I spent every week in Miami for a multi-chain crypto convention and my flight, lodge and meals value me $0. I even made some cash whereas doing this. The actually loopy half? 2 months in the past I didn’t even know such a factor was doable.
I not too long ago realized a couple of factor referred to as crypto scholarships and crypto hackathons and a whole bunch of individuals having been utilizing them as an important methods to journey the world without spending a dime, meet cool folks, construct cool stuff, make some cash and be taught new abilities. At the moment, I’ll present you learn how to do the identical.
How I Realized About This
I first realized about this once I went to the Ethereum convention in Amsterdam, ETHAmsterdam, I met a cool group of ladies from an Group referred to as Blu3 DAO.
Me: “Amsterdam is enjoyable however so costly, I don’t suppose I don’t know once I can afford this once more.”
Them: “O, we don’t pay for journeys. We’ve been to Barcelona, Amsterdam, Denver. Flights, lodge, meals. Every little thing paid for.”
I used to be intrigued.
Another person advised me in passing that they’d a couple of couple days left of money earlier than they needed to head again house however they have been planning on successful 1 or 2 hackathon prizes so they may keep in Europe longer.
I used to be intrigued once more.
Intrigued by all these items I used to be listening to, I made a decision to delve deeper and perform a little research, right here’s my information to learn how to journey the world without spending a dime with crypto scholarships.
The way it Works
So what’s the catch? Whilst I’m scripting this, It’s fairly unbelievable that these items even exist. You actually journey the world without spending a dime, go to chill occasions and events, do some work and receives a commission. The explanation this exists (the catch) is that loads of crypto corporations, blockchains, instruments must develop they usually have cash to spend. So a standard development technique is providing scholarships for individuals who use their platforms. You additionally don’t must code to qualify, as I’ll clarify later.
Be part of Crypto and Web3 Communities
One of the best ways to begin discovering these alternatives is by being conscious of the totally different communities that exist within the crypto and web3 house.
Get Twitter, Discord and Telegram accounts
Most of those communities exist just about on Twitter, Discord and Telegram. So with a purpose to get entangled and concentrate on what’s on the market, you’ll must make an account on these 3 platforms.
Crypto is a fast-moving house and many of the info is shared on Twitter and semi-public channels on Discord and Telegram so if you wish to concentrate on these alternatives it’s worthwhile to be plugged into these channels.
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Twitter
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Discord
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Telegram
Be part of a DAO
Subsequent, discover a bunch of DAOs and be a part of them. A DAO is mainly only a fancy phrase for a membership or a bunch of individuals which might be linked ultimately.
Right here’s an inventory of DAOs you’ll be able to be a part of to begin your search.
From my analysis, many of the scholarship and grant opportuntiies are targeted on getting extra girls and non-binary folx into web3. That is nice information as a result of when you’re lady or non-binary particular person studying this, it means there’s numerous scholarships out there for you. It additionally signifies that tese occasions should not all “crypto bros”.
Additionally, even when you’re a person you’ll be able to nonetheless get a few of these grants. For instance, one of many scholarships I obtained was by a girls and non-binary group and marketed principally toawards girls, nonetheless, they reserved 10% of the entire scholarship swimming pools for males to affix as allies. Many individuals may need missed that fantastic print however you need to at all times look rigorously on the fantastic print. I believe most of the different women-focused DAOs do the identical.
Comply with the DAO’s Socials
First, factor you need to do is observe the DAO on Twitter, then observe their Discord and Telegram pages. Totally different DAOs have totally different messaging norms. Most accounts have a Twitter presence, however will publish the real-time info on Discord or Telegram.
There’s loads of info asymmetry in web3, let me clarify:
Do not forget that meme about how Twitter will get all of the jokes first after which folks on Instagram discover out about it? Properly normally some information can be shared on Discord or Telegram first (“alpha” in crypto twitter Lingo), then it’s going to get to Twitter and typically relying on the character of the knowledge, by the point it will get to Twitter, it’s already too late.
You may discover that much more info is being shared in an invite-only chat on Telegram and all you need to do to affix is ask!. This is rather like college examine teams. There’s normally a bunch chat the place loads of helpful info is being shared so be sure to ask round so you could find it and be a part of.
Comply with Folks in Web3
Along with following organizations you must also observe people since they’ll publish loads of info as properly that span throughout totally different organizations. I like to recommend the next accounts:
Discover Scholarships
When you’ve joined or adopted these DAOs you can begin on the lookout for scholarships.
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Social Media Search (Twitter, Telegram, Discord)
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Atlas Search
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Asking organizations to create scholarships
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Google Search
Social Media Search
A lot of the details about scholarships are on social media web sites and semi-public channels like Telegram and Discord, however it may be very arduous to maintain up with the massive quantities of quantity generated by these platforms. So a really underrated software is simply utilizing the search options.
For Twitter search you’ll be able to normally seek for “[event_you_want_to_attend] scholarship” or “[dao_name]” scholarship. Listed here are some examples:
For Discord and Telegram, go to every DAO that you just’ve joined and simply seek for the phrase scholarship or grant.
Atlas Search
One other methodology is utilizing a devoted crypto search engine like Atlas (broswer extension). In the event you search Atlas for the phrase, “scholarship” or “grants” all of the crypto and web3 pages which might be associated to scholarships can be out there.
Observe: I made Atlas and Atila
Asking organizations to create scholarships
A really underrated manner of discovering scholarships, which I’ve beneficial earlier than is straight up asking folks to create scholarships or grants packages. Suppose you wish to attend ETHCC and also you see a bunch of organizations are attending however not providing scholarships, you’ll be able to simply ask them to create one and provides a compelling motive for what they may achieve from doing a scholarship.
You possibly can use this template when emailing or DMing organizations to begin a scholarship ir grant.
Google Search
Generally issues are so apparent you overlook them. An amazing instance of that is utilizing Google to seek out crypto scholarships. A easy Google seek for phrases like “crypto hackathon scholarships” or “crypto ecosystem grants” can ship some nice outcomes.
Google is not very good at indexing crypto content material. For instance, many grants and scholarships are in Google Types, Typeform or Notion. Pages received’t present up on a Google Search, so for these you’ll possible want to make use of a software like Atlas to seek out them.
Checklist Dump of Scholarship Sources
Apply for Scholarship
When you’ve really discovered some scholarships and grants, you’ll want to jot down an utility. I wrote a information on learn how to write a great scholarship or grant utility. Listed here are some extra suggestions which might be particular to scholarships for crypto-related occasions:
Writing a Good Utility
If you’re making use of for a scholarship they often wish to see that you may contribute to their ecosystem. This may be mirrored in a variet of how.
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Coding expertise to construct cools apps on their platform
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Social media following to immediate their platform
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Earlier instance of taking initiative
Whereas 1 and a pair of could require you to know learn how to code or have a big following on social media. Which not everybody may need. Actually, anybody can qualify for quantity 3. All it means is that it’s worthwhile to have some strategy to show that if you got the scholarship, you may give worth again to the folks offering the scholarship.
I requested Daphne, “what do you search for in a scholarship applicant”, she gave nice reply.
Abstract:
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Precedence for software program builders (you don’t want web3/crypto expertise!)
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They prioritize inclusivity so that they attempt to get folks from a variety of backgrounds
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Effort in your solutions. They take a look at how a lot thought and energy you place into the lengthy reply questions
Partaking on Social Media
By now it needs to be clear to you the way essential social media is within the crypto and web3 house. One other, nice strategy to stand out to the scholarship and grant reviewers is by participating with them on social media. For instance, see what my friend Maia did to get a ticket to ETHCC in Paris.
Fulfilling the Scholarship Necessities
Within the spirit of transparency, I really bought certainly one of my scholarships taken away as a result of they felt like I didn’t fulfill the scholarship necessities. Be taught from my expertise, know that it is a factor that may be occur and be sure to’re very clear on what the expectations of the scholarship are.
Many Grants are Reimbursed however Arrangments Could be Made
A few of these scholarships require yu to purchase the ticket first after which they pay you again. This helps conditions which have occurred to many DAOs the place folks take the cash and don’t present up. Relying in your monetary state of affairs, this may not be possible so that you can pay even when you’re going to get reimbursed. I’d encourage you to message them they usually can normally work one thing out.
Crypto Hackathons
The opposite factor you need to do is apply for crypto hackathons. Along with getting your journey paid for, you may as well usually receives a commission hundreds of {dollars} for constructing a crypto-related mission in a weekend. You additionally don’t must know learn how to code to use. So long as you’ll be able to add worth in one other manner (mission administration, slides, presentation, design and many others.) discover somebody who can code and be a part of their workforce. Additionally, at some hackathons you might not even must code, I’ve been at a hackathon the place one of many winners offered a Figma template. It’s fairly exceptional that for lots of those hackathons you are able to do wherever from 6-36 hours price of labor and win round $2-5,000.
Right here’s an inventory of internet sites that provide hackathons:
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Devpost
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MLH.io
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DoraHacks
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Crypto Occasions 2022 [by CNC]
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EthGlobal
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In my expertise, ETHGlobal, constantly has the perfect hackathons. So when you can’t make it to all of those, attempt to make it to at the least the ETHGlobal occasions.
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Thank You
I wish to thank the next organizations for paying for my journey bills, giving me hackathon prizes and creating this superb alternative for hundreds of individuals everywhere in the world to find web3.
You possibly can learn the total publish right here or watch the video model or learn the Twitter thread summary.
Conclusion
Crypto scholarships and hackathons are a good way to journey the world, meet cool folks, make some cash and be taught one thing new. It’s fairly superb that such alternatives like this exist and many individuals don’t find out about it. So now that you recognize about it, take advantage of it.
