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DeFi is really great for entrepreneurs yes: lots of curious users, lots of money in it, lots of VCs, can build on top of other projects without permissions, and no regulations.

And with crypto prices going up we are probably going to see the next DeFi bubble.

If you want to build a DeFi app, You need to learn DeFi development and I have a course just on that: https://eattheblocks-pro.teachable.com/p/defi-development-ma...

I also have a youtube channel for blockchain dev: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCZM8XQjNOyG2ElPpEUtNasA

For a developer who has no idea about blockchain, how hard/easy is it to get into DeFi?

Also, do you think this can be a long term career?

DeFi is easy and doesn’t really involve blockchain knowledge, but your use of the code becomes blockchain knowledge.

The programming is all javascript and solidity, which has syntax very similar to js. The blockchain imposes restrictions on how complex your code can be which means you are writing simpler code. More like building with legos (which is very similar to other programming where you have dependency hell, not really prevalent here because the other code-legos don't really change).

Private sector has not gotten around to valuing this skillset and typically interview out of novelty and curiosity but are completely confused and ignorant about what your involvement in “blockchain” actually was, but there are enough VC backed companies that operate in this space if you wish to eventually be employed.

You can also get wealthy enough not to care. Not from crypto prices rising, just from transaction volume and earning your crypto.

"just from transaction volume and earning your crypto."

Could you please elaborate? Do you mean taking a cut from the transactions?

Also, if I gave myself 6 months of part time study, will that be enough to get proficiency to start working on real world projects?

> Do you mean taking a cut from the transactions?

Yes.

> Also, if I gave myself 6 months of part time study, will that be enough to get proficiency to start working on real world projects?

Yes.

If you already know how to program it honestly won't take you that long. The bigger issue in DeFi and crypto in general is what to focus on. Here, all of your side projects can make money right out the gate without trying to look more legitimate than the next, but now some make more than others. The space moves extremely fast and other people's better ideas can be tempting to focus on.

Thank you for taking the time to reply. Checking your course

You are not replying to the person with the course right?

Because if so i would be skeptical.

People selling courses are selling the dream and hyping "money making" through some new shiny tech.

I hope these two accounts are different persons.

So what's your business exactly? Can you be a bit more concrete what your smart contracts are, what problem they solve?

My specific business? Hard to say because it changes every week as there is really just that much to build

If people find getting into interest bearing products to be complicated, then you would create a contract to make it less complicated.

Pooltogether.com is an example of something people like, I didnt write that. It just gives people a chance of earning more interest than they could alone, at the expense of earning no interest in the mean time. They bill it as a “no-loss lottery”, while it is really just helping people deposit into other onchain financial services. It is analogous to many people depositing into a single savings account to earn more interest than they could as an individual, and only one person getting paid all of the interest. So some people like doing that because their alternatives are non-existent.

You can make a competitor to that or something slightly different and get people using it.

How do you audit the security of your contracts?

Unit tests like normal software development.

I don’t post or advertise audits, third party smart contract audits are expensive and purely a marketing racket.

A) users dont care

B) Vulnerabilities come from closed source pricing oracles.

C) users that do care understand that vulnerabilities are not really coming from the code and more so from pricing oracles

D) Users can buy smart contract insurance.

E) They can also buy their own smart contract audit, I at least make sure the block explorer has the code and ABI available

With all due respect, I think you're off on point C. There are a plenty of vulnerabilities as a result of code issues. Look at the great work that Trail Of Bits (no affiliation) has done in this space and you will see some great examples. There are a few folks that do solid audits, thought you are right there's no guarantee and it's expensive.

As to your point that user's don't care, I think that's the real answer, and it's a shame. Do you think the user base is not technical enough to care?

Sure, so first what I avoided saying is that plenty of code has intentional or unintentional backdoors and nobody can ever tell the difference of intent if those backdoors get used. It is a sad and risky part of the space for the users, but doesn't undermine any point I made about how the developer makes money. It does undermine how comfortable a publicly facing developer would want to be. Even if the developer does get vilified publicly and professionally or actually incurs some legal liability, they can still just change aliases or release more autonomous code under a new pseudonym. Either way it really amplifies their - or some other developer's - earning potential. And users can also buy third party insurance (which is its own sector and has its own growth challenges).

Secondly, another thing I was alluding to is that you can just copy working code. You can deploy the exact same service as someone else and compete directly. Too many developers think they need uniqueness, which may have been true in the "I can only get recognition from VCs to make real money" world. DeFi development is analogous to launching a grocery store offering slightly different brands. The code you copied from having already been audited.

Third, everything I wrote before was assuming no malicious intent. So if we are copying code for the most part, it moves the vulnerabilities to the closed source oracles and the behavior of the oracle's sources of data.

I'm always open to having this conversation, in general top level hackernews has not been ready for that conversation and they want to debate largely irrelevant things about their feelings over blockchain, as opposed to the state of various sectors in the space that they aren't aware of. So leading with nuanced discussion would hurt the visibility of what I actually have to contribute.

Cool, I hear ya and I agree, I wish there was more nuanced discussion on these topics rather than just "hodl, numbers go up."

It seems to me like you've found an interesting way to play in an adversarial space by selling shovels during a gold rush.

With so much noise in the space, how do you attract awareness to your contracts? And how do you manage the community?

do traditional exchanges work through smart contracts too?

No they don’t

I would like to know more about the subject. Is there any way I can contact you ?

vmception00 [at] gmail [dot] com

I don't check it, but I'll try

Is there a way I can contact you? Interested in learning more.

vmception00 [at] gmail [dot] com

I don't check it, but I'll try