I just stumbled across my origin story of how I started working on @DuneAnalytics and I think a lot of you degens can follow in my footsteps...

A thread on starting to work in DeFi and on @DuneAnalytics

Let's start at the very beginning:

It was early September of 2020 and I had poked around DeFi for a few months at that point, but never actually started contributing or doing meaningful work for any DAO.

I tried my luck with a few communities, but nothing really fit.

But then the Stars somehow magically aligned and I found @picklefinance.

I liked the vibe, I liked the anon devs, I liked that it was pure chaos and nobody knew what was going on.

Perfect training grounds for somebody like me who was just starting out.

So I converted much of my networth into a Pickle and told one of my friends
"I am personally gonna take this to a $100."
(Obviously I was full of shit and only half serious, but you get the vibe.)

So I set out and did the best I could to try and bring value to the protocol:
-build out Dune Charts and Google Sheets
-engage in Discord discussion
-discuss in governance forums

The first things I provided were quite rudimentary and the SQL is pure spaghetti from todays POV, but the engagement and feedback you get while working for DAO's is truly magical. That's what kept me going. https://twitter.com/0xBoxer/status/1314950960830189568?s=20

I tried my best to improve upon the dataset I could provide and eventually got approved for a grant from my homies from Pickle for something like $2k at the time.

Mind you, I had promised the world in my initial grant proposal and actually had no clue how complicated this was gonna get...
So I now saw my newly found reputation on the line if I wouldn't deliver on what I had set out to do.

I spent the next few weeks heads down trying to understand Blockchain data and SQL, talking to devs and peers and slowly piecing together the puzzle that is yield farming Protocols.

It was quite a long journey to get to a dashboard that I was comfortable presenting, but when I finally got there I was very happy to finally be able to release it into the wild. https://twitter.com/0xBoxer/status/1327115615186939906?s=20

That Dashboard is something I am still proud of today.

The SQL was still spaghetti, but not as much as in the start and the value gained for the community through being able to access all these stats in one place was truly amazing.

I had done the entire bookkeeping for a $30 Mio. project in a few weeks and people were actually using this data to argue in the forums and basing their votes on the data I provided. My heart melted everytime I found my graphs in the forums or discord, I had made an impact.

That's all it takes to start working in crypto.

No CV, no Interview, no HR bullshit, no contracts.

You provide value, You get paid.
Magical.

Everything else after this is kinda a mesh between me being invited to work on things for protocols, me just contributing to protocols, participating in dev contests and just being part of the ecosystem at that point.

What I can say today, after having worked on surfacing data for 10+ protocols on @DuneAnalytics is this:

Data is a really valuable currency in DeFi and people are ready to pay good money for you to surface that data.

My technical background when starting out was very limited and my prior work experience was limited to being a VBA/excel monkey.

If I was able to start working and get paid in less then 2 month in this Industry, so are you.

Why am I writing all of this?

A)
I want you to recognize that working in crypto isn't some magical bullshit that's far away, it's right in front of you, about 20 discord messages and a few tweets away.
(hard work as well, but opportunities are everywhere)

B)
Obviously I have some bias here, but @DuneAnalytics is magic. You can literally go from zero to hero in a few weeks and become a fully fledged DeFi analyst that is able to provide accurate and detailed data for any protocol within a few days.

If you are an excel monkey, accountant, Wall St. Intern or anyone else who wants to become a DeFi Analyst:
Slide into my DM's and I will personally give you an intro to Dune and help you get started on the journey.

The Industry needs you and the world needs you, it pains me to see how much data is left uncovered in our Ecosystem.

Only if we actually uncover the data and make it digestible for the average user is it that we hold our promise of a fair and transparent economy.

Ideological things aside, of course you can also earn a shitton of money doing this.
If you really go for it and excel at this work, 5 figures a month aren't even a question.

FIN.
Thanks for reading and send your tradfi analyst friends my way.