Our 2024 Web3 Internship has officially come to an end. We recently handed out well-earned diplomas to our two talented interns, Toni Grbić and Dominik Gabela, who successfully completed the program and wrapped up their project. While many IT companies offer internships, our program stands out with its hands-on approach and focus on real-world projects. In this blog, we’ll dive into Toni and Dominik’s experiences, challenges, and growth during the internship. Check it out!

Let's talk Web3 Internship

Web3 Internship is a 2-month program designed to give students a unique opportunity to join a professional team and work on projects that will go into production. This year, Toni and Dominik worked on developing a Web3-enabled Telegram Mini App, where they gained experience with technologies like CSS, HTML, React, and Solidity. Under the mentorship of Kristina Ramljak and Marija Vuco, they navigated the complexities of Web3 frontend development, smart contracts, and collaboration tools like Trello and Figma.

Through this internship, we aim to provide young developers with a comprehensive learning experience that not only enhances their technical skills but also prepares them for real-world challenges in the Web3 space. Now, let’s hear directly from Toni and Dominik about their journey, the lessons they learned, and how this experience has shaped their perspectives on Web3 development.

Chat with the Interns

1. Can you tell us about the project you worked on during the Internship and the technologies you used?

Toni: For this Web3 internship I worked on making a Telegram Mini App tapping game alongside my colleague Dominik. It features Telegram authentication, a tapping page where users tap each day on a big button to gain points, a leaderboard page and a profile page where the user can see their info such as their total points, tier and a task list.

When the user passes thresholds for a certain number of taps they progress through different tiers, starting from no tier all the way to Diamond tier. On top of that there is Web3 integration with wallet connect. It will allow users to redeem NFT-s for their tier achievements.

Dominik: The project I worked on was a fullstack web application built using Next.js, NestJS and Prisma, meant to run inside the Telegram messaging application.The application encourages users to earn GEM points by tapping their screen on a central animated graphics segment. Accumulating the points, the user can move through tiers(from no tier to diamond tier), check the rankings of all users and unlock different rewards, such as claiming NFT’s based on their tier and connecting a wallet.

2. What was your first day like as an intern? How did it feel starting out?

Toni Grbić: On the first day me and Dominik had a meeting with Mislav and Nebojša alongside our mentors Marija and Kristina who introduced us to the internship program and the project that we will be working on. After the meeting we worked on setting up our dev environments on mac pros. After the first day I felt excited to continue the internship.

It was a bit new and strange at first because this was my first time working on site in a software development firm. Fortunately, everyone was very welcoming, so I quickly got used to it. What was also new to me was working on a mac pro. It took me a couple of days to adjust, but now I can definitely say that I like working on a mac laptop.

Dominik: My first day was very exciting, not knowing fully what to expect. We sat down in a meeting with our mentors where the project idea was explained to us in detail, then we were given some time to meet our colleagues and set up our working environment. Once set up, we started working on our first tasks for our project, guided by our mentors.

3. How did the mentorship from the team impact your learning and development?

Toni Grbić: Marija and Kristina were very helpful in guiding us in the right direction and giving advice about certain technologies, tools and code adjustments through code reviews. We had daily meetings where we planned what to do next and discussed the problems or questions we were facing.

I can definitely say that the mentorship impacted me a lot in improving my communication skills, learning new technologies and making me all around a better software developer. Big thanks once again to our mentors.

Dominik: I can say I really learned a lot from our mentors. From the first task and problem I encountered, each question I had they were ready to take on and explain in detail, from which I gained valuable insight into different approaches to solving problems, code best practices through code reviews and communication in general.

4. What was your favourite part of the Internship, and which technology or skill did you enjoy learning the most?

Toni: My favourite part was implementing the Telegram authentication and making our web app run on Telegram. There were some challenges along the way, but when it finally all came together at the end it felt rewarding. Apart from that I also learned to use React Query library with Next.js server side rendering and learned more about Web3 integrations like wallet connect.

Dominik: My favourite part of the Internship was seeing our project grow task by task while learning something new every day. I enjoyed learning the backend part of the project using NestJS and Prisma, which was a part I did not have a lot of experience in and wanted to improve.

5. Would you recommend this Web3 internship to others? What makes it a valuable experience?

Toni: Yes, I highly recommend it if you already have some experience in frontend and backend development and are interested in learning more. I think it’s a great opportunity for you to grow as a software developer and explore more about Web3. After the internship I can confidently say that I feel more competent in my role as a software developer.

Dominik: I would definitely recommend the internship to others. As someone who never worked in a company, I gained insight into how it feels to work in a team on a real project and how it differs from solo projects, communicating with the mentors, while also learning the company’s code organisation and best practices and also taking on technologies I never used before.

6. How do you feel this internship has prepared you for your future in Web3 development?

Toni: I think for me, there is still a lot to learn regarding Web3 because I had no prior experience in it, but this internship gave me a solid foundation for learning more about it in the future and for working on Web3 projects.

Dominik: I feel the internship prepared me well for my future challenges because I gained a lot of valuable knowledge in different technologies and best practices used in modern Web3 development.

Final thoughts

Web3 Internship offers a hands-on learning experience that empowers young developers to step into the world of Web3 and software development. Through mentorship, real-world projects, and a supportive community, our interns leave with new skills, knowledge, and a clear path forward in their careers. We’re incredibly proud of Toni and Dominik’s achievements and look forward to seeing where their journey takes them next. If you’re interested in joining our next internship program, follow us on Facebook, Instagram Linkedin, and Twitter and get notified when the applications open. To learn more about Web3 Internship, you can visit this page. Let’s build the future of Web3 together!