Connect projects with developers

[IMPACT]

Currently the Cardano Makers platform has profiles for people with a diversity of skillsets looking for work. In addition to this there is a jobs board for projects or businesses to post job ads. To build on the sites initial deployment we would need to focus on 4 main areas:

Decrease hiring friction

From the release of version 1 we have learnt that for non developers to be hiring developers, one of the hardest things for them to know is “can this person really build this safely for me?” to help remove this friction will integrate certifications into the platform. These wouldn't be bulky degree focused certifications but more closely related to traditional IT skills based certifications. This makes it easier for potential employers to understand the skill sets of their candidates.

For the initial development of this we will need to develop relationships with learning providers to understand their certification process and how to best represent these qualifications to potential employers.

The stage 2 of this would be NFT based certifications which are verified via wallet connector, but we need to do the initial groundwork first.

Skill exchange program

Everyone has a specific set of skills which can be really helpful to others in the community. A lot of the time someone with great skills in area A needs help in area B and vice versa. Our Skills exchange platform will enable this to be friction-less. If someone has skills in JavaScript and needs help with Plutus for example, they would be paired up with someone who has skills in Plutus and needs help with JavaScript.

This helps grow strong connections within the Cardano ecosystem and incubates new projects.

Task Marketplace

A place where people can post small tasks they need completed or offer to complete for a set fee. Similar to a Fiverr service, but with Cardano. Depending on the success and engagement here in the future this could become a smart contracted based transaction broker.

In the future the service set here could expand more to non crypto native services such as graphic design or website building. This would help as an introduction to the Cardano ecosystem where to hire these people you would need to pay then in ADA, we would make it a seamless fiat on-ramp experience and then show them how much easier it is to pay people internationally in ADA!!

Community engagement & Development

The largest component for success will be how many people and projects we can connect. The only way we can achieve this is with community development, marketing, direct outreach to businesses, professionals, and learning institutions.

We will mostly focus this around Twitter, Discord, and Medium. With outreach specifically to projects on other chains who might be looking to go cross chain or swap chain to avoid high fees.

Projects who are currently on Ethereum but are looking to move to Cardano or go cross chain need to find professionals to talk to about their applications but because the atmosphere is so tribal at the movement a lot of these projects would be worried about the backlash if they were to publicly announce they are looking for Cardano developers and please contact them.

Cardano Makers gives these people an easy way to discretely contact potential developers and start these discussions without fear of negative public sentiment.

For projects who are not yet built, there is a misconception that Cardano is too complex and there are no developers with skillsets to work on their projects. With Cardano Makers we can bust this myth by showing pages full of a variety of professionals actively looking for work.

Risk: Tribal bias preventing projects from investigating Cardano.

Strategy: Through R&D with learning providers and developers from both areas we can streamline this process as much as possible to make it an easy and inviting experience for them to investigate building on Cardano.

Risk: Competition making Cardano Makers irrelevant.

Strategy: Whilst there is always a risk of competition for projects, we feel this is currently an under served area and whilst competition may pop up, we would welcome this. As the industry grows the requirements for professional networking will increase.

[FEASIBILITY]

Milestones

Completed

• Initial launch
• Onboard 16 Makers
• Hit 690 followers on Twitter

In progress

• Developing partnerships
• Onboarding new Makers
• Onboarding new Projects to the Jobs board

Planned

• Skills based Certification partnership
• Skill exchange function functionality
• Task marketplace
• Community engagement
• UI UX improvements

Timeline

3 Months

• 100 Makers
• 15 Employers
• 3,000 twitter followers

6 Months

• 200 Makers
• 25 Employers
• 6,000 twitter followers
• Skills based Certification integration MVP
• Skill exchange function functionality

9 Months

• 350 Makers
• 40 Employers
• 10,000 twitter followers
• New and improved UI UX

Team

Part time web development & management

• 10 hours per week at $65 ph
• 9 month budget: $25,155

Part time community & marketing

• 5 hours per week at $65 ph
• 9 month budget: $12,577.5

Tools

• Platform hosting $20pm - 9 month total: $180
• Software budget $200 - 9 month total: $1,800

Project Lead: Oliver Ross

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/1OliverRoss
• Content at: https://www.scatdao.com/team
• Editor at: https://medium.com/cardano-journal
• Writer at: https://articles.wholegraintech.com/

Community Engagement: Flantoshi

• https://twitter.com/flantoshi
• https://medium.com/@flantoshi

[AUDITABILITY]

• Employers posting projects per week
• Makers creating profiles per week
• Skill share activity
• Marketplace postings
• Community engagement and social metrics

All of these are public facing metrics, but we would formally report on them on a monthly basis for the community.

• 350 makers (9 per week goal)
• 40 employers (1 per week goal)
• 10,000 twitter followers
• All improvements rolled out.

At this stage we should be able to provide a very easy pathway for projects to launch on Cardano instead of other chains or to migrate across.

Brand new project