Comment response to OpenGov Referenda #584 Polkadot Blockchain Academy (PBA) - Wave 5 in person and remote - Singapore

I actually prepared the bulk of this post just over a month ago, but decided not to post it at the time in the Referendum #584 so as to not jeapardise the proposal to fund the first remote cohort, and due to respect for those that created and built the PBA into what it is today, and because I do believe it is a great program. The reason I decided to post it now even though the proposal has been approved is so that we may reflect upon the questions and potential answers even if the PBA team does not wish to answer them.

Context of the Proposal

In the "Context of the Proposal" section of this PBA Referendum #584 proposal, it says the PBA "Remote Track" was introduced "ensuring broader access to developers, irrespective of geographical and time based constraints", but I have concerns with it, and as such, I prepared the following questions:

Questions

1. How do you accurately determine if PBA "Remote Track" students really would prefer to join remotely, or are only applying for it because they got rejected from different PBA track even though they'd actually prefer to join face-to-face, or would even be willing to self-fund being there?

2. Why don't you only allow PBA "Remote Track" students that provide evidence that they "need" to join remotely, and that it is simply not feasible for them to participate face-to-face in the near future?

3. It says you have "not yet decided if/how to make the the Technical Founders track specific content open-source". 3 a) Why does it say "if"? Why would you possibly decide not to make the Founders Track specific content open-source? Wouldn't have contradict "PBA's commitment to inclusivity and scalability"?

4. Why is it difficult to make the Founders Track specific content open-source? 4 a) Have any graduates of the Founders Track published a blog of the content?

5. Since there would likely be more applicants and competition in the PBA "Remote Track", particularly due to recent Polkadot marketing initiatives that would increase Polkadot's exposure. Is there an option to self-fund participation by prospective students of the PBA "Remote Track" that applied to the PBA "Remote Track" but that get rejected due to despite "passing" the Rust Qualifier Exam with at least 50% incase they still do not achieve a grade level high enough to to beat other candidates and get invited to interview stage to have a chance of being accepted?

   • Update: Applicants to the PBA "Remote Track" who received rejection emails 5 days ago even though they may have got over 70% in the Rust Qualifier Exam weren't also given their actual result to allow them to identify what answers they got incorrect to even know what they need to improve upon, as there aren't unit tests for all the exam questions for them to be able to self assess their performance.

Treasury Proposal Reporting

I have concerns that the reportables in the "Treasury Proposal Reporting" section of this PBA Referendum #584 proposal are inadequate, and should be improved to reinforce "PBA's commitment to inclusivity and scalability" and transparency, and as such, I prepared the following questions:

Questions

6. How many applicants had applied to the PBA "Remote Track" on 6th April 2024 when I originally drafted this post?

7. How many applicants had applied to the PBA "Remote Track" have applied in total now?

8. Given that a 71% result in the Rust Qualifier Exam for both the PBA "Developer Track" in Singapore Wave 5 and also in the PBA "Developer Track" in Hong Kong Wave 4 did not reach the level required to take part in the PBA, why aren't the actual grade levels that is required to take part in each cohort published for prior cohorts in the proposal so the "accessibility" of the course across cohorts may be evaluated? 8 a) How many past students and what proportion of them have been notified of their Rust Qualifier Exam grade result in each cohort, and were they only informed of their actual result after they specifically requested it from the PBA Admissions team?

9. Did you ever collect feedback from "unsuccessful" applicants whose Rust Qualifier Exam results did not reach a level required to take part in PBA at prior cohorts for "ensuring the continuity of PBA's mission to cultivate and nurture talent within the broader Ecosystem"? 9 a) I can't recall ever being asked to provide feedback as an "unsuccessful" applicant of Waves 3 to Wave 5. Why is that not published in appendices of the "Supporting Data & Information" or in "Appendix 4: Quantitative & Qualitative Impact Assessment" of your proposal? 9 a) i) In the "Treasury Proposal Reporting" section, it only says "We will continue to collect feedback and testimonials from both Alumni and ecosystem teams to help us shape the future of the PBA". Why doesn't the PBA care to collect feedback from unsuccessful applicants? * Note: In the "Impact of the PBA On the Ecosystem to Date" section it says "Importantly we aim to engage with the community to make sure that our product fits the needs of the ecosystem as closely as possible" * Note: In contrast I just finished mentoring at EthGlobal EthSydney and they provided feedback forms to hackers, mentors, volunteers, and other attendees to improve their future events

10. Where have you detailed your investigations into all the "unsuccessful" PBA applicants from previous cohorts that have persistently reapplied for subsequent PBA cohorts and keep getting repeatedly rejected for various reasons?

11. In your proposal you show what happened to those that were "accepted" into the PBA, but why don't you show the outcomes of the off-boarding procedure, such as what happened to prospective students that applied to the PBA but were "unsuccessful" and rejected because they either got at least a pass grade in the Rust Qualifier Exam but where that still was not enough to reach a level required to take part in PBA, or those that reached the level required in the Rust Qualifier Exam but failed the interview?

12. What is the total number of unique prospective students that have applied in to the PBA across all past cohorts, that were "unsuccessful" and rejected, where they actually passed the Rust Qualifier Exam, but were rejected because it is highly competitive and they still didn't not reaching a high enough grade level (e.g. 71% or higher) to progress to the interview stage or be accepted into the PBA? 12 a) How many of them have applied to all subsequent PBA cohorts after their first rejection but still haven't been accepted into the PBA? 12 b) How many of them applied to a subsequent PBA cohort and were accepted? 12 b) i) How many attempts were made by those they were ultimately accepted, and why were they ultimately accepted, what did they do differently? 12 c) How many of them still haven't been accepted into the PBA? 12 d) How many of those that were reject subsequently undertook studies associated with blockchains outside the Polkadot ecosystem instead? 12 e) How many of them have studied the PBA book that is freely accessible online? https://polkadot-blockchain-academy.github.io/pba-book/index.html 12 e) i) Have they have completed or even contributed to the Moonbeam Academy, the Robonomics academy, Polkadot.study, or the Kusama.academy?

• Case Study:
  • I applied for the PBA Cambridge Wave 1 "Developers Track" cohort (Aug 2022) and passed the interview stage (seemingly in good standing, as I the interviewer said they felt that with my background I could help refine their curriculum), but sadly after that I didn't have time to submit the technical challenge or attend anymore due to personal reasons so I pulled out.
  • Note: I think the 1st and 2nd cohorts were my only real opportunity to participate face-to-face in the PBA "Developer Track" since I may have been able to help refine their curriculum, particularly since the PBA is more of a Web2-to-Web3 recruitment pathway into the Polkadot ecosystem (and I was already recruited into Web3 long ago), and as Shawn Tabrizi put it "the best people for the academy are engineers who are working in Web2, maybe are just breaking out into blockchain and are looking for a way to really get the fundamentals and knowledge of this space in a compact fast way ... its basically like a bootcamp for existing engineers to level themselves up into the Web3 space" https://x.com/TheKusamarian/status/1756423707935854909?s=20.
  • I applied for the PBA Buenos Aires Wave 2 "Developers Track" (Jan-Feb 2023) but I wasn't available to participate in the interview.
  • After that I applied for the PBA Berkeley Wave 3 "Developers Track" cohort (July 2023) where they switched to asking applicants to do the PBA Rust Qualifier Exam before the interview stage instead. I already felt my chances of getting in were slim to none since it's so close to Silicon Valley, yet I did the exam and made some contributions to it, but they rejected my application after the interview stage but did not specifically state the reason why (perhaps I was lucky to reach the interview stage due to the prevailing bear market at the time), but they at least confirmed that I got 71% in the PBA Rust Qualifier Exam, and only about ~75 out of ~400 applicants were accepted. Since I had kept July 2023 free in anticipation for being accepted into the PBA but got rejected, I instead enrolled in the Ethereum Protocol Fellowship Cohort 4 that went from Sept-Dec 2023, which actually evens offers to pay their students a stipend, but I refused to accept a stipend.
  • After that I applied for the PBA Hong Kong Wave 4 "Developers Track" cohort (Jan 2024) with similar Rust Qualifier Exam answers that would have been ~71% correct, but my application was rejected again seemingly on that basis, and I wasn't invited for interview.
  • I volunteered as a Polkadot Developer Heroes Program member after being approached in their Discord channel as seeking mentors that were proficient in various Polkadot technologies that were interested in volunteering to help hackathon teams during the EthDenver "The Blockspace" mini-hackathon from 26th Feb to 3rd March 2024.
  • After that I applied for the PBA Singapore Wave 5 "Founders Track" cohort (May 2024), but this time for the "Founders Track" instead of the "Developers Track" so even though I did the Rust Qualifier Exam again, I wouldn't just have my application rejected based on a ~71% Rust Qualifier Exam result. In my application my pitch was "leveraging my procurement experience to build a web3 procurement platform using Polkadot.js that integrates with OpenGov and on-chain DAO identities, providing an intuitive UI based on standards for bounty teams to publish proposals and for parent bounty curators to evaluate", which was actually mentioned in my Decentralized Futures (DF) application, but unfortunately I was on vacation and didn't respond in time to their email clarification to be further considered for the DF. PBA Admissions ended up responding that they were discontinuing the "Founders Track" and that I could submit the Rust Qualifier Exam yet again to be instead considered for the "Developers Track".
  • After that I applied for the PBA Singapore Wave 5 "Developers Track" cohort (May 2024), but again with similar Rust Qualifier Exam answers that would have been ~71% correct, my application was rejected seemingly on that basis, and I wasn't invited for interview.
  • Recently I applied for the PBA Singapore Wave 5 "Remote Track" cohort (May 2024), and I was invited to do the Rust Qualifier Exam yet again with a submission deadline on the 21st April 2024. I received an email saying that I was unsuccessful on 2nd May 2024. I still don't know precisely which of the questions that I submitted aren't absolutely correct to know how to improve my result since some questions don't have associated unit tests to self evaluate, and we're not supposed to ask anyone for help.

13. The questions in the Rust Qualifier Exam have hardly changed since the PBA Cambridge Wave 1 cohort (August 2022). In Waves 1 and 2 the interview stage was conducted before the Rust Qualifier Exam, but for subsequent PBA cohorts the Rust Qualifier Exam was conducted before the interview stage. 13 a) How many PBA Buenos Aires Wave 1 and PBA Cambridge Wave 2 applicants passed the interview stage but were rejected in the subsequent Rust Qualifier Exam? 13 b) What was the minimum grade level required in that Rust Qualifier Exam to be accepted into the PBA Buenos Aires Wave 1 and PBA Cambridge Wave 2 cohorts? 13 c) What was the highest Rust Qualifier Exam result from an applicant that was rejected due to their grade level in the PBA Buenos Aires Wave 1 and PBA Cambridge Wave 2 cohorts? What happened to them and other unsuccessful applicants that got at least a pass grade level of 50% in the Rust Qualifier Exam of those cohorts?

14. Why doesn't your proposal show how many students applied to each prior cohort compared to how many were actually accepted into each cohort, and why doesn't it mention specifically why those that weren't accepted were rejected? For example, for the PBA Berleley Wave 3 cohort apparently ~400 applicants applied but only ~75 were accepted, so >80% of applicants to that cohort got rejected.

15. Have you gone through the NAY votes associated with this PBA Referenda #584 Singapore and contacted the DOT holding voters that have an on-chain identity that voted ABSTAIN or NAY and used their contact details (at least 15 of them have provided an email address or X account) to find out why they voted that way to see how to improve the PBA? If so, where is that feedback published so DOT holders may gain that insight?

16. Have you gone through the NAY votes published here https://polkadot.subscan.io/referenda_v2_vote/586 associated with previous PBA Referenda #586 Hong Kong Wave 4 https://polkadot.polkassembly.io/treasury/586 and contacted the DOT holding voters that have an on-chain identity that voted NAY and used their contact details to find out why they voted that way to see how to improve the PBA? If so, where is that feedback in your proposal?

17. Have you gone through the NAY votes published here https://polkadot.subscan.io/referenda_v2_vote/179 associated with previous PBA Referenda #179 Berkeley Wave 3 https://polkadot.polkassembly.io/treasury/179 and contacted the DOT holding voters that have an on-chain identity that voted NAY and used their contact details to find out why they voted that way to see how to improve the PBA? If so, where is that feedback in your proposal?

Cost Breakdown

I believe the "Hybrid Cohort Costs" that are shown in the "Wave 5 Cost Breakdown" section of the proposal document should be submitted as a separate on-chain referenda that is associated with this referenda #584, where the proposal document is "Treasury Proposal Wave 5 Singapore In-Person & Remote" published here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K1hkkK7OYxZ1dhpLMC36lJuO5FBlhEe1dMtQYyNcHbQ/edit#heading=h.l03seqnwsavp

It obviously makes sense to incur the costs associated with running that PBA Remote pilot program during an in-person cohort, but I do not believe the PBA "Remote Track" costs are justified as being cost effective yet, particularly given such a small audience.

It says in your proposal that "The program is selecting 90 in person students and 50 to 100 remote students who will join via video and audio link.", and it says it's "exclusively for students who prefer to join us remotely" and "who may be unable for personal reasons to join onsite for the duration of the in-person wave".

The cost breakdown for the "Hybrid Cohort Costs" are curreent shown as follows:

Hybrid Cohort Costs | Live streaming equipment + AV/IT support | $ 11,581.75 | Remote classroom platform, AV Costs, Discord Nitro + Airtable, New website
Hybrid Cohort Costs | Marketing and admission costs | $ 17,460.00 | Outreach and interview process
Hybrid Cohort Costs | Teaching assistance to support 100-150 remote students | $ 9,055.00

Total PBA Remote Cost:
$38,096.75 USD

Total PBA Remote Cost per remote student (50 to 100 remote students in total)
~$253-380 USD

Currently even if you passed the Rust Qualifier Exam and got a result of 71% for the Hong Kong and Singapore cohorts you would still get an email saying that you did not reach a level required to take part in the PBA.

I kindly request answers to the following questions:

Questions

18. Why aren't the the PBA "Remote Track" costs higher to support more than 100-150 students, so it also includes students that achieve at least a pass grade in the Rust Qualifier Exam and that pass the interview (or have already passed prior interviews), but do not wish to have support from teaching assistants if that would overwhelm the limited number of teaching assistants that have exclusive access to the course?

19. Why does the "Marketing and admission costs" and "Outreach and interview process" cost $17,460.00? 19 a) Why can't that process be automated? 19 b) How has the PBA team gone about trying to automate that process?

20. Why weren't experienced Polkadot Developer Heroes Program members (before it was discontinued), or experienced Polkadot Ambassador Program members from the original "Developer Track", or even some Polkadot ecosystem OGs that already have extensive knowledge and experience that are open to volunteering in the PBA not invited to participate even just as remote volunteer teaching assistants in the Discord channels to support PBA "Remote Track" students? 21 a) Isn't the cost far too high and unjustified for this PBA "Remote Track" track for such a limited number of remote students, and couldn't the cost per remote student be drastically reduced whilst also achieving a far greater outreach by simply adopting measures like approaching these various Polkadot ecosystem "developer" human resources?

    • Note: I just recently participated in EthGlobal's EthSydney as a mentor and volunteer, and they even paid the volunteers a stipend even though they didn't expect to receive one. Likewise in contrast, the Ethereum Protocol Fellowship that is offered each year is permissionless, so even if you're not invited you're still able to participate. They even offer a stipend to some participants upfront, and approach some other participants to offer one depending on their performance and behaviour.

21. Why are Polkadot Developer Heroes Program members being approached to volunteer as mentors at Polkadot ecosystem hackathons even though they may not have even been able to reach a level required in the Rust Qualifier Exam to be invited to the interview stage to take part in the PBA "Developer Tracks" in Hong Kong and Singapore?

22. Isn't there a risk that PBA Admissions might unintentionally unnecessarily discriminate against PBA "Remote Track" students that achieve at least a "pass" grade in the Rust Qualifier Exam but that will still get an email similar to previous PBA cohorts that says that they did not reach a level required to take part in the PBA, even if they get a higher grade of say 71% due to the unnecessarily limited number of students allowed in the intake?

23. Is there a reason why you can't segregate the one-off establishment costs associated "New website" and "Remote classroom platform" that may be reused in future hybrid cohorts, from the costs associated with this Wave 5 cohort that include "AV Costs, Discord Nitro + Airtable".

24. Why isn't there a separate item for "Marketing and admission costs | Outreach and interview process" associated with the "In-Person Cohort" like there is for the "Hybrid Cohort Costs"?

25. What are the details about the "DotGov Workshop"? Was that invitation only for those accepted into the PBA? Is the workshop content going to be publicly published?

26. How are the "carbon offset" costs justified that are shown in the table row "Staff Costs | PBA staff travel costs | $ 29,840.00 | Flight tickets for staff + carbon offset"? 26 a) What airlines are being used? What proportion of the fare comprises the carbon offset amount? 26 a) i) Is there proof that there is any evidence that their carbon offsetting projects have not actually reduced deforestation? 26 a) ii) Is there evidence that that their carbon offsetting projects that have seen some reduction are not as effective as they claim to be?

27. Is the printing of signing going to be from recycled materials (as shown in the table row "Events & Collateral | Signage & On-prem | $ 703.35 | Printing of signage")?

28. What proportion of the costs associated with the photography and videos are associated with course content that will ultimately be made available to the publicly eventually, rather than being withheld from viewing by unsuccessful applicants and OpenGov DOT holders like in the past couple of cohorts (as shown in the table row "Events & Collateral | Photography & Video | $ 34,860.00 | Photo and video production for the event")?

29. Are the costs associated with table rows that have "PBA staff" mentioned in them only associated with staff that are from Parity, Web3 Foundation and other ecosystem partners? 29 a) How many PBA staff (only those Parity, Web3 Foundation and other ecosystem partners) are involved in total? Is there 34 in-person staff and instructors in total as mentioned in my question 34 a)?

30. Who are the instructors associated with the row "Instructor Compensation and Travel" that are not from Parity, Web3 Foundation and other ecosystem partners? 30 a) Why aren't they considered ecosystem partners if they are going to be instructors at the PBA, why isn't contributing to the PBA good enough to be considered an ecosystem partner? 30 b) i) How many instructors are associated with the table row "Instructor Compensation and Travel"?

31. How many of the PBA Singapore Wave 5 students are Singaporean Citizens?

32. Is the Ministry of Education Tuition Grant (MOE) going to subsidise any of the course PBA course fees that are going to be held at the National University of Singapore (NUS) for Singaporean Citizens that participate and haven't used the grant before (to cut 50-80% of the course fee)? 32 a) If so, is the total of all grants going to be returned to the Polkadot Treasury?

33. Is it possible for non-Singaporeans (PRs and foreigners) to also apply for the MOE Tuition Grant to cover a proportion of their PBA course fees (smaller subsidy than for Singaporean Citizens) on the basis that once it's granted they'd have to work for a Singapore entity for 3 years after PBA graduation?

34. Why is a prize pool warranted to "spur them on and keep their motivation up with their project's development" for the Top 4 projects from PBA Singapore Wave 5 as mentioned in OpenGov Post #2292 https://polkadot.polkassembly.io/post/2292? 34 a) In light of OpenGov Post #2292 https://polkadot.polkassembly.io/post/2292, why isn't there also prize pool warranted for the Top 4 unsuccessful PBA applicants to "spur them on and keep their motivation up ..." in their continued pursuit of trying to "reach a level required to take part in PBA"? 35 b) If they receive other incentives of monetary value like prizes associated with their project at the end of the PBA to "spur them on and keep their motivation up ...", then would they be required to refund the prize pool that they received from the Polkadot treasury if those other incentives exceed a certain monetary value and are received within a certain timeframe after they finish the PBA so there aren't "double spends" or more to "spur them on and keep their motivation up ..."?

35. What is the hotel that is being used for student accommodation? 35 a) Since it says the budget is 3,833 room nights, and 2,790 room nights would accommodate the 90 in-person students, I assume there are going to be 1043 room nights for all PBA staff and instructors, so there is likely going to be 34 in-person staff and instructors in total.

36. Why does it say that in-person graduates will receive a certificate noting that they attended in person but that remote gradutates do not?