WebFREE EP8: Exploring Free Web3 Education 

The world of Web3 development is full of possibilities, yet it can seem confusing and overwhelming at first. The truth is, it will take some time to learn the new tools and concepts, but the resources are abundant, and the upside is exciting. We touched on available community resources in the previous post, and today, we’re focusing on free educational tools that are right at your fingertips. From specialized developer platforms to GitHub repositories and toolkits, learning has never been this accessible. Dive in and start your webFree journey!

Courses and Tutorials

Speedrun Ethereum & BuidlGuidl

Speedrun Ethereum is a project spearheaded by Austin Griffith (make sure to follow on Twitter), one of the most prominent Ethereum developer education enthusiasts. His website helps web2 builders learn web3 building tools and concepts, starting from the very basics. It offers a series of challenges that help you build your Solidity knowledge using Scaffold-ETH, a collection of commonly used Ethereum development tools. You start by creating a simple NFT, move on to building a decentralized staking app, and graduate to building a DEX, a decentralized exchange. The process is very hands-on. The final deliverable for each challenge is a working dApp. You can meet other builders working on the same challenges in their Telegram group. Once you complete all four challenges, you can join BuidlGuidl and continue learning and building as part of the group that builds products and tools for the Ethereum ecosystem. You can even start earning money for the projects you ship. 

CryptoZombies

CryptoZombies is an interactive code school that teaches you Solidity by building a game. It is the largest education platform for blockchain development, with over 400k registered users that have finished multiple courses. The course is beginner-friendly and available for free. Step-by-step tutorials take you from the basics of Solidity to creating your own fully-functional blockchain-based game. It’s half coding school, half MMO crypto-collectible strategy game.

Thirdweb

Thirdweb is a complete web3 development framework that provides everything you need to build dApps and smart contracts. In addition to the tooling, they offer a variety of educational resources to help you learn how to build on their platform:

• Getting Started Guide teaches you the basics of Thirdweb by building a simple project. 
• Developer Portal hosts Thirdweb’s documentation, guides, tutorials, and templates to help you learn how to use their tools and build your own web3 applications.
• YouTube channel hosts video tutorials covering a broad range of builds.
• In their blog, you can find case studies breaking down the various applications of blockchain tech.

In addition to that, Thirdweb regularly hosts live workshops and office hours and supports builders directly through Discord. Thirdweb is also teasing an expert-led curriculum on their website, aiming to train web3 developers and product managers. You can join the waitlist now.

Access Free Docs

There are multitudes of protocols, libraries, platforms, and frameworks that provide tooling for web3 developers. Most of them offer robust resources for developers to learn about their features and applications. 

Mailchain 

Mailchain is the communication layer for web3, a crypto-native multi-chain “email” inbox. It allows users to communicate in the context of their wallet or blockchain identity. You can learn how to build on their platform by visiting their documentation page, which offers guides, tutorials, and frequently asked questions.

Ether.js

Ether.js is a JavaScript library designed to facilitate tasks like deploying contracts, function calls, and managing events. It’s one of the most popular libraries among developers. It simplifies development with a user-friendly interface, enabling straightforward interactions with Ethereum smart contracts. You can learn more about Ether.js by visiting their documentation page. 

Next.js

Next.js is a React framework that has become a go-to choice for many developers building web apps. Some of the features include routing, rendering, data-fetching, styling, and more. Many developers appreciate Next.js for the user experience, SEO optimization, as well as The framework's focus on performance and optimization and access to the rich ecosystem of React libraries and tools. You can learn more about Next.js by visiting their documentation page.

Web3.js

Web3.js is a collection of JavaScript libraries that allows you to interact with Ethereum, a gateway between client-side applications and an Ethereum node. Web3.js allows you to query information, send transactions, deploy smart contracts, and listen to blockchain events. It also offers utility functions to generate Ethereum accounts, manage keys, and sign transactions or messages. You can learn more about Web3.js by visiting their documentation page.

GitHub Repositories

GitHub repositories are invaluable educational resources for developers. Exploring them is a great hands-on, dynamic way to learn. It gives you a look at the codebase, the problems developers are solving, the tools they're using, and the methodologies they're employing. And there's always something new to discover for free!

Here are some steps and best practices to follow:

1. Start With Known Projects

You want to begin with the official repositories of well-known projects:

• Ethereum's official GitHub: https://github.com/ethereum 
• Web3.js (Ethereum JavaScript API): https://github.com/ethereum/web3.js 
• Truffle Suite (a popular development framework for Ethereum): https://github.com/trufflesuite 

If you have a specific interest in mind, you can go to the known projects in that field:

• Uniswap (DEX): https://github.com/Uniswap 
• OpenSea (NFT marketplace): https://github.com/ProjectOpenSea 
• Metamask (ETH wallet): https://github.com/MetaMask 
• Thirdweb has a repository of templates: https://github.com/thirdweb-example 

2. Explore 

You can search GitHub for keywords related to web3, such as "Ethereum," "smart contracts," "dApp," "blockchain," etc. Make sure to filter your search results by stars or forks to find the most popular and actively maintained repositories.

Search for 'awesome' lists on GitHub. These are curated lists of resources on specific topics. For instance, ‘awesome-ethereum’ will give you a list of collections of great Ethereum-related resources, tools, and projects.

3. Dive Deep into Documentation

Start with the README. Almost every GitHub repo has a README file, the introduction that often contains setup instructions, usage examples, and sometimes the project's philosophy or decision-making rationale. Some repos also have associated wikis or GitHub Pages with more comprehensive documentation or tutorials.

4. Check Out Issues & Pull Requests

Issues and pull requests can be a great source of knowledge. They often contain discussions about bugs, feature requests, questions about the project, as well as code changes and the reasons behind those changes.

5. Clone and Experiment

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” so don’t be shy. If you like the project, clone it, run it, play with it, modify the code, and see what happens. It's the best way to understand a project.

7. Engage

Star repositories you like. This helps increase their visibility and is a way of showing appreciation. Watch repositories to get notifications on new issues, PRs, and updates.

Ask questions, but be a good citizen, first, make sure they haven't been answered before.

Consider contributing to a project. You can start with small contributions like fixing typos in documentation. As you become more familiar, you can dive into code, fork, and contribute.

10. Follow Contributors

Another great way to stay engaged and learn is to identify active and knowledgeable contributors in the Web3 space. You can follow them on GitHub and allow them to lead you to great projects and discussions.

Nader Dabit (Lens Protocol) https://github.com/dabit3 

Austin Griffith (Speedrun Ethereum) https://github.com/austintgriffith 

Patrick Collins (Cyfrin) https://github.com/PatrickAlphaC 

11. Last But Not Least: Safety First

Be extremely cautious about running code from lesser-known GitHub repositories, especially the ones that lack proper documentation. You may inadvertently expose your information or even compromise your system.

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Web3 moves fast, and the learning curve can be steep. But free resources are abundant. From specialized developer training platforms like Speedrun Ethereum and CryptoZombies to Discords, communities, Reddit, and GitHub repos. There are myriads of tutorials, courses, and toolkits. You will find that web3 folks are also generous with their knowledge. The community is there for you. Whether you're a beginner starting with the basics of Solidity or a seasoned developer tackling complex projects, there are resources for you, and most of them are free! Start your web3 journey today, and stay tuned for upcoming webFREE posts!