My Life Since I Discovered Zerocracy

I graduated in 2017 and managed to find a full-time job as an Android Developer. For most people, that would be it, “I’m on the right track.” Not for me! I saw that there was something wrong in this market: working in a multi-national company wasn’t a proof that I was good enough.

I started to read blog posts every day and finally, I found out about Zerocracy and everything started to make sense.

In the beginning, I had to read a lot of blog posts, and the Policy, and to watch some videos. Since I was new to the industry I didn’t struggle a lot, because I wasn’t used to the “old concepts” in most cases.

I didn’t manage to fit in the sandbox projects easily, I discussed this with my mentor @ypshenychka and she hinted me to contact the ARC of the project, which I wanted to join, even if it wasn’t a sandbox project.

This way I joined some projects, had a lot of time to implement things that were new for me, and got paid enough for what I produced.

As you know, some tasks may take a long time to be closed, you discuss the issue, you implement a solution, your solution being reviewed, you resolve reviewer’s comments, wait for the ARC to merge and wait for the quality review to be done. In such a complex pipeline you may screw it up and mess your tasks, I had a system to go along with all of this. Let me explain it how it works for me:

Fist, I decide that I will work for the next one hour (for example), pick the oldest task in my agenda, ask a question or check if something I was waiting for is done, check if I still have time, if yes I go to the next task.

I have a mentor in Zerocracy (who is a very helpful and kind person), and I’m mentoring someone currently (who didn’t ask me about anything and I guess he never needed me). Having a mentor isn’t a good idea, having an examiner is enough for me.

The role REV is a really complex role for me, you must not trust what the developer has submitted and prove that you are right and he did miss something important. Previously, I asked the ARC of the projects I’d like to revoke the role REV from me because I want to deal with less pressure in my tasks till I participate in a project that I’m experienced enough with its tools.

Sometimes you care more about money, then you have to accept tasks that will take you less time and effort to close them and have room in your agenda for more. If the task will take you a lot of time and you don’t care about the experience you will get by working on it, refuse it and leave a room for more tasks that you can make easier money by finishing them.

Zerocracy is a freelancing platform, you can work in as many projects as you want, you can leave the project or refuse the task if you want. Working as a freelancer means you own your time and you don’t have to accept any task that you don’t want. Of course, there is a risk that you won’t be able to pay the rent next month because things aren’t going well and you didn’t make enough money. Freedom worth it, but you have to plan things first.

During planning the move from full-time to freelancing, I’m combining both right now. It’s not easy to make that while you still need time to learn new things or work on your own projects. Basically, I do the minimum required effort to keep my full-time job boss satisfied, don’t tell him that I’m willing to do more unless I’m not satisfied with the quality of my work.

Since I knew about Zerocracy, my learning curve boosted and know I can gain more experience and deal with the more professional market. That’s why I really suggest you start working in Zerocracy, only if you care about your freedom and want to be a freelancer.