#80·Milestone 1: EasyA x Polkadot: In-person hackathons and in-app Polkadot 2.0 crash course (#360DaysOfPolkadot)

Waiting to hear feedback from @shawntabrizi before casting my vote as he has more knowledge on this topic than most, and he has previously brought up some valid concerns in recent funding proposals from this team with regards to the quality of the EasyA training materials & program (for example not offering the most up-to-date information to prospective builders). If this has been resolved then it is an easy AYE (no pun intended), but if it hasn't been resolved yet and they are just asking for more money, then it is going to be a NAY.

The ecosystem needs a framework (possibly an education collective) to vet referenda related to Polkadot education, but that will be a discussion for another day.

I am wearing the hat of the Technical Education Lead at Web3 Foundation and asking these questions on the KPI metrics, EasyA content, and hackathons

Total developers starting the crash course: 120,000

What is your definition of "developer" here? Don't you think "learner" is an appropriate term? I think we both can agree that there is no framework in place to verify their development skills or credentials.

Hackathon projects: 100

I know you come with good intentions, but what is your benchmark for something to be called a project on Polkadot? Could you share your top 3 picks of hackathon projects built using Polkadot SDK in your previous hackathons and any success stories of the hackathon participants contributing to Polkadot or its parachains? This is critical information for judging the effectiveness of your hackathon programs and their impact on the Polkadot ecosystem.

Also, the DF grant announcement mentions hackathons as a deliverable. If that is a mistake, you should request that the announcement be corrected.

Polkadot 2.0, Plaza, Smart Contacts content

From what I am aware, the official developer documentation on Plaza/smart contracts will be delivered sometime in Q1. Without this official documentation, hosting hackathons or educating developers on the EasyA app about Polkadot 2.0 will have little impact (in my opinion). Ideally, this proposal would have made more sense when there is clarity about Polkadot Cloud/Hub/Plaza from the Polkadot Technical fellowship, but from what I see, the details are still being worked out. Full-blown hackathons without fundamental clarity on what the technology will be and little documentation are a bit premature.

What are the results of all these hackathons? Have they led to anything being built on Polkadot?

I would happily shift my vote to AYE if the proposer describes how they are aiming to fix the accuracy of their dated (and sometimes meaningless) content.

Ideally this would be in the form of first an update to this repo prior to requesting significant funding:

https://github.com/EasyA-Tech/web3-content/blob/main/polkadot.json

And then executing on the rest of the proposal.

I just went over the current content in the App. The basics are acceptable (which is mainly thanks to contributions from Shawn, see here: https://github.com/EasyA-Tech/web3-content/pull/2), yet by the third chapter it turns into something that makes me both sad and want to laugh: Editing half backed .toml files that make little sense in the grander scheme of things, and then finishing the chapter with a "Congratulations! You have now built a parachain!"

Dear @EasyA Governance,

Thank you for your proposal. Our vote on this proposal is NAY.

The Medium Spender track requires a 50% quorum according to our voting policy. This proposal has received three aye and three nay votes from ten members, with one member abstaining. Below is a summary of our members' comments:

Supporters highlighted the team’s contributions to community building and marketing for Polkadot, while suggesting a clearer focus on Polkadot Asset Hub/Plaza and greater transparency around developer figures. Critics viewed the initiative as overly focused on marketing rather than developer acquisition, with some suggesting it might be better suited under a marketing budget. Others raised concerns about the feasibility of the developer numbers and the return on investment for hackathons, leading some to abstain.

The full discussion, along with individual members' votes and comments, can be found in our internal voting.

Kind regards,

Permanence DAO