WebFREE EP7: Blockchain Developer Community: Buidl Better Together

Community is arguably the best thing about web3. It’s also the most important thing. We talked about it earlier in the series, and we are back talking about it again. In this article, we will get into why the community is so crucial and what are some of the functions it carries out in the web3 ecosystem. We will also present you with some online resources to help you find your place in the blockchain builders' community.

Why is community so good in web3?

Web3 is the frontier. It attracts the most entrepreneurial, creative, and curious from all kinds of industries. It’s a high-risk, high-reward type of industry. It’s not for everybody. But if you get the bug, you are not likely to want to leave. And in large part because of the people, you’ll meet along the way. 

Even after almost 15 years, the blockchain world is a small, tight-knit community. The decentralized and global nature of web3 makes it more inclusive and participatory. 

It’s not all rosy, of course. There’s conflict, there’s drama and competition. There’s also a fair amount of unsavory individuals attracted by the possibility of outsized rewards and lack of regulation. Yet, the core community is united by the desire to build a better world, more equitable, transparent, and inclusive. 

The majority of people are not into zero-sum games and believe that a rising tide lifts all boats. The thing is that for the tide to rise, we have to all work together to build better applications and onboard the world. 

Why is community so important for web3?

Community is the lifeblood of web3. It fosters innovation, ensures security, drives adoption, and is key to the sustained growth and success of web3 projects. Let’s take a look at what this means in the context of the developers’ path in the space.

Governance, Open Source, and Collaborative Development

 In web3, the traditional centralized management model is often replaced by decentralized governance, which means that decisions are made collectively by the community. Some of the most important projects and protocols in the web3 are governed through DAOs. 

Web3 projects are also typically open-source, allowing anyone to contribute to the development and improvement of the technology. This provides developers with an excellent platform to showcase their skills, build a reputation, and contribute.

The success of a project often depends on the community successfully managing the project and making decisions such as updates or modifications to keep the project functional and successful. 

In the Ethereum ecosystem, the core developers are responsible for proposing, discussing, and implementing changes to the core protocol through a process known as Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs). Ethereum Core Developers Execution Calls are held regularly to discuss the progress of EIPs and other issues related to the development of the Ethereum protocol. These calls are open to the public, and anyone can participate in the discussions.

Another example of a protocol, with an established decentralized governance system is Tezos. Tezos uses on-chain governance, where developers can propose changes to the core protocol, and token holders can vote on whether to accept or reject the proposed changes.

Being active in the community by participating in the developer calls, discussions, and the proposal process can be a great way to build relationships, learn, and have an impact on the future of the industry. 

Network Effects Tokens, and Security

The value of web3 projects is often seen as a reflection of its community.  Metcalfe's law is often mentioned when talking about the generation of value in crypto projects. The law was originally formulated in application to telecommunications networks, it establishes the connection between the value of the system and the number of its participants. The higher the quality of the community, the more valuable the service becomes.

This can be applied to blockchainIt is particularly true for networks and protocols. And this is where the role of the developers is very important because it’s the builders who are working in the ecosystem that make it valuable. They are the ones who build the projects in a given ecosystem. T that’s why protocols compete to attract developers to build on top of their infrastructure, by offering free educational tools, events, bounties, hackathons, grants, airdrops, and other perks, especially to early adopters. 

Tokens

One of the important tools that blockchain is powering is tokenization. Projects often introduce tokens that represent a stake in the project. They use tokens to align the incentives of the ecosystem participants. The community not only uses the platform but also benefits from its success, as the value of the platform grows and, with it, the value of the tokens. 

Developers often get token allocations from projects. The developers who are part of the founding team or do some work for the project often get allocations as part of their remuneration. Projects also often distribute tokens through airdrops and grant programs to the founders and builders in the ecosystem. Holding tokens allows developers to have a strong voice in deciding the future of the project.  team (including developers) and community members with the success of the platform. 

Security

Decentralization means that there is no one entity responsible for the security of the network or protocol. The community also maintains the security of the project or protocol through staking, running nodes, performing audits, participating in governance, and other mechanisms. If one of the nodes fails or if one staker pulls their stake, there are thousands of others to keep the network up. 

AAdditionally, a large, active community can help establish trust in the project's longevity. This goes back to Metcalfe’s law in the sense that when there are multitudes of participants in an ecosystem, the system becomes more trustworthy, hence valuable in the eyes of the other market participants (which frankly is not always deserved.)

Knowledge Sharing and Adoption

Developer communities play a crucial role in advocating for and promoting the adoption of web3.  The complex and evolving nature of blockchain tech means that developers need to keep up constantly. Sharing knowledge and troubleshooting problems collectively is part of the core web3 culture. 

Why is community so good in web3?

Web3 is the frontier. It attracts the most entrepreneurial, creative, and curious from all kinds of industries. It’s a high-risk, high-reward type of industry. It’s not for everybody. But if you get the bug, you are not likely to want to leave. And in large part because of the people, you’ll meet along the way. 

Even after almost 15 years, the blockchain world is a small, tight-knit community. The decentralized and global nature of web3 makes it more inclusive and participatory. 

It’s not all rosy, of course. There’s conflict, there’s drama and competition. There’s also a fair amount of unsavory individuals attracted by the possibility of outsized rewards and lack of regulation. Yet, the core community is united by the desire to build a better world, more equitable, transparent, and inclusive. 

The majority of people are not into zero-sum games and believe that a rising tide lifts all boats. The thing is that for the tide to rise, we have to all work together to build better applications and onboard the world. 

Where To Connect With Blockchain Developer Community? 

The crypto community is very active across multiple platforms and mediums, and you can find a way to stay in touch that best suits you personally. You might sign up for newsletters, follow Reddit, chat on Telegram and Discord, watch YouTube, listen to podcasts, or follow your favorite personalities on X, or a decentralized social media platform, like Lenster or Warpcast. Let’s take a look at some of the best places to find people and information.

Reddit

Ethereum Development and DApps (103K members)

Anything an Ethereum developer may be looking for is here: from contracts to dApps, wallets, tooling, and infrastructure. 

Crypto Devs (14K members)

Another great source for crypto-related discussions on technical issues and updates on developments in the space. 

Telegram 

There are two English language communities with the same name - Blockchain Developers, and the other Blockchain Developers. Both are focused on discussing programming on Solidity. There is also a group called Solidity Learning devoted to the same topic.

There are also two notable Russian-speaking crypto developer groups: CryptoDev by 0Y and Cyber Academy.

Discord

Discord is one of the important hubs for crypto exploration. Most projects and protocols have their own servers, where you can connect with the teams and other developers working on similar projects. There are also a few developer-focused communities:

1. Crypto Devs (12K members)
2. Go Ethereum (12.8K members) 
3. CryptoDevHub (6K members)

Newsletters

Newsletters have been growing in popularity and are a great way to get information delivered to you, as always, for free! (although there is sometimes a paid option) Here are some notable ones:

Week in Ethereum (weekly) by Evan Van Ness

Possibly the best newsletter for web3 developers building on Ethereum because that covers everything you need to know. While going deep on Ethereum-related topics, the newsletter is a great source of learning material as well. 

Supercharged (monthly) by Alchemy

Provides developer tutorials, product updates, and the latest projects to watch from the world of web3.

Probably Nothing (weekly) by Developer DAO

Its tagline is “Build Web3 with friends,” and in that spirit, one of the best developer communities supplies news and educational resources for devs. 

Bankless (daily) by Bankless

While not focused on developer news and resources, Bankless deserves a mention here as it covers the Ethereum ecosystem in depth and is a great resource for anyone working in the space.

Unjumbled (daily) by Unjumbled and You

It’s a great web3 tool for creating your own personalized daily newsletter that brings together information from the communities you are most interested in. It’s a Build-your-own daily digest that delivers the most up to date news just for you.

YouTube

Fireship (2.3 mln subscribers)

Fireship is a treasure trove of concise, yet richly informative videos designed to enhance your skills as a developer. It offers insights into the latest tech stacks and breakthrough technologies.

Smart Contract Programmer (48K subscribers)

The channel offers comprehensive guides for smart contract programming. There is even a playlist focused on Solidity exploits. The channel also provides developers with digestible yet thorough breakdowns of the mathematical principles underlying popular DeFi protocols. 

The videos are typically longer, often starting with the basic concepts before diving into the more advanced topics.

Thirdweb (10K subscribers)

We have talked about thirdweb in our post about developer tools. They are a great resource both for advanced builders as well as no-code or low-code users. Their YouTube channel offers regularly updated in-depth tutorials and walkthroughs for the thirdweb tools and various workflows. From building a marketplace to implementing gasless transactions in your dApp.

Eat The Blocks (148K subscribers)

The channel covers a wide range of topics, including Solidity smart contracts, decentralized applications, DeFi, and NFT development. Most videos are under five minutes. They also provide commentary on various aspects of a Web3 developer's career, touching on recruitment processes, lifestyle, and compensation.

Patrick Collins (64K subscribers)

Patrick Collins produces tutorials on smart contracts, blockchain, DeFi, and Fintech. Beyond technical how-tos, he consistently shares interviews featuring industry experts and provides up-to-date, commentary on the evolution of web3.

Clever Programmer (1.3 mln subscribers)

The channel offers thorough step-by-step demonstrations of diverse Web3 programming projects. In addition to this, he shares videos focusing on career growth for front-end Web3 developers.

X, formerly known as Twitter

One of the great ways to stay up to date with the crypto developer discourse is X. Here are a few people you may want to follow.

Vitalik Buterin’s X profile

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Vitalik Buterin (@VitalikButerin)

The founder of Ethereum.

Anatoly Yakovenko (@aeyakovenko)

The co-founder of Solana.

Hayden Adams (@haydenzadams)

The founder and CEO of Uniswap, an Ethereum-based decentralized exchange that significantly rose in popularity in 2020.

Sergey Nazarov (@SergeyNazarov)

The co-founder of Chainlink, a protocol that provides an oracle network to power smart contracts.

Devin Finzer (@dfinzer)

Co-founder and CEO of Opensea, the largest NFT marketplace.

Georgios Konstantopoulos (@gakonst)

CTO & research partner Paradigm.

Tim Beiko (@TimBeiko)

One of the Ethereum core developers.

Andreas M. Antonopoulos (@aantonop)

 A widely respected Bitcoin advocate and author of "Mastering Bitcoin." His tweets and talks are educational for both beginners and experts.

Laura Shin (@laurashin)

 A crypto journalist and host of the "Unchained" podcast. She frequently tweets on a broad spectrum of blockchain-related topics.

Udi Wertheimer (@udiWertheimer)

Bitcoin Activist, Developer, and Consultant, aiming to “Make Bitcoin Magical Again.” 

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You may also want to explore blockchain-based decentralized social platforms, such as Lenster or Warpcast, that are naturally populated with a more crypto-native audience. 

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These are just a few resources to start with. As you continue your journey into the depths of the crypto “rabbit hole,” you will find many more interesting accounts and pages to follow in whatever corner of the space you focus on, be it DeFi, infrastructure, NFTs, or some new development that is probably just around the corner. Don’t be shy. Comment, opine, and engage in conversation. Over time you will also learn some of the crypto lingo and memes, which are an important part of crypto community communication. And just remember, as you engage with fellow crypto builders, stay curious and respectful, have fun.

And, of course, stay tuned for more webFREE articles!