DeFi, NFT & DLT Education

Make the Most of Your Learning Journeys: Tips for Learners

Highly rated mentorship programs curated by the Frankfurt School Blockchain Center

Photo by The Ride Academy on Unsplash

Disclaimer

The opinions expressed in this post are of the author in his individual capacity and do not represent the official views of the Frankfurt School.

Introduction

The Frankfurt School Blockchain Center (FSBC) has curated and managed the following 18-week talent development programs to help ambitious and young career starters to break into the Web3 space: DeFi Talents, DLT Talents, and NFT Talents.

These are the highlights of the mentorship programs:

1. Each program enrols between 100 to 200 learners from across the globe. Due to the diversity of our learners, the programs are run in the English language. You will get to learn with and learn from, collaborate and network with forward-looking global talent.
2. Free of cost! EUR 0 ‘scholarships’.
3. Based on your level of participation and EQ, you are likely to make early connections with Web3 leaders and their companies.
4. The programs require action-oriented learning based on content generation and presentations.

The Learners’ ROI

Learners can expect the following potential outcomes:

1. Learn relevant Web3 topics and stay up to date with new developments.
2. Collaborate with a global network of learners, mentors and industry leaders that you can remain connected with long after you ‘graduate’.
3. Experience the ‘flywheel effect’ for learners who perform well: get featured on FSBC’s social media channels and noticed by industry leaders.
4. Build your ‘digital footprint’ of artefacts: topic decks, blog posts, capstone project, pitch decks, etc — that may support your future career transitions.
5. Build your startup with enterprising co-learners if you are keen to.
6. Get the support of mentors from the programs and the Web3 industry.
7. Certificates of completion if you meet the criteria.

Tips for Our Learners

Based on running several batches of the 3 programs, here are some suggestions for the potential learner to make the best of their learning journeys:

• Mindset: Prioritise > Time Block > Get It Done

Think of your learning journey as a potentially valuable ‘side hustle’. It would be a shame to successfully enrol and not commit to the learning process, assignments and presentations. You could potentially have taken away the opportunity of another worthy candidate, since interest in these programs is very high.

• Know > Think > Apply > Share

Set up your small learning accountability groups in our Slack channel to discuss the topics and complete your assignments. Share your work products in your social media channels. Strive to attend all the bi-weekly Zoom sessions and participate in the discussions (preferably with your webcam turned on).

• Do a Little More > Capstone Project

Although not a mandatory requirement, try to form a team to take on a Capstone project that could extend the application of your newly acquired knowledge. A Capstone project allows you to practically apply your learning in collaboration with other participants.

• Find Solutions to Issues that you May Face

You may struggle to prepare good quality presentation decks in Powerpoint or Google Slides. Either learn to use the apps, ask a friend for help or engage a freelancer. Though anyone can build beautiful slides — it’s just a matter of patience.

Next Steps

If one of these programs aligns with your upcoming learning objectives, do enrol for them: DeFi Talents, DLT Talents, and NFT Talents.

PS: Check out this recent FSBC video on How to kick-start your career in Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Contains more alpha for learners!

Author

Arun Devan is a mentor with the DeFi Talents program. Through the mentorship process, he has been able to guide learners towards excellence in the topics covered. He has also increased his perspectives on these topics and widened his network with participants from the program — FSBC leaders, sponsors, other mentors and a global audience of learners. Prior to pivoting to crypto in July 2017, Arun was an entrepreneur delivering digital transformation projects with SAP ERP solutions. He has a B.Sc. in Computer and Information Sciences from the National University of Singapore. Arun lives in Germany currently.