My Plan to Be a Cracked Solidity Dev

Who am I?

I am the laziest person I know who also procrastinates a lot, but I surprisingly still get shit done, so it doesn’t seem like a problem right? I believe I’m actually in trouble. I want to become cracked at Solidity (the language) as quickly as possible, so I need to change my habits.

I believe I can do anything I set my heart on, but at the same time, I feel that my procrastination and inconsistency is significantly hindering me.

What is my goal?

I want to learn as much as possible about Solidity and the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) in the shortest time possible. I aim to understand how the EVM works at the bytecode level and gain a deep understanding of smart contracts on the mainnet and their interoperability with other EVM-compatible chains.

I want to finally get into smart contract auditing and i’ve set a goal to find many highs and at least one critical vulnerability before the end of the year, whether I get paid or not. Ultimately, I want to become skilled and recognized enough to do freelance audits.

👍:)

  • Good understanding of Ethereum/Blockchains

I have a solid grasp of Ethereum and blockchain technology. I’ve deployed multiple smart contracts and participated in audit contests, so I’m well-equipped beyond foundational levels and not starting from scratch.

  • I have a job

I work remotely as a frontend engineer in a fintech/payment processor startup, it’s moderately demanding (6+ hours daily) but it’s a decent job and I personally think it will help with consistency of writing code everyday.

  • Don’t particularly need money

I get paid decently at my job and got some money saved up. Living in a third-world country, my monthly expenses are low, so I don’t need to waste time doing side gigs or contracts for now. Will figure out a way to get more money if I need some.

👎):

  • I doomscroll twitter/DEXscreener

I spend hours staring at charts and alpha groups trying to catch the next play and I pick up my phone to check Twitter every chance I get because CT moves fast, and I don’t want to miss anything in the crypto space.

  • Shiny object syndrome

I’m always curious about shiny new tools in the ecosystem, waste days trying them out and then abandoning. Should get more comfortable with tooling and specialize.

  • Play a shit ton of chess and video games

Luckily, I’m not a fan of short-form content, but the time I save there tends to get eaten up by video games and chess. I tracked recently and realized I average 4 hours doing this daily. 4 HOURS??? deleted chess off my phone and would slowly 🥲 reduce how much video games I play.

My Plan for the Next Few Months

  • Build a habit of writing/reading Solidity code for 4 hours a day with undistracted focus.
  • Be extremely disciplined and consistent with what I set out to learn - I must not be distracted or pick up another language/tool.
  • Study EVM internals - Dedicate specific hours each week to studying the inner workings of the EVM, focusing on how it processes and executes smart contracts down to the bytecode level. Use resources like Ethereum’s yellow paper, online courses, and in-depth articles.
  • Read contest reports and try participating in a bunch of low SLOC contests.
  • Document my learning by writing a bunch of unfiltered thoughts here and publishing at least once a week.
  • Resources