Starting the year 2022, I set a couple of goals and trust me, getting knee-deep into Web3 and Blockchain Development wasn't one of them. Although I had an interest in the space, I could never have imagined all that would unravel in the months that followed.
My Journey in Web3.
In the closing months of 2020, I piqued an interest in Cryptocurrency and Blockchain development then I started my Crypto journey with a community iLearnBlock that is focused on Crypto Education. Here I learned all about Cryptocurrencies and trading dynamics.
I then proceeded on my Web3 journey with Web3Ladies in February 2022. The funny thing about this was I only joined to learn more about Defi (Decentralized Finance) and Cryptocurrency until one day a Solidity club was formed within the cohort and we started a #100DaysofSolidity Challenge which I decided to be a part of.
It was at that moment I knew there was no going back. Being a Product Designer, I began to look for ways to incorporate design into the whole mix. I got engrossed in learning Solidity so I kept on gathering resources to improve my knowledge of it.
In the process of learning Solidity, I realized it was going to take a whole lot more than just learning it to become a Smart Contract Developer and I’d need to start from the basics.
So I decided to pause my learning and focus on incorporating the Product Design I already knew into Web3 while getting to learning the basics of Development.
Losses and Rejections.
Remember I mentioned that I'm a product designer, Yes, The struggle is real. Before and even after getting into Web3, I had been trying out my hands on projects with the hope to land a solid Product Design role but it didn't come. I applied for internships and jobs daily but I still didn’t get any opportunities.
I tried to think of what I could be doing wrong, reached out to mentors and friends who are also Product Designers and I was told the same thing - to keep building.
One thing I knew I wasn’t going to do was to give up, so I kept being consistent in my learning and building.
A Golden Opportunity.
During my time as a mentee at Web3Ladies, I got to meet some ladies who were in different fields. We were either paired up to do some projects or have discussions during community hangouts.
In July, one of them reached out to me and said she saw on my Bio that I’m a Product Designer and that she would love me to be a part of her team in an upcoming hackathon. She mentioned that it was a team of 3 developers (Glory, Adeola, Ifeoma) and they needed a designer.
I jumped at the opportunity because I saw it as a chance to build something relevant and do something challenging for myself with the hopes of gaining visibility.
The Competition.
The hackathon was to last for an entire month. It required us to create an automation DApp that provides a delightful and transparent user experience for OAK Blockchains - an automation infrastructure layer for Web 3.0 networks.
Because we had only a month until our final submission, I was given a week to carry out the user research, ideation, design and prototype testing while my teammates kept busy studying the documentation to be used. It seemed like an easy task until I started the user research phase.
I realized that there were some differences in designing for Web2 and Web3 so I did a bit of learning and relearning about designing for Web3 in that one week. Eventually, I was able to finish up the design process and hand it over to my teammates for development.
We finished the DApp and gave a final submission.
By the time the results were announced, out of 30+ teams, 6 finalists and 3 winners, we emerged in Third Place in the OAK DApp competition😁.
Here's the prototype.😉
Bringing it all together.
Winning Third Place in that competition was surreal to me. I never imagined that we’d get that far, talk more about winning.
The year 2022 through this competition taught me that I could achieve anything I want to as long as I'm consistent and persistent.
I consider this to be my biggest accomplishment so far as it has boosted my self-confidence and taught me to face my fears regardless.
Moving forward..
In the coming year, I’d love to continue as a Web3 Product Designer while learning the basics of development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript). I hope to find my footing in the world of Development and create a balance for myself.
I know It’s going to be a bumpy ride but it’s totally worth it.
Cheers to Growth and Stability in 2023🥂