For context, I studied my MSc in Big Data & Analytics in Madrid, so I had a bit of a headstart in terms of understanding technology. None of my courses had relevance to blockchain (e.g. Machine Learning or Recommendation Engines), but I would say that it trained me in a certain way. One example might be myself coming across a complex piece of blockchain information, and rather than becoming overwhelmed and closing all of my tabs, I was instead able to search for additional information online until it was understood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyways \u2014 my roommate had told me about blockchain, and during my December 2021 winter break, I enrolled in Coursera\u2019s Introduction to Blockchain Course<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This took about 3 weeks and taught me fundamentals about the space:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The course was fantastic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Advice: Doing some sort of course on blockchain is a great way to not only see if you find it interesting but to gain a fundamental understanding of the landscape prior to diving into its intricacies.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I knew that working in any field other than blockchain would only delay the inevitable. I therefore cold emailed countless firms in the industry, pitching my mix of business and technical skills. It turns out that most tech people have trouble communicating with business people, and vice-versa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n About a month later I was hired by Stably<\/a>, a Seattle-based DeFi company, and moved into their crypto startup house<\/strong> in May 2022. Over the course of 7-weeks, I basically picked the brain of the CEO daily, a man extremely knowledgeable in the space. This absolutely accelerated my learning curve and gave me a strong perspective on what was real, and what was \u201cBS\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That being said, much of it was theory, and the CEO\u2019s biggest piece of advice was to actually use<\/em> DeFi in order to learn it. I had been spending a lot of free time researching topics (e.g. what is Stellar Blockchain? what is a Layer 2?) and reading whitepapers, but hadn\u2019t actually been using it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Advice: studying DeFi casually for 5 hours per week is much different than actually working in it full-time. If possible, I suggest getting direct experience in the field, even if your salary takes a hit for a while. It will pay off!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n My true DeFi learning came from using the DeFi protocols themselves, and attending industry conferences and events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m a big supporter of DeFiLlama<\/a> which lists all DeFi protocols in existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you actually have a MetaMask (or another non-custodial wallet), it\u2019s just a matter of actually getting funds into your wallet and using the protocols. Here\u2019s a quick guide<\/a> for getting started with MetaMask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ll also need to send funds to your MetaMask. A centralized exchange like Binance or CoinBase are easiest for purchasing crypto, at which point I suggest sending it to your wallet using your wallet\u2019s address. Below is a screenshot of myself sending ETH to the Binance Smart Chain network which I can access via my MetaMask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the sake of playing around, I suggest using an L2 such as Polygon<\/a> or Arbitrum<\/a>, as their fees are much lower than Ethereum although they still have a large suite of decentralized applications (dApps).<\/p>\n\n\n\n DeFiLlama lists all dApps on each network, such as in my screenshot above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Advice: as you begin exploring DeFiLlama and connecting your wallet to various dApps, you\u2019ll have more questions than answers. This is good. Crypto is typically a rabbit hole \u2014 just keep learning!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ll quickly realize that a lot of the information is new, spurring you to do more research on your own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some questions might include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you actually find the above interesting and take the time to learn it, you\u2019ll be WAY ahead of the curve with huge opportunity ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Keep in mind that some projects are just extremely complex and may be better left for later. This is still true for myself. But bit by bit, you\u2019ll have used many DeFi protocols and understand core concepts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I mentioned that conferences and events were my other means of learning DeFi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many resources exist out there that list all industry conferences, such as this document<\/a> created by Crypto Nomads Club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Advice: I highly suggest attending conferences if there are ones nearby to you. Not only are there presentations all day long where various concepts are taught, but you have the opportunity to meet a ton of industry members.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I personally am always extremely interested in what people are working on, so meeting 100\u2013250 people over a 3-day conference enables me to ask them plenty of questions and learn many new things. It\u2019s also a great way to get hired, if of interest, as these companies often care more-so about passion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s also regular meetups in various cities. Certain cities like Miami or Lisbon tend to be crypto hubs and have events, but other cities tend to have their own. Meetup.com or EventBrite might be good ways. CryptoMondays<\/a> is one example of a meetup hosted in many global cities, so you can also check if there\u2019s one in your city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Twitter is another highly valuable resource, as most crypto projects and their users are on Twitter. Following major protocols and industry thought leaders will help you to keep on top of what\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you begin engaging with accounts and posting your own thoughts, you\u2019ll quickly learn and build some good connections. Starting anonymous is a good strategy if you\u2019re shy at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DeFi projects tend to not be on Instagram or LinkedIn, with Twitter and Discord being the main sources. Discord is great as well, but it\u2019s hard to keep track of too many projects on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I hope that it was interesting to read about my journey into DeFi and that it gives some advice on learning it yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A key takeaway should be that there are not actually many resources at all for learning DeFi and that the best path is to start using it yourself, and to ask questions along the way. It\u2019s hard to understate how many Friday nights I\u2019ve spent just researching new topics to try and figure out how they work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you\u2019ve gotten some funds into a non-custodial wallet like MetaMask, you\u2019re part of the way there. Start connecting your wallet to various dApps and playing around with small sums of funds. Questions will naturally arise in a way that makes it much more interesting for you to research the questions, compared to learning this all in theory via reading online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also let me know if there are any specific DeFi concepts one would like covered, and I\u2019d be happy to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the meantime, follow me on LinkedIn<\/a> or Twitter<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lachlan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Learning about decentralized finance (DeFi) is very challenging. Minimal resources exist online, and even if found, they tend to only teach very general and fragmented concepts, such as \u201cwhat is Ethereum? \u201d. To actually become a strong DeFi user, it takes a lot more than just some online articles. Below I\u2019ll be sharing my journey […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-defi"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/miro.medium.com\/v2\/resize:fit:1400\/1*NBMHG1cEMh53QLO5rlmj8g.png\")
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Getting Hired<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/miro.medium.com\/v2\/resize:fit:1400\/1*SY2US_ASaI6DiwFR25Xggw.jpeg\")
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/miro.medium.com\/v2\/resize:fit:1400\/1*krN8hAr3TbbLZ2eJcz8cYw.jpeg\")
Actually Using DeFi Protocols<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/miro.medium.com\/v2\/resize:fit:1400\/1*MrJ18NMOzHN0dICmeMhy5g.png\")
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/miro.medium.com\/v2\/resize:fit:1400\/1*sWWERZyr3zRCPnEy70fkOA.png\")
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Attending Conferences and Events<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/miro.medium.com\/v2\/resize:fit:1400\/1*s7f8d5GE5FIhMamC0n0ppg.jpeg\")
Twitter<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/miro.medium.com\/v2\/resize:fit:1400\/1*hkiIhG72KGg2A43AeO55hg.png\")
Summary<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n