NonceGeekDAO: Thoughts on Building a "Decentralized Developer Society"

Author: Li Dagou LDG

Editor: Jerry@ThePrimedia

We are facing an era-defining ideological construction. On the journey towards a digital civilization through the crypto economy, we not only need developers but also thoughtful developers— we are in an era that will surely be recorded in the annals of crypto history, where heroes of the crypto world emerge.

Therefore, the crypto world also harbors infinite vitality and value opportunities. This is the foundation on which ThePrimediaDAO not only focuses on the wealth opportunities of the crypto economy but also strives to pitch value upwards, participating in the construction of digital civilization order and even philosophical systems.

This article is the first in the series "Building a Decentralized Developer Society" by Li Dagou, Corebuilder of ThePrimediaDAO and founder of NonceGeekDAO, with more thoughts to be shared in the future.

0x01 Background

In Vitalik's article "Decentralized Society: Finding the Soul of Web3," a cool and fascinating future vision is proposed. With the help of Web3, we have the opportunity to construct a Web3 Society based on "new building blocks" such as DID, Coin, NFT, and SBT.

However, what Vitalik proposed is a general Web3 Society. In this context, we can fork out branches in niche fields. For example, the "Decentralized Developer Society" composed of developers, which we need to discuss today.

Next, we will explore, with a "start with the end in mind" approach, what the key principles would be if there were a "Decentralized Developer Society" in the future. In other words, what is most important?

• Interests: Achieving "fair compensation" for developers
• Re-education: Achieving a "good upgrade path" for developers
• Globalization: Helping developers break free from geographical limitations
• Opportunities: Assisting developers in building their personal brands

0x02 Achieving "Fair Compensation" for Developers

The primary point is that the "Decentralized Developer Society" needs to achieve "fair compensation" for developers. Otherwise, we might encounter unfortunate situations like that of the core-js author: "Open-sourcing core-js may be the biggest mistake of my life."

Fortunately, Web3 technology provides developers with the opportunity to upgrade the original "purely for love" open-source model—independent developers can have a cool idea, develop a cool Web3 project based on it, and then participate in Hackathons, apply for Grants, seek funding, and so on. In the past Web2 world, developers found it difficult to gain this level of voice and initiative.

In short, the Web3 Society itself is more friendly to developers.

0x03 Achieving a "Good Upgrade Path" for Developers

Secondly, the "Decentralized Developer Society" must achieve a "good upgrade path" for developers.

What is a "good upgrade path"?

One key point is that if a member has sufficient willingness and ability, they can completely take control of their "upgrades." For example, in this system, as long as the ability is sufficient, skipping levels is entirely allowed.

In contrast, a "seniority-based" system is one where "rank" is strongly correlated with "time" rather than "ability," which is contrary to the spirit of Web3.

The second key point is that the upgrade path should allow for "step-by-step advancement."

In the Web2 world, the upgrade path for entrepreneurship is steep, often requiring a large amount of funding to start a venture. Therefore, in the traditional world, for the vast majority of people, entrepreneurship may never happen in their lifetime.

However, in the Web3 Society, a smoother "upgrade path" has spontaneously formed:

At each stage, builders have the opportunity to "Got Money," allowing them to progress to the next stage and achieve a "flywheel effect." What NonceGeekDAO aims to do is to make this path clearer, more visible, and developer-friendly.

0x04 Helping Developers Break Free from Geographical Limitations

It seems to be common knowledge that workers' earnings are long tied to their geographical location.

When regional economies decline, even the highest-skilled workers inevitably see their earnings affected; furthermore, for workers of the same level, those in different regions can have vastly different earnings.

As a result, capable workers have historically tended to move to places with the highest earnings—yet higher earnings often also mean higher living costs, such as in Silicon Valley.

The globalization collaboration brought by Web3 and the open-source paradigm theoretically can break this traditional situation—breaking the strong relationship between developers' work and their work locations, achieving geographical and temporal freedom, allowing developers to fully enjoy the "geographical arbitrage dividend."

However, for most developers, especially those in domestic contexts, there are still many obstacles to achieving global connections, such as insufficient language skills leading to communication difficulties, and a lack of connections with overseas developers and organizations, among others.

Therefore, helping developers break free from geographical limitations, achieving global connections, creating more and more serendipity through global links, and ultimately achieving rapid growth is an important mission of NonceGeekDAO.

0x05 Assisting Developers in Building Their Personal Brands

"Personal brand" seems to have become a cliché in today's era, yet few truly understand the principles behind "personal branding": "Always attract, never chase."

• When job hunting, always attract, never chase;
• When seeking partners, always attract, never chase;
• ……

As the world gradually opens up, you will find that attracting is the only correct answer. If you chase, your daily attention will be consumed in the pursuit; but if you learn to attract, even if it's just mastering how to write a good GitHub Personal README, you will have a 24-hour self-operating attraction machine, and there is nothing more cost-effective and important than that.

How to assist developers in building their personal brands, especially in overcoming the early stages of lacking positive feedback for personal branding, will be a continuous exploration topic for NonceGeekDAO.

0x06 Conclusion

NonceGeekDAO firmly believes that as Developers DAOs/Orgs, focusing on developers and their rights is a very important "original intention." Based on this original intention, following inevitable trends, and doing the right things, the world will inevitably provide positive feedback in the long run.

Best wishes for all Buidlers/Developers/Orgs/DAOs working for a better world!

In the future, the theme of "Building a Decentralized Developer Society" will be elaborated in more detail through a series of articles, covering both conceptual and practical aspects.