[Retroactive] Funding Development Costs for Dot Code School PoC - An Interactive Coding School to Build Meaningful Web3 Applications using the Polkadot SDK

Proponent: 16JVrgg7t6m5UXAtDBM7jYp9XjAxALRVFP6GuKVFmi9HLw8d

Amount Requested: 2,500 DOT

This proposal aims to retroactively fund the development work done for the PoC of Dot Code School.

In the spirit of complete transparency, I've also applied to the Decentralized Futures Program for this which is aimed at further developing the platform by adding more tutorials, shaping them into expressive stories and gamifying the learning process.

This proposal aims to fund the development work done so far and provide some runway so that the development doesn't slow down while we're waiting for a decision.

What is Dot Code School?

Dot Code School is an open learning platform for developers who are new to web3 or Polkadot.

It aims to provide a step by step path for newcomers to build useful applications (DeFi, NFTs, games, etc.) from 0 to 100 using the Polkadot SDK.

It provides an interactive coding interface (similar to https://cryptozombies.io) that gives developers hands-on experience to build and deploy meaningful products on Polkadot.

Problem

The detailed problem statement can be found in Shawn's forum post here.

As evident from the poll in the screenshot below and further discussions linked below, there’s a clear need for improvement in developer education and onboarding experience.

Source

Some tangential/supporting discussion posts:

• Developer Experience must be our #1 Priority - Governance - Polkadot Forum

• Frontend Development Experience - Tech Talk - Polkadot Forum

• Underestimated developer cost in Polkadot ecosystem - Governance

Solution: Dot Code School

• Create and maintain a number of high quality tutorials written by the experts, not having people who themselves are learning trying to teach others.

• Use real rust projects as the basis for creating and expressing tutorials.

• On-hand writers to help shape “raw” content into expressive stories.

• On-hand graphic/web artists to turn tutorials into something visually appealing and unique in story.

Progress

PoC is live on https://dotcodeschool.vercel.app
GitHub Repo Link: https://github.com/iammasterbrucewayne/dotcodeschool

Screenshots:

Cost Breakdown

Total Cost: 2500 DOT (~$18,000)
FTE: 1
Hourly Rate: $125/hr
Total Time: 144 hours

FAQs

Q. Who will be writing these tutorials?
A. I'm collaborating with Shawn for the content of these tutorials, but I'm open to adding more tutorials as long as they are written by experts who share similar credibility.