Summer 2023 wrap up
While maximizing the few months of sunshine we get in Canada, I took these summer months to explore my interests, build cool projects, and meet some amazing new people.
Welcome back to my monthly update where I explain my highlights from each month as well as my biggest takeaways and lessons learned. For those who don’t know me, I am a 17-year-old student in Toronto interested in different technologies (my favorite is Blockchain right now) to find solutions to big problems around the world.
Among many other things, I spent the summer interning on the Engineering team of BloXroute Labs, winning a consulting competition for a Toronto-based biotech company called BenchSci, and attending Canada’s largest Blockchain conference.
Before we dive into the summer, check out some of my cool insights and experiences from May and June:
Personal Website Update
I launched a portfolio for the work I’ve done over the past year. This site has some of my favorite projects I’ve worked on in the Blockchain space, climate tech space, and even some consulting and hackathon projects.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on how I can continue to develop my portfolio to optimize for long-term skill-building while also showing a more personal side of myself. Also, I’d love to hear any design tips as to how I can make the portfolio fun to scroll through! I’m always happy to chat if you have any ideas.
Interning at a Series B-funded Blockchain startup
My job hunt was fun… and successful.
I was very fortunate to be hired for a summer position on the engineering team at BloXroute Labs, a leading decentralized finance infrastructure provider for crypto transactions. BloXroute’s flagship product is their BDN or Blockchain Distribution Network which essentially acts as a superhighway for Blocks on the Blockchain to be sent to users on the network up to 100x faster than the traditional Blockchain would, giving users a competitive advantage for their transactional needs.
I am writing an article explaining the technical solution provided by BloXroute in simple terms soon, so be on the lookout for that if you are interested in the company.
I worked on the Ethereum MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) team where my job was to work with experienced Software engineers to pull data on our product’s performance, analyze this data using Golang and Python, and provide actionable insights as to how we can improve the product to maximize profit, customer success, or (most interestingly) the find optimal balance of the two.
I will include more insights from my experience in the technical article I am writing, so again, be on the lookout for the article. I learned so much so putting my learnings into a newsletter wouldn’t do them justice ;)
To the BloXroute team, I want to express my deep gratitude to both the business and engineering team for all the guidance and mentorship I was given during my few months with the company!
Building the future for employee productivity
In early August, I joined a consulting competition with four of my close friends to ideate and develop a solution to boost productivity at Toronto-based Biotech startup, BenchSci. My team and I had a blast with the whole process, from interviewing over 15 BenchSci employees in just two weeks for problem validation to the late nights we spent trying to figure out how a vector database works to train an AI model on a company’s internal data.
This whole “consulting” experience was a blast and in the end, we ended up winning the competition and receiving a cash prize as well as being hired to implement the solution!
Check out the standalone deck and pitch below. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the idea and pitch so we can continue to iterate upon our pitch to increase the impact of the product.
I know you want to see my beautiful face on the video, but check out the standalone deck FIRST to get a complete understanding of the product and its implementation plan!
If you work at a fast-growing startup, please reach out and I’d love to discuss how we can expand our pilot program to your company and help heighten employee morale and productivity across your entire organization, allowing your company to move quickly and achieve your ambitious goals!
Getting sponsored to attend ETH Toronto
Working in the Blockchain industry in a booming tech hub like Toronto is exciting because there are so many people working on projects in the industry in and around the city. When I heard that Canada’s largest blockchain conference was being held in downtown Toronto, I had to go. And I was not let down.
The Blockchain Futurist Conference (and ETH Toronto) was held at a beautiful venue on Lake Ontario and I got to meet so many smart people working on unique projects in the blockchain industry.
I even sat in on a company meeting that concluded in a partnership with a massive deFi staking solutions provider called Figment.
Shoutout Justin for the ticket!
Failing Soft30
Damn.
In my last newsletter, I mentioned I would be starting Soft30 for the month of August. Unfortunately, after 12 days I failed because of my inability to drink 128oz of water :(
The challenge looked so easy… from an outsider’s perspective. But it is consistency that matters. My failure taught me the importance of the compounding effect and how crucial that is to growth in any aspect of life.
Despite my failure, I picked up a new habit: journalling. I always overlooked this simple habit as I thought it was pointless, but as I take more on, journalling allows me to organize my thoughts and think clearly, which helps my productivity and creativity for the next day.
Content of the month
I typically only include a podcast here, but I was intentional about consuming a diverse set of content this summer that I HAD to share.
Book
I pushed myself reading this one.
I’ve never been so enthralled by a book about American history. Learning about the atrocities committed by members of the KKK, specifically DC Stephenson, conjured emotions I hadn’t felt before from a book. Reading about the political influence the KKK had and what I could have been if it hadn’t been for one brave woman was scary and almost seems fictional.
Even if you aren’t a massive fan of historical books, this book teaches so much about American politics and motivations from the early 20th century. Highly recommend.
Shoutout Doc Arendt for the book recommendation!
Research Paper
My curiosity from meeting so many crypto enthusiasts at ETH Toronto led me to dissect this paper on taking a traditional approach to developing a formula for valuing cryptocurrencies. Never did I think this was possible, but this research paper defined logical parameters to do so. It then applied these parameters to Bitcoin and XRP as case studies.
Interesting food for thought.
Podcast
We are in a fun time.
The year before the US federal election is always entertaining and I am particularly intrigued by this election because of the massive issues these GOP candidates are having to address.
Even if you are completely unfamiliar with politics, please give this a listen and you will learn a TON both about Vivek and the current state of US politics. Like all media sources, this podcast definitely has its biases so make your own decisions based on the opinions you hear in this episode.
What’s to come in September…
Back to school
I have some interesting decisions ahead of me. I am entering my senior year this week, meaning the next step of my life will most likely be University. I am both enjoying and dreading navigating the college decision process, but am excited about where I end up in the next 12 months.
Competing in Canada’s biggest hackathon
In September, I will be joining a team at Hack The North at the University of Waterloo to compete in a 48-hour hackathon. I am super excited about the project I will work on, the people I will meet, and the long-term relationships I will make with my team.
Demo my work from BloXroute
As I close out my internship with BloXrotue, I will demo my work for the team. I may be able to share some of my work here. Stay tuned for an update next month.
That’s all for summer 2023. I had a great time, learned a ton, and got to meet some really cool people. Be sure to subscribe so you can get future editions straight to your inbox!