Learn-to-earn platform: Get paid for learning to code
On Metacrafters, users well versed in computer programming can enroll so they can gain advanced knowledge in Web3
Just last year, Tamagotchi-like digital pets were being traded—or sometimes showed off—on Facebook. These digital creatures, known as Axie, were nothing like the digital cutesy pets we had on Pet Society during the early years of Facebook. For one, Pet Society was a social network game. Axies, depending on their rarity and skills and the prevailing market, could fetch thousands of pesos and could earn players money.
Axie Infinity is just one of the many nonfungible token (NFT)-based online games. The tokens from the game can then be exchanged for money. Many people had made thousands of pesos, as well as lost some investment, by playing on these games for several hours. Sounds revolutionary.
But what if there’s a platform where you learn how to code and get paid at the same time?
This is the premise of Metacrafters, a Web3 developer curriculum that lives within a multiplayer, learn-to-earn game. Here, tech-savvy users who are well versed in computer programming can enroll so they can gain advanced knowledge in Web3— the new iteration of the internet which involves blockchain and token-based economics.
“What we want to do is build the leading educational platform in the metaverse,” said Sheila Lirio Marcelo, cofounder and chief executive officer of Proof of Learn and Meracrafters.
“We really want to focus on educating people. If you see what happened during the pandemic, and I think it’s still here in the Philippines, everyone moved to online learning. So how do we power up online learning in this new read-write-own world? And the way we’re doing that in Proof of Learn is we’re building online education, but we’re also incentivizing through what we’re calling learn to earn,” Marcelo told Lifestyle in an interview.
Digital certificate
In this learn-to-earn platform, users enroll in a course and after completion (between two to three months), they earn rewards that can be exchanged for money. The platform uses a stable coin called USDC, and is backed by US dollars so it is not as volatile as other NFT games, according to Marcelo, a tech entrepreneur who also founded Care.com.
After finishing the course, learners will also earn a digital certificate as proof of their skills. This certificate is permanently recorded on the blockchain—a shared database of transactions that is verified by thousands of people online.
“Why it’s so powerful is that, imagine if everyone in the world can see that piece of certificate that you have in your rooms. All of a sudden, employers will be like, ‘you know how to do this programming, you have this skill. We want to contact you because that skill really is valuable to us,” said Proof of Learn cofounder Kevin Yang.
Metacrafters will be launched worldwide this summer, but the Proof of Learn executives are looking at the Philippines in jump-starting the platform. They are planning to onboard talents age 18 to 34, who already know the basics of programming.
“It’s just a talented population. They’re already on the internet, there’s an incredible BPO (business process outsourcing) industry, and as Kevin described, crypto is so popular here already in gaming, that we believe this is the right place to actually launch,” said Marcelo, a Harvard-educated Filipino American.
Filipino ingenuity
The Philippines also has many web developers. There are roughly 6 million web developers between the Philippines and India, according to Yang. Globally there are 32 million web developers, but only around 200,000 are adept in Web3 and only 80,000 are active.
“And yet they create $2 trillion in market cap [because] everyone uses crypto. So there’s a huge supply shock for this type of talent right now. And we think we feel like the Filipinos with their ingenuity, just given the opportunity, can be one of those talent hubs for this type,” said Yang, a self-taught programmer who went on to study at Stanford University School of Engineering.
The first programming course will be free, and after completion, will earn the programmer around $125. This can be used to buy the second course, which costs $500. Completion of the second course can fetch up to $250, plus a return of a huge part of the $500, said Marcelo.
Knowing that entry to the platform is steep, Proof of Learn partnered with YGG, a play-toearn gaming guild. Through YGG, programmers can enter as scholars. The earnings will be split between the scholars and the guild.
The program will give around a thousand scholars access to the learn-to-earn platform. There are only limited slots in the program so developers looking to expand their knowledge are encouraged to try out soon.