Hands-on Education for Developers to Speed up Opensource Tooling on Cardano Ecosystem

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Thiago Nunes

[GENERAL] Email address of main applicant

thiago@cardanowarriors.io

Additional applicants

Zon Petilla

ButlerRaggie

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

12

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language.

No

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

Yes

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.” .

It depends on companies who interact in the ecosystem, our developers and code-base.

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

Yes

[GENERAL] If NO, please describe which outputs are not going to be open source. If YES, please write “Project will be fully open source.”

Project will be fully open source.

[METADATA] Category of Proposal

Dev Ecosystem Collaboration

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Our suggested course of action is to onboard 2-3 talented developers and assign them to work on core Cardano open-source projects, such as Boros, Dolos, Aiken, Milkomeda, and Cardano Gaming Guild's code base, as well as any other open-source projects that require additional developers or/and new open-source projects that are approved using this fund. 

These projects play a crucial role in expanding the services on top of Cardano and are essential for the growth and development of the ecosystem. By dedicating specialized resources to these projects, we can deliver more rich experiences in our ecosystem.

Finding developers with the necessary skills and knowledge with Cardano technology has been a challenge. Therefore, we will have comprehensive trainings to bridge the gap and equip developers with the expertise required to work effectively on Cardano projects. 

Contacted companies that agree to accept the resources of this proposal will provide the training, which will emphasize Cardano's potential and long-term worth in addition to its technical features. As part of the Cardano Gaming Guild, we are working with companies and projects collaboratively. Also, this should help with on-boarding as found on other blockchains. 

By highlighting Cardano's unique features, scalability, security, and its aim to provide a sustainable and inclusive ecosystem, we can attract developers outside of the ecosystem and convince them of the value in dedicating their efforts to learning and working with Cardano.

The ultimate goal of this solution is to train more developers who can contribute to the growth and demand of the Cardano community. By expanding the workforce and improving developers' skill sets, we can sustain better growth and innovation within the ecosystem. Engaging in this role, I will establish coordination with several companies of the ecosystem that are well-positioned to facilitate the training and development of these developers, supporting the Cardano community in achieving its long-term goals.

[IMPACT] How does your proposed solution address the challenge and what benefits will this bring to the Cardano ecosystem?

Accelerated Development: With a dedicated team of skilled developers and a shared open source code base, the progress and pace of development on these core open-source projects will significantly increase. This will result in the creation of more robust and feature-rich tools, enhancing the overall functionality and usability of Cardano for developers and users alike.

Strengthened Ecosystem: By expanding the workforce of developers with expertise in Cardano technology, we contribute to the growth and strength of the Cardano ecosystem. A larger pool of skilled developers means a broader range of projects and services can be built on top of Cardano, fostering innovation and attracting more developers and users to the ecosystem.

A More Integrated Ecosystem: Many people and projects in the Cardano Gaming Guild develop apps and dapps that interconnect Cardarno to Web 2.0 technologies. A new open-source code base can connect to these other projects allowing for developers and teams to easily develop and offer their dapps on the web, PC, Mac, Linux, Android and IOS markets.

Long-Term Value Proposition: By having easy to use tools and experts ready to help, this helps onboard teams and outside developers as well as current developers and project owners on Cardano. Through comprehensive training, we not only equip developers with the necessary technical skills but also emphasize the long-term value of Cardano. By highlighting its scalability, security, sustainability, and potential for future growth, we provide a compelling case for developers to dedicate their efforts to learning and working with Cardano. This helps cultivate a committed and knowledgeable developer community invested in the long-term success of Cardano.

Overall, our solution addresses the challenge by providing a specialized workforce, training them in Cardano technology, and focusing their efforts on core open-source projects. This approach brings benefits such as accelerated development, a strengthened ecosystem, and the attraction of skilled developers who recognize the long-term value of Cardano.

[IMPACT] How do you intend to measure the success of your project?

Core Project Progress and Contribution:

• Number of contributions (code commits, documentation, pull requests, etc.) to Boros, Dolos, Aiken or any other open-source projects. 
• Individual report by the developers.
• Report from the company of the ecosystem evaluating the progress of the tools being helped by the development team.

Regular monitoring and analysis of these metrics will provide insights into the effectiveness of the training program and the contributions made by the trained developers to the growth and development of Cardano.

[IMPACT] Please describe your plans to share the outputs and results of your project?

The primary goal of this initiative is to instill a strong sense of confidence among developers, assuring them that they are part of a passionate community that will continue to support them in their pursuit of professional growth through the utilization of integrated Cardano technology. Additionally, we aim to promote community adoption by offering future services for other projects within our community, further strengthening our commitment to fostering a thriving ecosystem.

Achievements will be published on the Twitter Account of the Cardano Gaming Guild and shared with partnered projects.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability?

The Cardano Gaming Guild has had many successful CNFT projects that have developed different levels of technology: Wolves of Rome, the Cardano Warriors, Xrace, Mocossi Planet and Crypto Raggies just to mention a few. Theses projects have delivered integrated dapp and web 2.5 solutions that use Cardano and NFT integration with their game projects. From staking rewards to in game rewards the Cardano Gaming Guild's associates have many skilled developers who have developed and continue to develop products and services for their communities on Windows, iOS, Linuix and Andriod devices. Thus, we will start recruiting our developers from the Cardano Gaming Guild as well as seek other talented individuals with the necessary front to back-end skills.

I have several years of experience in developing digital products and managing teams. I ran a marketing agency for more than seven years in Brazil, working with several clients and managing a team with more than 30 contributors, providing services for small businesses, to national and international corporations. With a track record of more than five years, I’m a Cardano Ambassador whose worked together with the Cardano Foundation as a pioneer in several initiatives in Cardano, including being one of the ITN SPOs running under Ouros ticker, and one of the organizers at Cardano Rio. Also, I am the Director of Operations at Cardano Warriors.

You can read a short story about myself here: A short story about myself

https://www.linkedin.com/in/thiago-nunes-72b95327/

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What are the main goals for the project and how will you validate if your approach is feasible?

Main goals for the project:

• Onboard developers
•  Hire 2-3 developers for 1 year

• Training new developers with Cardano tools and concepts
• Learning by doing daily tasks
• Learning from pre-made materials

• Deliver more open-source tools
• Public commits on Github
• connections to other Cardano Project software.
• On boarding more projects to solutions we work with. 

• Retain core base of developers. 

After 1 year, we expect to hire the core developers and continue to support past and future projects in need.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed breakdown of your project’s milestones and each of the main tasks or activities to reach the milestone plus the expected timeline for the delivery.

The project will be developed in Quarters to facilitate management and reporting, resulting in a total of 12 months.

Q1 Milestone 

-Searching for developers and doing interviews, explaining what Cardano is and why it matters to have them onboard. 

-Onboarding the new developers and start training

-Defining the projects they will be working on

-Preparing the first reports of development progression for Milestone Achievement

-Individual Dev Report

-Ecosystem Report via Github commits and impact on open-source software progression

Q2 Milestone

-Adjusting the allocation of the projects they will be working on

-Preparing reports of development progression for Milestone Achievement

-Individual Dev Report

-Ecosystem Report via Github commits and impact on open-source software progression

Q3 Milestone

-Adjusting the allocation of the projects they will be working on

-Preparing reports of development progression for Milestone Achievement

-Individual Dev Report

-Ecosystem Report via Github commits and impact on open-source software progression

Q4 Milestone

-Adjusting the allocation of the projects they will be working on

-Preparing reports of development progression for Milestone Achievement

-Individual Dev Report

-Ecosystem Report via Github commits and impact on open-source software progression

-Ecosystem Development Training report for the overall progression of the new developers.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please describe the deliverables, outputs and intended outcomes of each milestone.

Q1 Milestone

• Deliverables:
• Code on Open-Source Repositories
• Outputs:
• Project allocation to each dev 
• Intended Outcomes
• New developers on boarded
• Bootstrap the learning experience
• Measurements
• Planning documents and developer's learning experience 
• Progress in Open-source Contribution
• Individual Dev Report on the learning experience

Q2 Milestone

• Deliverables:
• Code on Open-Source Repositories
• Outputs:
• Updates on dev allocation
• Intended Outcomes
• continuation of the learning experience
• Measurements
• Planning documents and developer's learning experience 
• Progress in Open-source Contribution
• Individual Dev Report on the learning experience

Q3 Milestone

• Deliverables:
• Code on Open-Source Repositories
• Outputs:
• Updates on dev allocation
• Intended Outcomes
• continuation of the learning experience
• Measurements
• Planning documents and developer's learning experience 
• Progress in Open-source Contribution
• Individual Dev Report on the learning experience

Q4 Milestone

• Deliverables:
• Code on Open-Source Repositories
• Outputs:
• Updates on dev allocation
• Intended Outcomes
• continuation of the learning experience
• Measurements
• Planning documents and developer's learning experience 
• Progress in Open-source Contribution
• Individual Dev Report on the learning experience
• Final Company of the ecosystem report on the developer's progression

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

Q1 

Budget to hire 2-3 developers in the quarter ($16200 [60000 ADA] )

Budget for operational costs in the quarter ($1800 [6666 ADA] )

Q2

Budget to pay 2-3 developers in the quarter ($16200 [60000 ADA] )

Budget for operational costs in the quarter ($1800 [6666 ADA] )

Q3

Budget to pay 2-3 developers in the quarter ($16200 [60000 ADA] )

Budget for operational costs in the quarter ($1800 [6666 ADA] )

Q4

Budget to pay 2-3 developers in the quarter ($16200 [60000 ADA] )

Budget for operational costs in the quarter ($1800 [6666 ADA] )

Total $72000 (266666 ADA)

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

We carefully considered market rates, industry standards, and project complexity to establish this budget. The team will consist of highly capable professionals who offer cost-effective services with enthusiasm to learn, the rates fall within the lower end of averages for scientific and engineering research. The value is set at a level that aligns with the global and local competition in their respective areas, ensuring that the compensation is fair and competitive. However, it is important to note that monetary incentives can't solely drive the participants of this project. We want to onboard deeply engaged professionals motivated by the Cardano Community and ready to deliver their best performance.

All project participants will be willing to accept the currency risk associated with being paid in ADA, showcasing commitment and confidence in the Cardano ecosystem. A decrease in ADA price may result in lower compensation. Still, a rise in ADA price serves as a reward for investing in Cardano, aligning our incentives with the ecosystem's success.

If Project Catalyst funds are awarded, our conclusion is that this proposal offers great value for the Cardano ecosystem. With our expertise, transparent cost breakdown, and the value our project deliverables bring, we are confident in the substantial returns the Cardano community will experience in terms of functionality, innovation, and growth with specialized developers.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agreed to Fund10 rules and also that data in the Submission Form and other data provided by the project team during the course of the project will be publicly available.

I Accept