Raj⚡ Maitra
CEO
Bitshala
Pre-Bitcoin:
Graduated M.Tech in Structural Engineering in 2016, from IIT Madras.
Worked as a professional Structural Engineer for offshore oil rigs, water treatment plants, bridges, and metro viaducts. 2016-2021.
Found Bitcoin in 2017 at the dusk of the Blocksize War. Fell in love with the whole idea and started studying deeper. My journey has been entirely self-taught, where I taught myself the history of money, the principles of Austrian economics, and eventually cryptography and maths.
Over time the Bitcoin obsession became so big, that I started learning to code. Eventually, I became good enough to start contributing to Bitcoin FOSS projects. Which landed my first part-time gig at RGB and my first little contributions to Bitcoin Core, in 2020.
My journey self-studying at that time I documented in this blog: https://www.citadel21.com/from-hello-world-to-bitcoin-core
Left my structural engineering career completely to work on Bitcoiin full-time by being blessed as the first recipient of the Spiral Dev Grant from India, in 2021.
Since then my passion for Bitcoin has led me into an ongoing rabbit hole and it has become my life mission to contribute back to the Freedom Industry, in whatever way best I can.
Post Bitcoin:
Developer Works:
Bitcoin Core Contributor: 2020-2021
Developer at RGB: 2020-2021
Developer at BDK: 20021-2023
Lead Dev and PM in Coiinswap: 2023 onwards.
Community Works:
Cofounded the first Indian Bitcoin-Only Telegram channel: 2018.
Organized the first Bitcoin-Only Meetup in Bangalore: 2019.
Organized the first Biitcoiin-Only meetup in Goa: 2022.
Organized the Technical Track of the first Bitcoin-Only Conference in India: 2022.
Educational Works:
Mentor at Summer of Bitcoin: Since 2022
Started building Bitshala: 2023.
Blogs: https://rajarshi149.medium.com/
Bitshala:
At Bitshala we organize a package of educational activities to train the upcoming Bitcoin developers. We offer a roadmap to aspiring developers, reducing the barrier to entry in Bitcoiin FOSS, and finally get them started with a paid Felklowshiip Program to start professional contributions to real Biitcoiin FOSS projects.
Find more details here: https://bitshala.org/
My Twitter: https://x.com/RajarshiMaitra
Presentation Description:
The presentation will be on Bitshala, explaining its objective, mission, and models.
I will brief about all the programs we take up at Bitshala. The roadmap to becoming a Bitcoin development, and how people can start getting involved.
I will talk a bit about the FOSS Dev mindset, soft-skills required to be a FOSS dev, and tips on selecting FOSS projects to start contributing.
The talk concludes with a concrete roadmap for aspiring developers in the room to start taking Bitcoin FOSS as a viable career alternative.
Graduated M.Tech in Structural Engineering in 2016, from IIT Madras.
Worked as a professional Structural Engineer for offshore oil rigs, water treatment plants, bridges, and metro viaducts. 2016-2021.
Found Bitcoin in 2017 at the dusk of the Blocksize War. Fell in love with the whole idea and started studying deeper. My journey has been entirely self-taught, where I taught myself the history of money, the principles of Austrian economics, and eventually cryptography and maths.
Over time the Bitcoin obsession became so big, that I started learning to code. Eventually, I became good enough to start contributing to Bitcoin FOSS projects. Which landed my first part-time gig at RGB and my first little contributions to Bitcoin Core, in 2020.
My journey self-studying at that time I documented in this blog: https://www.citadel21.com/from-hello-world-to-bitcoin-core
Left my structural engineering career completely to work on Bitcoiin full-time by being blessed as the first recipient of the Spiral Dev Grant from India, in 2021.
Since then my passion for Bitcoin has led me into an ongoing rabbit hole and it has become my life mission to contribute back to the Freedom Industry, in whatever way best I can.
Post Bitcoin:
Developer Works:
Bitcoin Core Contributor: 2020-2021
Developer at RGB: 2020-2021
Developer at BDK: 20021-2023
Lead Dev and PM in Coiinswap: 2023 onwards.
Community Works:
Cofounded the first Indian Bitcoin-Only Telegram channel: 2018.
Organized the first Bitcoin-Only Meetup in Bangalore: 2019.
Organized the first Biitcoiin-Only meetup in Goa: 2022.
Organized the Technical Track of the first Bitcoin-Only Conference in India: 2022.
Educational Works:
Mentor at Summer of Bitcoin: Since 2022
Started building Bitshala: 2023.
Blogs: https://rajarshi149.medium.com/
Bitshala:
At Bitshala we organize a package of educational activities to train the upcoming Bitcoin developers. We offer a roadmap to aspiring developers, reducing the barrier to entry in Bitcoiin FOSS, and finally get them started with a paid Felklowshiip Program to start professional contributions to real Biitcoiin FOSS projects.
Find more details here: https://bitshala.org/
My Twitter: https://x.com/RajarshiMaitra
Presentation Description:
The presentation will be on Bitshala, explaining its objective, mission, and models.
I will brief about all the programs we take up at Bitshala. The roadmap to becoming a Bitcoin development, and how people can start getting involved.
I will talk a bit about the FOSS Dev mindset, soft-skills required to be a FOSS dev, and tips on selecting FOSS projects to start contributing.
The talk concludes with a concrete roadmap for aspiring developers in the room to start taking Bitcoin FOSS as a viable career alternative.