly, demand high salaries. So, what are smaller projects to do? The team behind
Hedges stake pool has a Catalyst proposal to help the community find talent. Their experience as software engineers, both in college and in the corporate world, has caused them to realize that there is a lot of talent at universities that Cardano is not accessing. At the present time there is not a clear path for these young people to transition from college to Cardano. The Hedges team wants to build a pipeline that guides students from college to Cardano. After all, large corporations dedicate significant resources to recruiting the best and brightest from college campuses. Why shouldn’t Cardano do the same.
The team will initially research the best method of outreach to determine if an online application or a targeted in person job fair is the preferred direction. Additionally, they will build a network of mentors and resources for students to interact with each other and established Cardano developers. They expect that in approximately six months they will have a functional product. The goal of course, is to create a network that is robust and sustains itself going forward.
The amount requested was greater than the category allows. However, the proposal still has merit. Hopefully it will generate some interest and focus that will continue into the next round of Catalyst
The decentralized nature of Cardano allows any interested party to problem solve and find solutions to community problems. Catalyst provides a funding mechanism to help build those solutions. This is what makes Cardano such a powerful force for good. In this case Hedges is aware that we are in desperate need of more developers. The team has the experience and resources to address the problem. Cardano allows them to do so without waiting on a central authority. It's a beautiful system.
The team behind these proposals:
Keith Hedges - a software engineer for four years at fortune 500 company before shifting to work on Cardano full-time. He has worked on a music NFT platform called https://artistdrop.io/, is a core contributor to Freeloaderz, and has been running the Hedges Stake Pool since epoch 254.
(https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-hedges-396548a8/)
Vadiraj Kulkarni - multiple degrees and experience with many different languages. Although he does have experience with smart contracts on Ethereum his focus has shifted towards Plutus because of his interest in Cardano and prior experience in Haskell .
(https://www.linkedin.com/in/vadiraj-kulkarni/)
Erick Avalos - has many years of software engineering experience at a publicly traded company dealing with high integrity code. He is also a core developer of an NFT project on Cardano.
(https://www.linkedin.com/in/erick-avalos-13014012a/)
Additional links:
Hedges Stake Pool {Hedge} (@HedgesPool) / Twitter
Hedges Stake Pool (hedgespool.com)
(4) Woolly Map (@WoollyMap) / Twitter
By Traveler Jo | CardanoArmy.io
You can find Traveler Jo somewhere close to the sea. She loves Cardano, kayaking and food - not necessarily in that order. She's busy exploring the world, always in the company of her husband, tired dog and indignant felines.