My name is Shemar Abel (pronounced Shem-ar Aye-bell), and I am 21 years old as of January 2023. Born on the twin island of Antigua and Barbuda, I have always had the pleasure to be close to nature. This inspired me to want to create something for myself as well, leading me to dabble in art in high school and finally to begin to pursue a career in Computer Science.
What I am Working On
Armed with this desire to enrich myself in the field, I began to do some minor learning on my own in different fields of the topic. This led to me doing Robotics workshops and helping a Robotics team, which then led to the opportunity to pursue cyber security.
I began my study into cyber security on my own and got the opportunity to study it with a local venture called Antigua Recon where I then got greater exposure to the environment and gained a higher appreciation for data privacy. From there I began to seek higher education in Computer Science and Management at The University of the West Indies: Five Islands Campus located locally on the island (UWIFIC).
Now that I have officially started this journey, I have had the pleasure to meet new like-minded individuals that share the same interest as me. With their help, I have begun to form a club that will seek to solve technological problems within not only the institution but the island and region. We call it the Technology Research and Development club. That’s just a little glimpse into what I am currently up to though.
What Is Captivating Me Now
That’s enough of what I am currently working on. Let’s talk about what has me captivated right now, Blockchain and Web3 technology. I first heard about this technology a few years ago when I was invited to a seminar on it locally in Antigua, by a friend of mine. The seminar introduced me to some of the basic information on the topic and some of its running applications then.
They introduced me to smart contracts, and various forms of cryptocurrencies and explained their volatile nature and market to me. I found it interesting at the time, but it still had not captivated me at that time. I was still uncertain about what I wanted back then.
However, this year I got invited to a Hackathon hosted by the Marma J Foundation, by yet another friend in the field and it was a wonderful experience all in all. For the most part, it was information I was already aware of, but during the later panels, I got introduced to new inspiring aspects of the technology that had never crossed my mind. They introduced concepts like game design and development over the blockchain, chain application development and the full appeal of a decentralized web.
This sparked my curiosity and got me to want to begin to dabble in it a bit myself. I instantly got to formulating ideas and applications for the technology in my mind, of course taking the time to ask all the questions needed to ensure I was on the right path. I’m happy to report, I am.
About The EAG Hackathon Challenge
This led me to become eager to test these new theories and ideas, so I took a leap of faith and joined the EAG Challenge hosted in collaboration with the Marma J Foundation and the local Environmental Awareness Group of Antigua and Barbuda. At first glance, it looked like an easy challenge to take up, but I promptly realized that the most important thing about solving a problem is to fully understand the problem. I wasted no effort to do extra research into all involved parties, and as such, I am happy to announce that I am the first winner of the MARMA J CON Hackathon event. Cheers!!!
This has further encouraged me to further myself in this area and to develop my own smart contracts and applications on the blockchain, sparing no effort to even start learning a new programming language, rust. That’s right, I am on my way to becoming a Rustacean. I’ll be sure to let you know when my journey is complete.
I didn’t just get to take part in a hackathon, I also got to make new friends and acquaintances. Leading to me finding out more about the Marma J Foundation, and their aspirations and goals for the future, as well as other developers on the blockchain and the amazing work they have been doing behind the scenes.
All in all, it has been an interesting journey through Computer Science, and I seek to continue pursuing this journey in any way possible and develop a career in the field. Thank you for reading a little about me, and my interesting experiences.