Bitcoin 'Hacker Residency' to Launch in New York

A bitcoin development training program will launch in New York City this September to teach new developers the basics of the protocol.

While bitcoin might not be the easiest software to master today, bitcoin R&D group Chaincode Labs believes it can help mitigate this issue by giving developers an option to learn in an environment that is more supportive and interactive than current online materials can offer.

Set the firm's headquarters in New York, the four-week "hacker residency" program aims to give developers an opportunity to work on projects that pique their interest starting 12th September.

Notably, bitcoin developer and Blockstream co-founder Matt Corallo will take a leave of absence from his startup as part of a bid to support the effort.

Corallo told CoinDesk:

"You always hear a lot of people that want to contribute to the protocol, but find it to be really daunting. The motivation behind it is giving back to some extent and to improve the number and quality of people contributing to low-level protocol development in bitcoin."

Organizers said the final number of developers accepted will depend on the number of qualified applicants.

Learn from experience

As noted by Corallo, the program is in many ways an acknowledgement of the difficulties that the bitcoin ecosystem has had in onboarding new developers.

Corallo noted that a developer's ability to support the open-source project now depends on his or her comfort with "in-depth incentive structures" and other subject areas that may require a certain nuance.

"It's certainly not a quick process. It can take quite a while to learn all of the implications of all the ins and outs," he said.

He mentioned that it took a couple of the current Bitcoin Core developers a year or so to contribute usefully, although they didn’t have the same one-on-one mentorship as offered by the residency.

But Corallo said that the mission is less about building a team of contributors and more about fostering a healthy learning experience.

"It's not necessarily about getting people to provide the most useful contributions in a month," he said.

More details

As for what the program will entail, the organizers said the curriculum will consist of a series of talks on the bitcoin protocol but that it will be otherwise fairly loose.

Residency developers can investigate whatever interests them, meaning that any in a long list of projects that the Bitcoin Core development team has been working on can gain the benefit of extra contributors.

"It's really about picking a project that gives you ample room to understand the space," Corallo said, adding:

"Whatever people want to contribute to is fine, as long as it’s good for learning about bitcoin."

For more details about the program, view the full announcement here.

Developers image via Shutterstock