I used to see Web3 developers as mystery men.
People with deep knowledge of cryptography, blockchains, wallets, distributed systems, and concepts that looked impossible to understand unless you had spent years in the space.
Meanwhile, there was me — a regular Web2 developer building traditional backend servers and frontend applications while quietly avoiding anything related to Web3.
Sometime last week, while researching open source opportunities as a developer, I stumbled on the 100 Days of Solana Challenge on MLH.
(And yes, I genuinely love open source. If you have a good project, call me 😂)
The Surprise
What shocked me the most was how familiar many of the concepts felt.
Creating public and private keys suddenly clicked because I already had some understanding of SSH keys from Web2 development.
I realized Web3 wasn’t some completely alien world after all.
I was able to:
- Run the Solana CLI locally
- Work with the Solana SDK
- Understand wallet connections
- Interact with blockchain transactions
Now I can:
- Build a Web3 application that connects to a Solana wallet like Phantom Wallet
- Build applications that display wallet transaction history
- Understand the basics of how wallets and accounts work on Solana
Challenges So Far
1. Starting Late
I joined the challenge late.
Right now, I’m on Day 12 while the official challenge is already around Day 25.
That means I’ve been doing about 3–4 challenges daily just to catch up.
Trying to balance that with a 9–5 job has honestly been tough.
2. Frontend Integration
Another challenge has been frontend integration.
I naturally prefer working with React and Next.js, so switching into examples using plain Vanilla JavaScript sometimes slows me down a bit.
Still, I’m figuring it out gradually.
What I’ve Learned
The biggest lesson so far is this:
Web3 is not as impossible as it looks from the outside.
A lot of concepts actually connect back to things many Web2 developers already know.
You just need to start.
I’m excited for more challenges and even more excited about the possibilities of what I can build moving forward.
I’m inspired.
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