This week, we’re introducing our Front-End Developer Neil Shah. He has changed from working in Finance to being a full-time developer later in his career and joined Minima in August 2021.
What are you responsible for at Minima?
“I am responsible for web development and decentralized apps. Anything that’s web-related and has to do with User Experience. Also working on the website these days, basically involved with things that users will see when they check our website and tools to interact with the blockchain.”
What do you enjoy most about working at Minima?
“Mostly the cool blockchain tech, which is super exciting. It’s very new and interesting — quite a lot of media coverage of the space. And especially as a tech, being at the forefront of technological development is pretty awesome. It’s also pretty cool that at Minima, there’s also a focus on making things look nice and enjoyable for users, which I’ve not really experienced before.”
Which three words would you use to describe Minima?
“Collaborative, Remote — as we’re all working remotely, which also, of course, aligns with the empowerment Minima generally represents, and lastly, it embodies the startup spirit (little bureaucracy, not corporate, people proactively working towards making Minima constantly better). “
What motivates you personally to work for a truly decentralized network?/Facilitating true decentralization
“One is undoubtedly disrupting existing systems, and it’s a lot of fun to think/and even be part of significant changes that could happen to the old systems. I believe that blockchain has a huge potential and could change parts, or maybe even the financial system as a whole down the line.
Seeing such a transition will be a lot of fun to see and participate in. It’s also interesting to see how existing big companies jump into the space; even though they’re not morally aligned, Facebook would be one. I see a lot of conflict there going to happen, but we’re fighting the good fight at Minima.”
You’ve got quite a lot of experience in what you do. Could you share a bit on your journey until now?
“I started my career working in Finance, using excel to build User interfaces a little. I started using code in excel during my day-to-day job and then did evening courses to learn programming languages and technologies further. After doing some more remote courses at Open University, and eventually started working entirely as a developer.
One of my previous companies actually had someone from Ethereum come in, so there was indeed an interest, and I also followed the space ever since. But now, with Minima, I’m super excited to be directly involved.”
You just recently got involved in the world of crypto and blockchain. How has that been? Any major challenges & highlights?
“Definitely one of the Highlights is the startup culture, where you get to do a lot more things than you might have in a more corporate environment. It’s very hands-on. I am fortunate to have a lot of great people at Minima — passionate and knowledgeable, who all are open to sharing knowledge and helping each other.”
Do you have any advice for other front-end developers interested in working in crypto?
“When it comes to building projects, definitely try to avoid having too many dependencies. That can get fiddly later on and will make your life harder.
Also, I’d say, think about the data model you will use to display in the UI in conjunction with the UI, and don’t forget to learn CSS (or at least a framework like bootstrap, tailwind) because that’s how you will make things look nice. It’s also a presentation of your work.
And lastly, a few words of reassurance, and I am probably not the only one, but there are still loads of times when I feel like I don’t know what I am doing. And when that happens, just stay flexible, and roll with it. If you keep learning, you will thrive.”
Have you used crypto for transfers and tried any other DeFi protocols yet?
“To be honest, I’m still a bit nervous about using DeFi protocols, and in recent months I’ve been heavily focused on Minima, so I didn’t really get to it yet — paired with being nervous. Technically, there isn’t too much to be nervous about with little funds in your wallet, and I’ll get to it.
I tend to read about things rather than getting my own experience — as it seems like a faster way at times to gain an overview. Especially when it comes to using different platforms, you end up with accounts all over the place. And new platforms just keep on coming.
I’m also inspired by other people here at Minima using these platforms for things such as trading, so I think down the line, I’ll definitely start doing it.”
How do you keep up with what’s happening in the industry?
“I tend to read quite a bit on Reddit, mostly on r/cryptocurrency, where people discuss the latest development and their experiences and views on crypto markets. It’s also useful to see what other people make of certain projects and services. And for prices and different crypto platforms, I like to use coinmarketcap.”
What are you currently reading/any publications you follow/podcasts you listen to?
“I’m reading quite a lot from Vitalik Buterin, trying to understand all the things that are going on with Ethereum and scaling these days, but also his views more broadly surrounding decentralization.
Some of them get really technical, and I feel like I’m just reading words for the sake of reading, but maybe it’s just a question of time until I will understand all these things.“
Which Gif, Emoji, or Sticker do you use frequently?
“Mostly smiley faces and thumbs-up.” 😄