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Working-For-Decred(2020).md

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Video: https://youtu.be/Ud4LVhFwL9g

CMS Video Script

So every so often I have someone come along and message me : "Hey I'm a Talented Developer, I want to work for Decred, Can I speak to your CEO?"

Well, in Decred, there is no CEO or hiring Manager. The reason why is because Decred is an autonomous, decentralized, open source project with no existing central authority to make those types of decisions.

So how does it all work? If there's no CEO, how do new people get brought on? Let's dive further into the Decred Contractor Model: (Transition)

Decred is a community of doers, and that is fundamental to the growth of the project. In order to become a contractor, it is typical for a new contributor to first:

  • Demonstrate an independent interest in Decred.

  • understand the basics of Decred by reading documentation or other educational content

This means understanding the core tenets, and other ins and outs of the project. The most efficient way to learn about Decred is to visit docs.decred.org and visit the 'Getting Started' section. (show this on screen)

  • find a part of the project you feel you have the skills to contribute to. What kind of skillset do you possess? Where do you think you can contribute? Do you believe your work will be valuable to the project?

  • Check with Decred contractors before starting work, to avoid duplication of efforts. The easiest way to reach Decred Contractors is by joining chat.decred.org which uses Matrix. There are specific rooms available for development, research, and marketing.

  • Complete and submit your work. If it is deemed valuable by the community and current contractors, odds are you'll be brought on as a contractor. Now This model works well because it means the people working on Decred actually care about the project on a deeper level, and don't just see their work as a means to another monthly paycheck. They understand their work is helping to grow and expand the Decred ecosystem, which is something many contractors are personally invested in.

So where does this money come from to pay Contractors? Not from an ICO or Outside Capital, Contractors are paid directly by Decred's Treasury, which gets its funds from Decred's own Block Reward. 10% of each block subsidy goes towards this fund, and as of this video there are 600,000~ (will update) DCR in the treasury which is currently worth 12.5 million~ US dolllars. (will update)

Having this treasury means Decred will be funded indefinitely, allowing for continuous infrastructure maintenance, development work, design, research, administration, and marketing. In fact, the creation of this video was funded by the Treasury.

So the Treasury sounds great and all, but who gets to control it? Who gets to make these decisions?

The Treasury is controlled by Decred Stakeholders, the people who hold and choose to stake their coins in Decred's hybrid PoW/PoS mining system. They do this by voting to authorize expenditures via Politeia, Decred's off-chain public proposal platform.

The end goal of this fund is to be a Stakeholder Driven decentralized autonomous organization - or DAO for short. So as a Decred contractor you are actually working for the Decred DAO. This comes with a slew of benefits.

  • You can work from anywhere in the world.
  • There are no formal meetings.
  • There is no corporate or political agenda pushed on you
  • you can work behind a pseudonym
  • and you can work Full or Part time, setting your own hours.

And while working remotely is becoming more commonplace these days what with the rise of the internet, the Decred project has shaped this in truly a unique manner, true to the principle of decentralization, since contractors are able to self-manage their work. So you may be wondering how contractors report their hours and get paid? Well, there's a system for that. (transition)

Contractor Management System

At the end of each month, each contractor prepares an invoice and submits it to the Contractor Management System, or CMS for short, which is integrated into Politeia. The invoice lists the items the contractor has worked on and a charge (in USD) for each - typically these charges are for a number of hours worked at an agreed hourly rate. (Transition)

USD amounts are converted to DCR at the average daily market rate for the previous month. Once all of the invoices have been received and processed, payments to all contractors are made on the same day. This typically happens in the middle of the month, around 2 weeks in. The intention is to turn payments around as quickly as possible but the process takes time and relies on timely invoicing by contractors.

There's also a Decred Contractor Clearance (DCC) component integrated into CMS whereby potential Contractors can be vetted and approved by other Contractors within a specific domain, granting them a DCC which enables them to bill on CMS. Contractors can also have their DCC revoked via this same process if their work is deemed not sufficient by other contractors in their domain. Even though each contractor is responsible for self-management, their work is reviewed by their peers operating in the same domain to see if they are billing correctly.

As the DCR/USD conversion rate is pegged to the previous month, contractors are exposed to any volatility in the price of DCR that occurs during this period. As contractors will be unable to liquidate their earnings until payments have been processed, they must be mindful that prices can decrease or increase in the interim, and plan their finances accordingly. Since contractors are paid out in DCR and not USD, many have to sell their DCR to Fiat in order to pay bills, and in doing so are exposed to exchange fees and price volatility.

If you'd like to get an insight on what it's like to be a DCR contractor, community member Richard Red wrote up an in depth article talking about his experiences working for the Decred DAO. (https://medium.com/@richardred/working-for-the-decred-dae-a9cfb17686fa) (pan over article)

In the article he writes:

"Once one gets to know the project, one can identify useful pieces of work that aren't currently being done fairly easily. Taking on these tasks and completing them well is like the application process to (be paid for) work on Decred. As people get to know you and see that you're making useful contributions, other opportunities may open up."

Understand that everything going on within the project is available to see on GitHub, so If you're interested in working for the project, simply visit Github, pick something to work on, do it, and if it's deemed valuable, odds are you'll be asked to become a contractor and get paid for your work.

Listen to Decred Contractor Matheus talk about how he came into Decred: (show video segment)

Decred has contractors from all over the world contributing to various elements of the project. It is truly a global workforce coming together to sustain and improve the Decred protocol, all while doing so in an autonomous manner.

Remember, What you do for Decred is more important than whatever credentials you might possess, and it is the key to becoming a Contractor. Resumes and interviews are simply not a thing here, you'll need to demonstrate on your own how you can add value to the Decred ecosystem in order to become a part of it. Thanks for watching, nd if you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment, or check the video description for link's to join Decred's Community.