EPF 7 Intro Town Hall

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:00]Recording is on.

[00:00:04]>> Cool. Cool. Cool.

[00:00:06]We are recording.

[00:00:12]>> Very well. Um, so welcome everyone.

[00:00:15]Thank you so much for joining us for the uh uh town hall before the EPF7 uh before the next protocol fellowship cohort. So yeah, we welcome you here uh to give you a better insight into what we are preparing, what the protocol fellowship is, what to expect in the upcoming cohort and yeah, get you ready to participate and work on some cool stuff in Ethereum core development. So uh yeah, here we go again. Uh as they say, uh after after a year, uh we once again ask you to become a core defaf. We want to uh help you to start working on some actual projects as part of the core development. So that's what we are here for. Uh I hope um uh hope you are ready. Uh let me know if you can see the slides and everything.

[00:01:08]By the way, it seems like everything is working but just in case feel free to speak up. Uh so first I want to ask what is core developer to uh to be able to understand what we are even doing here in the fellowship uh we should uh properly discuss uh what are we even uh talking about when we talk about the core development or ethereum protocol in general. So um a core developer uh is somebody who upgrades the core protocol, who maintains the core protocol, who uh does research and development that keeps the core protocol going. Um so this is very important distinction here. So uh the things that the core developers do is the actual client work. Uh it's um uh the whole fellowship, the whole program that we organize here is focused on the actual Ethereum. So the most tangible part right if somebody asks you what is Ethereum uh you might say you know it's it's a blockchain or it's uh the future Ethereum is a community right but the most tangible part or the the actual part that defines what is Ethereum is the specification that explains how the protocol actually behaves and the implementations of the protocol. So the actual clients or the nodes that are running in the network. Uh so uh the uh uh uh the core developers work is actually this like the platform the underlying infrastructure that all Ethereum runs on. So the Ethereum itself um this means the clients the implementations in different languages uh the Ethereum improvement proposals or the EIPs the the uh uh proposals that specify some new features or changes to the protocol. So again people doing the research and and uh doing the actual uh upgrades of Ethereum that needs to be tested. So this is one of the actually most important uh part of it because um uh what we don't realize is that uh this work is extremely crucial. We are talking about the fundamental layer of a network that handles like hundreds of billions of dollars and many people's lives and and important very important things. So we need to test it rigorously. We need to uh make sure that it's all very secure uh not just you know scalable and and usable for people but most importantly it needs to be thoroughly tested. So we have um a big challenges to make it uh better for people to make it more scalable to make it more useful. Um but we do that with u uh uh uh with this uh engineering approach where um it's just important to uh not just test things but to uh research them properly, analyze, prototype and uh then go through this like uh also long testing process. So that's also important part of what we do and generally the goal is to improve Ethereum for everyone just make this baseline better for everyone and uh on the um uh so without the core developers uh Ethereum wouldn't be here right like that's uh the protocol lives by itself uh but the maintenance the constant improvements are necessary to keep it running uh for sec security vulnerabilities to to be patched for uh new cryptographical schemes that I don't know can be quantum resistant right in the future and so on to be applied. So there is some constant evolution process to um because the the technology evolves right the um we're going to talk more about that. Uh so the constant maintenance uh is is just uh fundamental right now there is around more more than probably 200 core developers across uh like two dozens different teams. Um this core protocol is not developed by Ethereum Foundation. uh we me and Josh we are from Ethereum foundation protocol support team and as protocol supporters we are supporting all the protocol all these various teams uh so uh it's sort of like a helper coordinator role uh between all these different uh parties that are working on the protocol it's not uh it's not a single entity uh so these different teams are from Ethereum foundation there's research or g some some developers but many other client teams implementing their own clients so it's a very vast community that collaborates um they implement the same thing but they don't compete they work together to make the best out of it possible. So um it sounds maybe like a lot 200 people but also in context of how many solid developers there are like onchain developers or other sort of uh technologies uh I know Linux or or so it's not actually that big we need more people to join this special community of like couple hundred people there to help us to maintain the protocol to improve it to push it further so this is what we do again as I mentioned before uh everything starts with specification uh we start from defining how the protocol is supposed to work something that is clear and we all can agree on um and this is implemented in clients the Ethereum is has two parts the execution which you interact with as a user the EVM the actual transactions and the consensus that's the validators that maintain uh the tip of the chain the actual um majority vote and again everything needs to be uh thoroughly tested and uh follows the research of the latest uh cutting edge technologies that we can we can do. Uh this is what we are talking about. Uh I want to be I repeat this a lot and I want to be very clear about this uh because there can be ton of confusion about what the core protocol is. Um because um uh this is this is uh the uh the platform the fundamental layer of Ethereum. What we don't do is uh the application layer or the uh stuff uh that built on top of Ethereum. So some uh uh dabs or defy applications or NFTTS or even tooling that's that's based on that or languages like solidity uh that's something that can be built on top of Ethereum but it's not inherently part of the protocol. So again this fellowship uh is about the core protocol itself about the clients about the nodes about the uh low-level languages implementations and not the sort of like uh uh Ethereum developers in a sense of uh D5 developer or solidity developer uh not the applications on Ethereum but we are basically the platform powering them. Uh right. Um so uh you can imagine it that like we build the roads right like the uh we build the infrastructure the underlying uh uh platform that everyone else can use. We are we have the boring job of like you know uh taking out trash and like uh not a good example the uh fixing the roads right the potholes and uh you know we come to a place it's full of potholes. It's not a good blockchain. We need to make it smooth so we can have faster and faster cars or maybe some bullet trains. We we we figure out many many ways to make it faster and more scalable. But that's what we build. We build the infrastructure not the actual uh things that are using the infrastructure. So that's important. And in practice again this means the clients themselves low-level languages. This the is like go, Rust, uh Java, C C++ maybe C. So the actual um high performance language is for the operating system level not for uh like solidity or so. Um I just want to avoid the confusion here.

[00:08:35]Many people come here expect to do solidity. So just to be uh clear we talk about a client u architecture and um uh all these uh uh upgrades and proposals like prototyping uh the work that might be put in the future and um this is what is happening constantly. So like Ethereum constantly evolves again. Uh Ethereum is full of very bright people who um research the the best possible solutions to the limitations of blockchain and uh pro we we are here to prototype them to test them to analyze them and finally implement them to the live protocol. Uh this is again uh very process that can has to be done very carefully. Uh but at the same time we want to do it fast. We want to serve as many people as possible and Ethereum has this process of uh upgrades through hard forks. So uh every year uh we have uh on average maybe one hard fork last one went uh live in December as you can see here uh December last year so only like six months ago. Um uh Fusaka that brought the famous peer data availability shorting one of the coolest upgrades to Ethereum blockchain in a while. Um and u it's a part of not just like you know now we have some feature but it's a it's a whole process where we couple some major features together and uh uh uh work work on it as a milestone to deliver uh to upgrade Ethereum to the next version. So the current version of Ethereum is Fusaka. Right now it's being worked on Glumpsterdam the next upgrade and we are already uh implementing this next upgrade and we are planning one upgrade after. So Hecott is the one version after the next version of Ethereum. So you see there is a lot of work across like uh the current priorities the implementation but also um the research and prototyping of the future ideas that need to be um sanity check verified uh analyzed to be able to implement. So this is all the work done by the core developers to uh uh have the protocol live. This is live protocol that's still evolving and is versioned like this. And from the bigger perspective there is the road map or this in this specific example the latest uh sort of uh visualization here would be a straw map and this is nothing given. This is just more like a uh uh collection of ideas from uh some point of view of some Ethereum researchers of what the future of Ethereum could look like. Uh if you look at the columns the first two columns are Glammsterdam and Hegota these these upcoming hard forks that I talked about what's being worked on right now. And you see many other uh columns here many more fields of so many you have to zoom in you can't even read that but there is so many proposals and ideas that's being worked on in research or prototyping or being implemented in clients optional features and this is really the uh wild future of Ethereum which I find very exciting because when you look at the right side here you find some very interesting outcome uh it's very scalable um layer one gigas layer one teragas layer twos and private transfers very specifically uh uh interesting to for for me for example.

[00:11:45]So I I um I find this fascinating but uh this is something that can uh constantly change again like uh this is something that's always evolving as we find uh the new frontier and new uh ideas about the future of the protocol and uh uh we want to invite you invite you to uh have this ride with us to uh to join us to explore all of these because uh again uh this protocol fellowship uh Josh will dive into that there are many projects to work on but each of these little boxes is uh each of these books in in the straw map can be like year of work for you or like a whole like teases dive into a specific domain. So uh it's a very vast protocol with many domains of the current priorities and implementations and the future research.

[00:12:32]So many many exciting things uh from perspective of like scaling and networking and so on. And the most exciting part is like you know once it will be done uh we want to invite you to help us to um finish Ethereum or to put it to a state where we don't have to do all of these uh major changes anymore.

[00:12:52]So that's hopefully where we are heading and um yeah to invite you along the way we are organizing uh these programs. So there is a study group and protocol fellowship um designed to make uh this easier for people to come in and work on this. As you can see uh it's very confusing. There is uh the protocol is very vast. It's very hard to uh design like cutting edge very complicated protocol for all of these uh secure networks. Uh so uh it's uh it's a big wall to overcome. It's a big challenge and we are here to make it easier for you uh to start working on it to join the community of the Ethereum core developers and work with us. So yeah, we have two initiatives and the one that we are uh announcing preparing now is the protocol fellowship but to get ready for that uh we also run uh a study program that you can do on your own time and uh Josh will dive into that I believe.

[00:13:49]>> Awesome. Thanks so much Mario for that quick introduction to what uh what we're doing here today. Um to yeah to go a little bit deeper into these couple of programs that we run uh the first one we'll talk about is the uh the study group. Um during the study group uh we uh do a synchronous study group where we take about 10 weeks to go through a bunch of curriculum uh of the of the protocol um in a timely manner with with people um with some live sessions from from uh teachers and and developers around the Ethereum community. Um, and then we compile all of that into a curriculum that can be uh a self-study curriculum, something that you do on your own time uh to deepen your knowledge or to um learn about the things that you might be wanting to contribute to during uh your time in the EPF. So the main purpose of the study group is to uh bridge the gap uh between what you know and what you need to know in order to be a contributor to Ethereum's core protocols.

[00:15:02]And what that looks like right now is uh we have five different courses. Um there are we have a 101 course that teaches you sort of the overview of of Ethereum.

[00:15:15]Uh and then inside of that course there are two deep dives both into the execution layer into the consensus layer. So talking about the different specs uh and and specifics of each of those uh different layers and then uh this year we have two new courses. One is the cryptography of Ethereum uh taught by Matan who is an amazing math teacher uh at the EF uh about all the different pieces of the cryptography of Ethereum. Uh and then the sort of hot topic on the block these days is the lean Ethereum and ZKBMs. So we have a a new module that goes into those two topics as well. Uh they consist of a series of 90minute lectures. Those were given live and that's kind of what I was referring to earlier. When we do a synchronous course, uh they teachers come and teach these courses live and we record them and put them up for posterity and so that anybody can can go ahead and learn from that knowledge as well. Uh and inside of those lessons, we have some pre-ereadings and some quizzes and exercises to help you just get more clear on on the knowledge that you're receiving.

[00:16:27]Uh and then in addition to that, we have epf.wiki Wiki which is a uh collaborative knowledge base uh based on the wiki structure uh where students who are participating in the study group or uh are or not and just want to spread some knowledge about the protocol can write articles about different aspects of the protocol or update articles and this sort of thing. uh it is currently the most comprehensive knowledge base about Ethereum's core protocol in in like one centralized location. Um the knowledge about Ethereum is is vast and wide and it is very scattered across the internet. So this is our effort at sort of bringing all that stuff together so that it is easier for somebody who is just learning about the protocol to have a place to um both go to learn about and then contribute to um that repository.

[00:17:34]Yeah. So that is a quick screenshot of epf.wiki. Again, uh please if you are interested in contributing to epfy.wiki, wiki. There is a bit there about contributing. uh go ahead and follow those guidelines and then uh open a PR and yeah write some write some stuff for fellow students and yeah so that is I think it about the study group and the second program that we run and the reason that you all are here is the EPF program or the Ethereum protocol fellowship and this is a program designed to make the process of becoming a core developer or contributor easier.

[00:18:20]Uh, as our friend Piper Miriam likes to say, the door to Ethereum contributions is wide open. You just have to step through it. And this is our effort to kind of show you where that door is.

[00:18:36]Uh, the program is designed to mimic the experience of a core developer. So, it is a very self-directed program. uh you are able to choose what you work on. So the things that you're excited about, the things that you're passionate about, uh you know, we want you to follow those passions and to be able to work on the things that you are excited about. Uh it is done in a very asynchronous way with mostly uh knowledge transfers being done through written technical updates. Uh we encourage you to explore this ecosystem.

[00:19:15]uh on your own and to like kind of find your own way through the different uh bits, but we are here to to give you some guidance and to help uh show you the path down this road.

[00:19:31]The coordination for this program is done mostly through the GitHub repository and discord uh conversations as well as two weekly meetings that we have here on Jity. Uh and EPF is and always will be a permissionless program.

[00:19:51]That means that anybody is able to join the EPF and participate and receive some mentorship and follow along the program uh with those that are uh you know officially accepted as a fellow. So yeah, if you're excited about participating, please do so.

[00:20:17]some of the benefits of this program. Uh we give you a a sort of golden key introduction to the developer community and to mentors. People that are participating in this program are able to talk to mentors and other developers working on different clients and researchers and are able to say that they're a part of this program and they get a little bit more of a of a quicker response time or it gives you a little bit of legitimacy uh when when talking to developer community. Uh we provide a semistructured process, right? So, we want you to be a selfdriven uh developer and be able to kind of find your own way through this through this path, but you understand that it is a challenging thing and so we give you a little bit of structure in order to help you to build some of these um contribution muscles. Uh again, we want you to work on what you're passionate about. So find the things that you're excited about and either find a project that is related to that or develop your own project that is uh within those bounds of what you're excited about.

[00:21:32]uh provide some mentorship from key uh client developers and researchers so that you're able to uh you know get feedback on the different things that you're working on.

[00:21:46]uh to a select uh pool of the applicants. We are able to offer a financial stipen so that you're able to focus your efforts on working through this program over the five months so you're not having to, you know, take other gigs or or jobs in order to make your your ends meet. Uh and then it generally would give you some experience in what it's like to uh contribute to an open source project, especially one as fast as Ethereum.

[00:22:19]So this is the seventh cohort. We recently wrapped up the sixth cohort uh with an event in Argentina uh at Devconnect. Uh and this is some of the details about that cohort. We had 43 fellows start the cohort and only 33 finish. So we I believe we had about 20 official fellows that we accepted at the beginning. That means we had an additional 23 that participated permissionlessly and that means that they submitted at least one or two development updates through the process. Uh and by the end of the cohort, we had 33 that were able to complete the uh cohort, meaning uh submitting a bi-weekly development update, actually finishing a project uh with either themselves or with a group of fellows. Uh the program happens over five months.

[00:23:17]Uh contributors submitted over 500 development updates for 31 projects. We had 20 weeks of uh calls which are office hours and standup calls and then we had two uh in-person events uh one at the beginning of the cohort and then one at the end like I mentioned in Argentina.

[00:23:43]If you'd like to read more about what the six cohort looked like, read about some of the projects that people worked on, uh, and generally what the experience was like, you can read this blog post on the protocol support blog.

[00:23:56]And that QR code will take you there.

[00:24:04]And here is a quick list of the different projects that people worked on from the sixth cohort. Uh I'm certainly not going to talk about all or any of these really, but just to give you a sense of the breadth of the projects that people uh choose and and get to work on. And you can see that there's like a lot of a few projects in there that are like kind of the same project.

[00:24:27]Like you see Fossil in a number of different clients. You see uh you know some Pure Eat stuff in a number of different clients. So there's lots of opportunities to work on things that you enjoy.

[00:24:43]All right. So, quickly run through what the uh what the timeline looks like for the EPF program. We have phase one which is the time in which you will uh choose your project, create a project proposal and then present that proposal to the rest of the fellows. uh we will be doing that uh remotely this this year. Uh phase two is the longest phase and it is the meat of the uh cohort which is where you're working on your project. You're writing development updates for for us to read and for other fellows to read and for people who are uh following along.

[00:25:29]you're getting mentor feedback and then you're attending the weekly standups and office hours.

[00:25:35]And then phase three is the wrapup phase. It's the time where you're creating your final project presentation. You're writing your final development updates and then getting ready to present your project at the DevCon event in India this year.

[00:25:53]So, we're excited to uh invite those fellows who complete a project in a timely manner and are are working and dedicated to uh making contributions to Ethereum to DevCon in November and um yeah.

[00:26:16]All right. So to join EPF uh we are looking for candidates who uh have a technical foundation who have some computer science background uh some ava ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ab ability to write code and have some software uh development experience. Um you should have some fairly strong written and verbal communication skills again in English ideally. uh English is the seems to be the global uh global language for technical development. So uh it is important that you're able to communicate with other developers around the world who are working on these projects. Um be self-directed and self-motivated. As I mentioned before, this is a program that's meant to um meant to mimic what it's like to be a core developer. Many core developers work by themselves like in their home or in a co-working space uh outside of their teams because the client teams and research teams are widely distributed around the world. So your ability to to work on your own and to sort of figure out what you need to do next on your own is an important part of of being a core developer. Uh you should be somewhat interested in low-level architecture.

[00:27:37]some of the root sort of things uh in like low-level languages like Go and Rust and and you know or Python things like that and then generally have a passion for Ethereum and blockchain. We want you to be excited about this technology uh and and not see this as just a another job or a way to to earn some money but as a you know a way to potentially change the financial system around the world and there's some ideal criteria that we look for in applicants. uh we certainly we read every single application uh we don't do any uh filtering with with AI or or any other weird sorts of filters softwares uh so we hope that your applications are well written uh and that you're clearly explaining your answers in your applications uh you ideally have around you know three or more years of software development experience uh have an active GitHub account with some uh some boss contributions some open source contributions to open source repos.

[00:28:54]uh if you've attended the study group and have completed that curriculum that is definitely a high signal for us uh having some proficiencies in low language uh in the low-level languages like I mentioned before go rust these sorts of things uh are great and then yeah having done any sort of existing work on uh on protocols or networks themselves is also another good signal that uh we the core.

[00:29:27]>> Cool. So, the applications are currently open for this cohort. Uh so, and they will be open until May 13th, which is one week from now. So, uh go ahead and submit your application and if you have not done so, you know, go ahead and take a look through study.f.wiki wiki to look at the different content uh and courses that we have there for you. Um program is going to start in June and will run through the end of DevCon uh in November, which I believe is earlier this year. I think it's like the beginning of November. Uh yeah, so that is where the application lives. Go ahead and scan that QR code or write down the link below to fill out your application.

[00:30:21]And there are some other important links for you if you would like to join uh the Google group which is a very basic uh email server more or less. We send out one to two emails a year announcing this program and the study group when they when it starts.

[00:30:45]Yeah. So, thanks a lot for listening to us rant for a little while. Uh, we'll open the floor for some questions. Looks like there's a number of questions in the chat currently. So, um, yeah, maybe I'll let Mario, you can go ahead and take one of the questions. Uh, >> yeah, thank you so much, Josh. And thank you so much, guys, for listening. Uh, please, uh, feel free to send us questions or raise your hand if you want to chat about something. We already I believe answered some questions u in uh uh Josh presentation about the criteria for example but to touch on more questions um from uh where we choose the projects is there any curated list uh so yeah the list of proposed projects or the ideas for projects that you can uh look into uh is being curated as we speak uh in the repository uh that we shared in the cohort 7 repository there is the project ideas uh file where we collect the uh brute ideas from the clan teams and um as you know the core developers are busy they are taking their time uh making sure that also uh the right kind of uh work is uh being chosen uh uh the sort of projects are being defined so uh they have the right scope and the sort of like priority level that the fellows can work on. So in the coming weeks you will be more and you you will see more and more projects coming uh in the file in the repository but you can meanwhile also check all the previous cohorts. You can check some current work being done again with the resources we provide like forecast and uh the the all core defs. Uh so uh right now it's more about like doing just a general research about finding what is your niche, what sort of things you're interested in and then as you see the projects coming in uh uh you should do some research about it. You should learn about that domain of the protocol to see whether it matches your interest your skill and uh starting uh working on that. Um I would just like to highlight here that like so the mentors or the people from the the core develop pen teams are proposing these projects but doesn't mean that you automatically should you know go and ask them or just like ping everyone in the in the uh chat like please avoid that uh talk to us before you want to reach out anyone and specifically in these first few weeks or even the first like month uh there's really no reason to talk directly to developers they proposed this idea so it's something that you can uh hang on to and research and uh gain understanding and then come to them with like more insightful questions that are actually pushing the uh research further. So uh that's about like choosing the projects. Um okay what questions we have now? Uh can permissionless follow of past year apply for permission version this year? Of course. Uh that's thing that we do normally. Uh again uh the the the cohort is open. Uh what we maybe didn't mention in the the presentation here like uh that the pool of the selected people will be smaller this year than previous years. We are aiming to choose only around 10 people um maybe less than half from like the previous year. So it will be more concentrated cohort but at the same time uh people who are permissionless can always participate and specifically if you participate now uh you build uh skills you build reputation and next year it will be much uh easier to uh then like be considered for uh the stipended permissioned sort of uh uh uh uh participation. Uh but again like people from previous years uh who already did uh some good job we see uh your track record. It's definitely easier to apply like definitely please apply.

[00:34:35]>> Uh I got a question about how to get started working permissionally if not being selected. Uh we will post all of the calls and and meetings and things in the discord uh channel in the EPF R&D discord called protocol fellowship. uh and you basically just just uh join along. So like during our kickoff call you join that call and you can you know participate in the discussion and and all these sorts of things and we'll encourage you to choose a project just like any other uh fellow and and give you feedback on your project proposal and and se you know try to connect you with the mentor or mentors that will help you through this process. And then you know we would expect you to continue to submit development updates and and participate alongside of of the uh rest of the fellows. You can find all of the information in the GitHub repository and in the protocol fellowship channel. So all all of those things will be open and public to you. So if you're interested in continuing to participate permissionlessly uh those are the ways that you would do that.

[00:35:45]Uh another question here about can we work on multiple projects during the fellowship. Uh we tend to discourage people from working on multiple projects. Uh we want you to pick a project that you can scope to be complete within around that fivemonth period. Uh and oftent times if you're trying to do too much at once you can get sidetracked and things don't get complete. Uh I think one of the biggest things that fellows uh often do is underestimate the amount of time and effort it is going to take to complete their project. And we would much rather see uh you know a project with a slightly smaller scope be brought to completion than something super ambitious or multiple projects that don't get completed. So we would encourage you to choose only one project or and focus on that during the um during the program.

[00:36:42]>> Uh yeah totally. Uh so we have a bunch more questions coming. Let's uh take some time to answer those. Um Scout is asking there was actually similar qu uh two similar questions about research or sort of like a uh research um as uh part of the fellowship. So um generally like the fellowship is maybe like 8020 development and research. Uh again the uh research is something that's uh you know also very highly professionalized and sort of uh like a next step after people for people who already understand the protocol and dive deep into it they are able to become researchers. So uh generally like there is not much of a level pro level of projects for fellows to work on specifically like just like in road maps or research. However uh it's totally possible there is always some uh research projects and what I would say that like the majority or like the the uh most of things that you find is sort of like a research prototyping.

[00:37:43]So something that is not just like some uh very like primordial soup sort of uh researching new ideas but some existing ideas that need to be analyzed, verified, prototyped, benchmarked. So uh more like these tangible parts of the research can be found in EPF projects totally. So there is a place for researchers as well. Uh but there is yeah uh maybe like yeah two out of 10 spots or something like that. It's not it's not a big part of the uh uh it's not a major part of the fellowship. The major part is the development itself and even the research is connected to it. Uh so I hope that answers the question. Um and uh uh there was a there was a um another one. Yeah, I have no open source uh commitments to Ethereum. Uh so yeah, if you don't have you know uh any uh public contributions to Ethereum projects that it's okay. you can still apply and we will consider your uh uh skills, your uh experience the way you presented. So please uh in your application share any projects that you uh worked on, what did you contribute to uh just highlight you know if it's something closed source just tell us about it or share uh some outcomes that you were able to share. Um uh we don't discriminate you know if you don't have uh direct experience Ethereum it's definitely a advantage uh but uh we are also looking for highly skilled people who are looking to start their journey not that uh uh they already uh started and if you want to start with something small I recommend looking into maybe some good first issues uh sort of uh in repositories where you can uh in a core repositories where you can see uh maybe something small to contribute to to make yourself familiar amilar with codebase that you're interested in. Um, and it already shows also your your insight.

[00:39:36]>> Um, >> some questions about the difference between a permissions and permissionless. Uh, fellows if you want to touch on that.

[00:39:47]>> Uh, yeah. So that's a good question because there is not major difference apart from the stipen like the main thing is the stipen uh because EPF is not a highly budgeted thing like uh we uh uh award this stipen to people who uh cannot participate in the uh uh fellowship otherwise. So for people who don't have any other sort of income and they need uh to sustain themselves during these five months of the cohort.

[00:40:13]uh if you are able to uh work on the fellowship without being paid and only you know getting maybe the trip to Defcon or just like the uh opportunity to beef up your resume. Uh that's uh that's uh the main reason to join us and the stipen is like a bonus for people who uh we have high confidence in and uh they needed to be able to work on it.

[00:40:36]But then uh we uh all of it is public.

[00:40:39]We have all these calls and coordination completely out in the open. Uh the people that we choose initially have a tag on discord that shows that they are official fellow and this is something to maybe give them uh bit more credit in the eyes of uh the other developers when you initiate some conversations and so on. Um it's maybe a bit easier to talk to uh talk to to people. But uh again we are here uh for you to connect you to anyone you need. uh so it doesn't really make such a big difference. Um so yeah uh everyone is uh everyone is uh welcome to uh to join uh uh join whether permissionlessly or or the way that you are able to participate. Um >> yeah thanks. Uh another question here about what the typical time commitment of a successful fellow is. Um, it really depends on what your background is and what your experience is with software development. If you are just starting out and don't have a ton of experience, you can expect to spend, you know, definitely 40 plus hours a week working on your project. if it's something that you are already pretty well verssed in and and have a lot of experience in the language that you're going to be working in or or the particular domain. Uh you know 25 30 hours a week is probably acceptable. Uh we we expect at least 20 hours a week if you're going to participate in this program. It's definitely something we want you to spend some time doing and dedicate your time towards. But we also understand that you know people have lives outside of this and maybe have jobs and if they aren't able to procure the stipen uh from the get-go like there are other things that you have to focus on. So um but you can yeah expect to commit anywhere between 20 to 40 plus hours a week uh for for your success.

[00:42:39]Uh question about project selection from OU says, "Can we select a project from cohort 6 that aligns with our entrance interests for the form and update it once court 7 ideas become available?" Um yeah, we're both we're basically wanting to get to know like what sorts of projects you're interested in, right? So you're not uh in the application actually selecting a project that you're going to work on. It's more like what sort of domains are you interested in?

[00:43:08]What sort of projects are you looking at? What generally grabs your interest so that we can uh somewhat match people's interest to what sorts of things are actually needing to be done in the areas that we're focusing on um for this cohort.

[00:43:28]>> Yeah. uh again like the actual project selection on what you are going to execute on during the cohort will happen after like first couple of weeks like after week four or so you will be defining the project you want to work on. So like two months from now guys like don't rush into choosing anything now. You should just demonstrate or show us what domain what part of the protocol you're interested in. What is your idea that you plan uh how what do you see yourself working on like just to give us an idea of what kind of uh interest you have. Yeah.

[00:44:00]>> Yeah. Uh another question here about what is the meaning of completion for a project? Uh you want to talk talk to that one? Well actually the meaning uh again it's uh defined by you uh because the fellows are ultimately uh specifying the project. So the part of the uh first uh uh stage of the fellowship is to define the project which means specify define the road map and it's uh up to you uh what scope you choose again like it should be a big enough scope to cover something meaningful in those four months of development and uh uh uh the completion is meaning like you know delivering all or most of what you planned but uh more vaguely like it would mean like delivering some valuable contribution. So some piece of software or some new feature or something that's being developed by you and it can actually be used coming forward. So that would be the uh like actual outcome uh not just like you know writing empty reports or something uh because there so there are the weekly weekly reports uh to follow your progress uh but then you know uh uh we closely monitor what you do but then uh uh you actually produce some outcome something usable and again it doesn't have to be like uh production ready fully fledged software it can be just some prototype some beta some sort of like uh analysis or something that can be used in some way it provides some sort of value and you define that uh as you uh as you start the project.

[00:45:30]>> Yeah.

[00:45:31]>> Uh a couple questions around uh permissionless participation. Um there's one around like even if we don't get selected we can work in EPF. Yes, it is permissionless. So if you are not selected you are still more than welcome to come join us, participate, choose a project, work on a project, bring it to completion. uh we do reward uh those contributors who are doing so in in a permissionless manner. Those that are really sticking with it and showing those contributions showing us that you know maybe our selection process was wrong. We're only two humans that filter these uh applications. So like we're certainly can make mistakes or maybe the application wasn't uh really well written to describe your capabilities or your experience or whatever. So, uh, if you are, if you're excited about it, please do continue to participate permissionlessly. And then, yes, if you don't care about receiving the stipen, there is no need to submit an application. You can just do join us on the first day and start participating in that way. I would encourage you maybe to like submit an application just so we have some sense of what you're interested in and what your background is, but it's it's certainly not required.

[00:46:53]Um, I think Mario got booted, so we'll wait for him to come back. But >> sorry about that. Uh, I just accidentally refreshed the page. Uh, I think I'm not sure if you touched on deadline question when the results will come out.

[00:47:07]>> No, I did not.

[00:47:08]>> Yeah. So, uh, again, uh, it's two of us, two humans who are not using really AI or anything to analyze your responses.

[00:47:15]So we are actually reading your application giving uh it some uh thought and considering everyone who applies and we have hundreds of people applying of course so it's going to take us couple of weeks uh uh please you know uh just we will get in touch with you sooner or later uh uh the uh cohort will be selected before end of this month um but uh yeah just keep uh keep eyes on uh the uh uh on your email uh that you used in the application uh we will reach out uh like maybe a week after uh after uh the application deadline with some first updates and uh uh we will be inviting uh some uh chosen people to interviews and after that uh everyone gets their like acceptance or rejection email by end of the the month.

[00:48:04]Yeah.

[00:48:07]>> Uh yeah, thank you for that. Um we also have a question about open source contributions to Ethereum L2s. Yeah, I mean any contributions to any FOS repo is going to be a good look for your application. Certainly if they are Ethereum aligned and like have to do with some protocols that is also a great signal. Um it's not really about counting, right? We're not like there aren't check boxes that you're having to check in order for us to uh say like, "Oh, this person has done this thing."

[00:48:43]So we have to accept them. It's more about like the holistic vibe of the application like how much experience you have, what sort of stuff you're working on uh in this sort of thing. So we don't take any one criteria is not more important than any other criteria. It is mostly just about the holistic uh bit of the application. And you know, as we've said a couple times, like we're just two guys who review these applications. We certainly make mistakes or or misread things or whatever. So like if you aren't selected for the stipended position, continue to participate and and you know you if if you do a good job, you will be rewarded.

[00:49:32]>> Yeah. Exactly. So just like present yourself and hope for the best. Again like uh yeah not the specific thing that uh uh would convince us but like we are looking for somebody that uh wants to wants to actually come through with this. Um because there was a question yeah submitting the application early or late uh that also doesn't do anything like uh actually we will probably uh have it open even a little bit past the deadline or so. uh any application that comes in is accepted and uh in case that you miss it by a day or something you can DM to us you can reach out to us uh for some late applications we would like to consider everyone who uh really believes that this is a a place for him or them um and yeah and uh again for a couple of people that we will be considering uh we will be doing interviews so uh again if we are considering your application seriously you will uh receive an invite for an interview in coming weeks. Uh yeah. Uh again, uh you will have to wait. Uh I'm sorry if you don't receive an invite, but uh you'll just uh you'll just have to wait a couple of weeks for the response. uh and uh uh meanwhile you can still uh you know uh get ready still learn and uh prepare for the fellowship if you want to participate either way because uh you are just waiting whether you know you can get the stipend or not whether you're in the situation that you really depend on some small stipen to uh to get you through the the fellowship but otherwise you can uh just keep going.

[00:51:06]>> Yeah.

[00:51:08]Uh question coming in about project selection. Uh we aren't going to match you with projects. We want you to a like figure out what sorts of things you are excited and interested about, what bits of Ethereum still need contributions, what sorts of things people are working on, what the upgrades are coming down the pipeline, and figure out what you want to work on. So, you know, take the the things that you've worked on in the past and the areas that you're excited about, the areas that you're knowledgeable about, and choose a project that feels exciting to you. Uh, as Mario mentioned, we will have a list of projects that have been submitted by uh client teams and research teams, but that's not like it's not required that you choose one of those. We actually encourage you to create your own project and we will help to you know nudge you in the right direction. Maybe if your project is like not super applicable to a client team or is not necessarily something that uh is we see as valuable or this sort of thing. But we want you to to be uh working on the things that you're excited about and um not relying on us or anybody else to choose your project for you.

[00:52:32]Uh for the interview, there will be no technical interview. We don't do technical interviews. We we want uh you to be able to describe your technical abilities in the application and then we just have like a you know half an hour chat with you about um about what you're interested in working on and and to sort of see if you'll be a good fit for uh the sty position. So no technical interview but there is going to be a a conversation for those people who we are selecting to move forward in the application process.

[00:53:08]Uh yes, if you choose something from the curated list, if you choose a project from the suggested projects, you still have to scope it. You still have to write a project proposal. All of that stuff still applies. Um so most of the project proposals are pretty bare bones and you'll still kind of have to figure out what you need to do in order to complete it. So uh don't think that choosing a pres a proposed project from a client team uh is going to make it easier for you necessarily.

[00:53:42]Uh in case of rejection will there be feedback? Uh I unfortunately not. We receive hundreds of applications and it is pretty impossible for us to give any real kind of feedback uh to anybody that is going to uh be valuable for you. So, if you do not get selected, we would encourage you to just either participate permissionlessly or if you feel like you're not up for it or like the, you know, first month or so of the cohort, you feel like you're struggling would encourage you to go back to the study group curriculum and participate in that and really hone your knowledge. Uh, find some good first issues. I did post a link to our good first issue aggregator for the Ethereum ecosystem in there. Uh and and you know take take on some good first issues and get your feet wet with some of these contributions.

[00:54:38]Yeah, just to elaborate on that like we even like offered some individual feedback on requests before but honestly like it always comes down to the same thing like it's just so competitive like even if you're good uh again we are choosing 10 people and uh it's based on like this criteria of like also who needs this type. So it's not really that you are not there's something missing or so like you are very good many of you people are good and honestly if I can I would just get all of you in uh but it's just the limitations of what we can do with our budget with our program right now. So um uh the feedback is like you know you can just always come and show your skills as permissionless participant and uh to yeah to maybe uh also answer this like if you are permissionless or even if you are a paid uh fellow like uh whether you can update your CV to include protocol fellowship and uh my general um uh uh advice is against this in the sense that like the protocol fellowship doesn't really like show what you did uh like what you can do is like uh your CV or your like you know GitHub contributions or whatever show what you actually did. uh so whether you are permissionless or or permissioned or whatever uh you can just uh you know in your uh when you're applying you can show oh I contributed this feature to uh this client right this is actual work that I've done and whether you did it under like the umbrella of fellowship doesn't really matter and specifically I'm mentioning this because I want to discourage people to sort of somehow abusing this program to like beef up their CV and like put on linkadin that they work in Ethereum foundation or something that's something as well like you are not being employed by the foundation here. We just help you to uh start your contributor j journey and uh the actual organization that you work with is those people that you collaborate with the project that you actually contribute to. Right? So uh that's how it works. Uh but you will have the skill, you will have the actual uh work done. So then uh the future employer or somebody who wants to give you the opportunity to work with them will then uh will uh uh will then see what you actually did. Uh so you need to always focus on that. That's why we do all these reports again like we have this weekly reports, final reports, project ideas and all of these bureaucracy is there to have like extreme transparency for people to see exactly what you've done. They don't the fellowship is really just a label but this shows what you actually did, right?

[00:57:08]Um >> yeah, it's it's it's not about the sort of like yeah being able to have this little tag on your CV. It's about the relationships that you're going to create with the fellows, with the mentors, with the developer community generally. Uh, and and you know, these sorts of things alongside of what is in your GitHub repository and your technical updates and these and this sort of stuff is what is going to land you a job in in one of these places, not the fact that you have this little thing on your resume or whatever.

[00:57:45]Yeah, exactly. Um, yeah. Uh, and there was a question about reapplying. I mean, feel free to send uh another application uh just with the same email or so and add if you missed some important parts again like specifically maybe some work that you did or something that uh is like uh important and you missed it before. If you uh if you did that, you can just update your application.

[00:58:10]Sorry. uh and uh mention mention that you are updating so we can we can connect it. So it's extra work for us but uh we are happy to do it for you guys. Uh we have u again we have a ton of manual work with this. So uh looking forward to reading your applications and uh I mean that's pretty much all we are going to do in the next couple of weeks reading hundreds of your applications and uh trying to find uh the uh best couple of uh developers here. But again uh we don't want to discriminate. We don't want to uh say that if we are not able to provide you the sample is this open program and uh we really uh invite everyone to be here. We invite everyone to apply. Uh so we have your contact. We will reach out uh to you with all the updates during the fellowship in case uh you want to be informed. So always uh uh so always please uh uh uh make sure to uh yeah uh submit your application and and stay in touch with us.

[00:59:15]>> Awesome. Uh we are seven minutes past the hour already. So I think we're going to go ahead and cut it there. If you have further questions, please go ahead and uh navigate yourself over to the protocol fellowship channel in the R&D discord server. Uh I posted an invite to that server and the channel earlier. Uh but I will post one more here for you guys to uh join if you have not. Um unfortunately there's nothing else that we can do about the application. If we change things it will it will mess up the the programming for the application.

[00:59:52]So just do your best to uh add what you need to in there and and we will read through them.

[00:59:59]>> Yeah. Also like be mindful of us like how many paragraphs are we able to read when we are having all of those. So uh yeah uh you know be succent and informative.

[01:00:11]>> Yeah. Uh yeah. So thanks for joining us everybody again. Uh we will be available in the Discord servers uh to answer any other questions that you might have. We look forward to seeing your applications and uh seeing you at the start of the protocol fellowship uh number seven here. Uh yeah, thanks so much everybody.

[01:00:34]I just assume that these raised hands are attempts at clapping and if you have questions go ahead and uh put them in the Discord server.