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Hemapriya Kanagala for The DEVengers

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Dev Opportunity Radar #3: Neo Scholars, a $2M AI Challenge, and an $85K AI Fellowship

Features free Google AI courses and Web3 guides

TL;DR

Welcome back to Dev Opportunity Radar.

This is a weekly series where I share opportunities, resources, communities, and interesting finds that I come across, with the goal of helping people discover things they might otherwise miss.

This week's edition includes a student-focused founder program, a $2 million AI business challenge, a free Google AI agents course, a Web3 learning resource, and two community finds shared by community members.

If you've come across an opportunity, resource, community, program, or event that deserves more attention, feel free to share it in the comments.

If I feature it in a future edition, I'll make sure to credit you. If you discovered it, that recognition belongs to you.


Table of Contents


⚑ Quick Scan

Opportunities

Opportunity Organization Type Deadline
Neo Scholars Neo Founder & Career Program June 14
Gemini Γ— XPRIZE AI Business Challenge Google & XPRIZE AI Business Challenge Aug 18
5-Day AI Agents Intensive Course Google & Kaggle Free AI Course June 15-19

Resource Highlight

Resource Type
LearnWeb3 Free Web3 learning platform with structured courses and projects

Community Finds

Shared By Find Type Deadline
Julien Avezou (@javz) AI Tinkerers AI Builder Community Ongoing
Phinn Markson (@marsonp) Claude Corps AI Fellowship July 17
Francis (@francistrdev) Hacking for Good Global Hack Week June 18

πŸ”„ Still Open From Previous Editions

A few opportunities from previous editions are still accepting applications.

I've already covered these in detail, so I won't repeat everything here. If any of them catch your attention, check the original edition for the full overview, eligibility details, and application links.

Opportunity Organization Type Deadline Featured In
FR8 FR8 Builder Residency Rolling Edition #2
Interactivity Research Grants Thinking Machines Research Grant ($100K) June 19, 2026 Edition #1

πŸ“‘ Radar Follow-Up

One of the things I hoped this series would do was help someone discover an opportunity they otherwise wouldn't have come across.

Last week, Daniel Nwaneri (@dannwaneri) shared that he discovered the FR8 residency through the radar and applied the same day.

That genuinely made my week.

Daniel also shared something that summed up what I'm trying to do with this series:

"The series does something most opportunity roundups don't. It actually explains why something is worth your time instead of just listing it."

There are already lots of places that collect links.

My goal is to add enough context that you can quickly decide whether something is actually worth exploring further.

Seeing someone discover an opportunity, take action on it, and then come back to share that experience felt like a reminder that the series is doing what I hoped it would do.

Thank you again, Daniel, for sharing the update and for letting me mention it here.

And Daniel, if you're reading this, wishing you the very best with your application.


πŸ“ This Week's Opportunities

Here are a few opportunities I came across this week that I thought were worth sharing.

πŸ“Œ Neo Scholars

Who it's for: Undergraduate students who enjoy building things, love computer science, and are interested in startups, entrepreneurship, or ambitious technical projects.

Neo combines mentorship, startup recruiting, founder support, and access to a strong network of builders all within a single program.

Accepted scholars gain access to mentorship, startup opportunities, recruiting support, events, and a community that includes founders and builders from companies like Cursor, Cognition, Chai Discovery, Applied Compute, and more.

One thing I particularly liked is that participants aren't being pushed into a single path. Whether you want to start something, join a startup, explore ideas, or simply meet ambitious people, there seems to be room for all of those outcomes.

There's also an optional Neo Residency program where student teams can receive a $40,000 equity-free grant and spend time building in San Francisco.

Who can apply: Undergraduate students graduating Winter 2026 or later.

Application Deadline: June 14, 2026

πŸ”— Learn More & Apply


πŸ“Œ Gemini Γ— XPRIZE AI Business Challenge

Who it's for: Builders, founders, developers, students, and anyone interested in creating an AI-powered business.

Participants aren't just building a prototype.

They're expected to build something that reaches real users, solves a real problem, and generates real revenue.

The challenge focuses on businesses powered by AI agents and built using Google Cloud products.

Projects can be submitted across areas including education and human potential, entrepreneurship and job creation, small business services, financial access, and professional services.

I actually came across this later than I would have liked, but the good news is that there's still plenty of time left.

If you've been thinking about building something meaningful with AI rather than just experimenting with prompts, this might be worth looking into.

Prize Pool: $2,000,000

Grand Prize: $500,000

Deadline: August 18, 2026

πŸ”— Learn More & Join


🎁 Bonus Opportunity

5-Day AI Agents Intensive Course with Google

Who it's for: Developers, students, builders, and anyone interested in learning how modern AI agents are designed, built, and deployed.

The course goes beyond basic prompting and focuses on practical topics like agent workflows, tool use, memory, evaluation, security, and deployment.

The program is hosted by Kaggle and developed with Google researchers and engineers.

Participants receive daily learning materials, whitepapers, companion podcasts, hands-on codelabs, daily livestreams and AMAs, Discord discussions, and a capstone project.

The capstone project, called Kaggriculture, involves building an autonomous agent that manages a virtual farm and competes against other agents.

I wanted to include this because it's free, happening soon, and seems much more focused on building real agent systems than many introductory AI courses.

Dates: June 15-19, 2026

Capstone Deadline: June 28, 2026

Cost: Free

Bonus: Certificates, badges, and Kaggle swag for top participants.

πŸ”— Learn More & Register


πŸ“š Resources Worth Checking Out

Not every useful find comes with an application deadline.

Here's one resource worth checking out this week.

LearnWeb3

LearnWeb3 is a free learning platform for developers who want to explore blockchain and Web3 development.

The reason I wanted to include it is because a lot of learning resources assume you already know where to start. LearnWeb3 does a good job of organizing topics into structured learning paths, making it easier to progress from one concept to the next.

The platform covers areas such as Ethereum development, Solidity, smart contracts, blockchain infrastructure, and other Web3 fundamentals through a mix of lessons, projects, and hands-on learning.

Whether you're completely new to Web3 or looking to build a stronger foundation, it's a resource worth bookmarking.

Cost: Free

Community: Discord, study groups, events, and developer support.

πŸ”— LearnWeb3


🌟 Community Finds

One of my favorite things about this series has been seeing people share opportunities, communities, and resources that others might not have discovered otherwise.

AI Tinkerers

Shared by Julien Avezou (@javz).

AI Tinkerers is a global community for people actively building with AI. They host meetups, demo nights, hackathons, workshops, and technical events across hundreds of cities worldwide.

What I like about it is how focused it is on builders. The community is built around sharing working projects, technical workflows, lessons learned, and real implementation details rather than AI hype or marketing.

Whether you're building with foundation models, agentic workflows, open-source models, or no-code AI tools, the focus is the same: show what you're building, explain how it works, and learn from others doing the same.

If you're someone who learns best by seeing what other builders are creating and sharing your own work, this looks like a community worth exploring.

Who it's for: Developers, engineers, researchers, builders, and people actively shipping AI projects

Cost: Free to join (event availability varies by city)

πŸ”— AI Tinkerers


Claude Corps

Shared by Phinn Markson (@marsonp).

Claude Corps is a new fellowship from Anthropic, CodePath, and Social Finance that places early-career fellows inside mission-driven nonprofits across the United States for a full year.

Rather than learning AI in a classroom, fellows work directly with organizations tackling challenges in areas like education, public health, workforce development, housing, food security, civic services, and more.

There is no degree requirement and no formal coding background is required. The program is looking for people who are already comfortable using AI tools, learn quickly, communicate well, and care about making an impact.

Fellows receive training, mentorship, relocation support if needed, and spend a year helping organizations put AI to work on real problems.

Compensation: $85,000 salary + benefits

Eligibility: 18+, authorized to work in the United States, and less than 2 years of full-time work experience

Application Deadline: July 17, 2026

πŸ”— Claude Corps


Hacking for Good

Shared by Francis (@francistrdev).

MLH's Global Hack Week is running a special Hacking for Good edition from June 12–18.

Global Hack Week is a week-long online event where participants complete challenges, attend live sessions, learn new technologies, and build projects alongside a global community of developers.

This particular edition is focused on using technology to create projects that have a positive impact.

One reason I wanted to include it is that Global Hack Week tends to be much more approachable than a traditional hackathon. You don't need a team, prior hackathon experience, or even a strong technical background to participate.

Whether you're looking to learn something new, build a small project, or simply meet other developers, it's a good opportunity to get involved.

Dates: June 12-18, 2026

Cost: Free

Who can participate: Anyone, anywhere

πŸ”— Hacking for Good


Thank you to Julien, Phinn, and Francis for sharing these.

I'd love for this section to keep growing.

If you've come across an opportunity, fellowship, grant, hackathon, conference, community, resource, or anything else you think more people should know about, feel free to share it in the comments.

If I feature it in a future edition, I'll make sure to credit you. If you discovered it, that recognition belongs to you.

One small request: If you're sharing an opportunity, please avoid posting raw URLs directly in the comments. DEV sometimes filters them before I get a chance to see them.

A short description alongside the link makes it much easier for me to review and potentially feature it in a future edition.


πŸ‘‹ Until Next Friday

Before I go, I just want to say thank you.

A few weeks ago, this was just an experiment.

Now people are discovering opportunities through the radar, applying to them, and sharing opportunities, resources, and communities back with the rest of us.

This week alone, the Community Finds section exists because Julien, Phinn, and Francis took the time to share something they thought others might benefit from.

I hope that continues.

The goal of this series hasn't changed:

Help people discover opportunities they otherwise might have missed.

My hope is that this slowly becomes our radar, not just mine.

So if you come across an opportunity, fellowship, grant, hackathon, conference, community, resource, or anything else you think more people should know about, feel free to share it in the comments.

And as always, if I feature it in a future edition, I'll make sure to credit you. If you discovered it, that recognition belongs to you.

If you end up applying to any of the opportunities featured here, I'd love to hear about it.

Thank you for reading, thank you for sharing, and thank you for being part of this.

If you'd like to catch future editions, consider following me on DEV and bookmarking the series.

I'll be back next Friday with more opportunities, resources, and community finds.

See you next Friday πŸ‘‹

Top comments (10)

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hemapriya_kanagala profile image
Hemapriya Kanagala The DEVengers

What opportunities, communities, grants, fellowships, hackathons, conferences, or resources have you come across recently that deserve more attention?

I am always looking for things to include in future editions, so feel free to share anything interesting you have found. If I feature one of your finds in a future edition, I will make sure to credit you.

Small request: If you're sharing a link, please avoid posting raw URLs directly. DEV sometimes filters them before I get a chance to see the comment.

Instead, use the opportunity name as the link text, for example: [Flow Fellowship](https://example.com) and include a short description of what it is.

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francistrdev profile image
FrancisTRᴅᴇᴠ (っ◔◑◔)っ The DEVengers

It is good to mention that MLH is now starting Hacking for Good right now until the 18th! Good opportunity for people to build some good projects!

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hemapriya_kanagala profile image
Hemapriya Kanagala The DEVengers

Thank you for sharing this, Francis!

Since it's time-sensitive and already underway, I went ahead and added it to the Community Finds section of Edition #3 so more people can see it while there's still time to participate.

I've also credited you for the find. Really appreciate you sharing it πŸ˜„

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francistrdev profile image
FrancisTRᴅᴇᴠ (っ◔◑◔)っ The DEVengers

Yea that's fair! Thanks for adding!

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francistrdev profile image
FrancisTRᴅᴇᴠ (っ◔◑◔)っ The DEVengers

Great share Hemapriya! Was waiting for this lol.

Can't wait for next week!

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hemapriya_kanagala profile image
Hemapriya Kanagala The DEVengers

Thank you, Francis πŸ˜„
See you next week.

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dannwaneri profile image
Daniel Nwaneri

saw the follow-up section. didn't expect that.

what you said about adding context instead of just listing links . That's exactly what makes the difference between something people bookmark and something people actually act on. glad it came across.

on to radar #4.

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hemapriya_kanagala profile image
Hemapriya Kanagala The DEVengers

Haha, I was hoping you'd see it!

And thank you for sharing that comment in the first place. It ended up capturing what I'm trying to do with the series better than I could have explained it myself.

Also, good luck with the FR8 application.

On to Radar #4 πŸ˜„

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javz profile image
Julien Avezou The DEVengers

Great edition! Very nice that you mention AI Tinkerers, I have really been enjoying their events in my city. Hopefully others can check out their events happening close to their own home.

Looking forward to next week's edition with more community finds!

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hemapriya_kanagala profile image
Hemapriya Kanagala The DEVengers

Thank you, Julien πŸ˜„

And thank you again for sharing AI Tinkerers. It ended up being one of my favorite additions to this edition.

I honestly wasn't expecting the Community Finds section to start growing this quickly, but seeing people share opportunities, resources, and communities they enjoy has been really fun.

Hopefully more people discover AI Tinkerers through this and find a local meetup near them.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone shares next week too!