From Student to Administrator: Zeinzu and the ApeLabs Journey, pt. 2

The new Assistant Dean of ApeLabs opened up to BSC News about his experience as a student and his personal transformation through the educational program.

ApeLabs’ Mission to Educate

Education on Web3 and crypto, and more specifically decentralized finance on BNB Chain, has found a new home in the form of ApeLabs. In response to the dearth of knowledge prevalent across the blockchain industry, ApeLabs is giving out certifications and hosting comprehensive lab courses to help users globally increase their understanding and find work in Web3. 

The full story from President and Teacher, Chimpin’ Chip of ApeSwap, is available on the BSC News Podcast. However, the Editorial Team sought out a different perspective and contacted Chip to get a student’s perspective. Chip spoke highly of the first valedictorian from the institution and someone who recently joined the administration as Assistant Dean, Zeinzu. BSC News sat down with Zeinzu to hear his story.

In the first part of Zeinzu’s story, we explored his experience through his crypto beginning and his arrival to ApeLabs. We learned of his takes on the application process, onboarding, and his initial classroom experiences. Expect to see the second part soon. 

In part 2 of our conversation with Zeinzu, we dive further into Zeinzu’s favorite courses, impactful teachers, post-graduate life, and more!‍

“ApeLabs is the door of opportunity while LabRats is the key.” ‍

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Zeinzu’s Favorite Courses

The course work taken up by students of ApeLabs is modeled to build step by step. As a student with some decent base crypto knowledge heading into the certification program, Zeinzu excelled well in the program. As described he was the first chosen valedictorian, he clearly put in considerable effort and made the most of the program.

In speaking with Zeinzu, he described his favorite courses as those which gave him direct application. See, Zeinzu admits to having been a DeFi Degens. He’s not shy to say he chased APYs and flexed leverage too high at times. He was also hoping this venture could lead to work, and thus found course work with real-world examples.

When it came to specifics, Zeinzu found the Risk Management course as one of his standout classes. The Risk Management course offered by ApeLabs showed the Degen in Zeinzu how to measure his risk tolerance and understand how leverage works much better. He says he became a better trader because of it.

“I don’t know why, but I was one of the few people who really enjoyed this exercise. In the Project Management course,” Zeinzu explained. “We took the 12 archetypes of Carl Jung and designed the crypto portfolios of each personality. It was really fun. The outlaw, the caregiver, the jester. You had to match what their goals and motivations would be.”

The larger project courses are also what challenged Zeinzu more academically. He said that his Project Management course was particularly entertaining. The course explored the Jungian Archetypes and students had to design crypto portfolios based on the specific personalities. Zeinzu found it fun determining whether someone might be a maximalist, an NFT degen, an APY degen, or whatever.

The Capstone course was also called into note. The Capstone courses are almost like final courses that are required for graduation. Zeinzu described a difficult experience, one which pitted the students into real-world scenarios solving problems and responding to hardships. Zeinzu found it rewarding and educational to have that real-world experience working together in a crypto team.

The courses at ApeLabs are built for success. Zeinzu can attest as he has found much of what he experienced applicable to the real-world. It’s not all memes and green arrows in DeFi. There are critical concerns to address, powerful projects to build and ApeLabs is creating a curriculum to match the demand. 

ApeLabs Faculty

There wouldn’t be students without teachers, and Zeinzu is grateful to all the educators, especially the diverse quality of teachers from around the crypto world. ApeLabs has done a superb job obtaining teachers for the specific classes who fit the bill and make sense.

At ApeLabs, the class structure is designed to build and build. Zeinzu said that every day provided new insight. He found Chip and all the teachers very approachable and willing to support the students in their endeavors. Zeinzu mentioned how the lectures were entertaining and worked well with the group work. The whole experience fostered a nurturing environment for Zeinzu to succeed. 

The teachers brought in by ApeLabs are some top names around crypto. With the institutional connection with ApeSwap, Zeinzu explained how wonderful it was to specifically have Obie Dobo, founder of ApeSwap, appear and contribute from time to time. It lended credence and gave important insight.

There were other teachers that Zeinzu specifically enjoyed. He highlighted CryptoBorat, a Security leader at ApeSwap, as a very passionate guest speaker in the Operational Security course. The DeFi talks about loans from Miro, co-founder of JetFuel & Fortress, were also insightful to Zeinzu. Finally, Zeinzu enjoyed learning about the perseverance of Fedor, the NFT creator of Neural Pepe NFTs. Fedor failed many times before succeeding with Neural Pepe and Zeinzu saw that effort as valiant and something to admire.

“You see Chip working with students from all over the world. He is very patient and willing to jump into your DMs, or set up a voice call, Zeinzu explained. “He explains things very well and makes it very entertaining. 

The teachers and leaders at ApeLabs have not just made an impact on Zeinzu. They have all made an impact on the crypto world and have earned a place to be educators. 

As mentioned earlier, Zeinzu entered ApeLabs in some sense hoping to land employment. The ApeLabs website advertises both an alumni connection and the ability to flex the networking the student fosters in the programs and courses. 

One of the reasons for alumni success cites Zeinzu, is the ability for students to work on real projects during their tenure in the program. The key to this access is the Mushies NFT project which acts as a real-world project vehicle for the students in the program. Almost like an internship, the students help run and curate the project. 

Apart from Zeinzu, many other students have gone on to successful projects and work in the crypto world. Students have gone on to work for other projects around and have flexed their network. Zeinzu reiterates that the network at ApeLabs is caring and wants to see students succeed. He was surprised to see how much this is true.

“ApeLabs brings students lots of support after they finish,” Zeinzu added. “The alumni network is strong and we want to see each other succeed and work on cool projects. Bottom line is that ApeLabs has your back.”

The End is Just A Begnning

ApeLabs provides students with an alumni network connected through Discord. The Discord is admittedly hopping and full of activity, according to Zeinzu. Students also get referred to other job portal sites like Lemon.io and others. 

Back in his home country, jobs are currently hard to come by. Zeinzu admits that ApeLabs has been a saving grace for him. He is a perfect example of how crypto jobs are not only sought out but created. Zeinzu was granted a Telegram admin position at ApeSwap and moved up to become the new Assistant Dean of ApeLabs. His transformation into a new position is complete.

The graduation from ApeLabs is just the beginning. The new position taken up by Zeinzu is one that marks a new era for the once timid English Second language learner. The former Degen chasing APYs has become a more risk-averse trader—albeit still admittedly using leverage. 

The transformation of Zeinzu is one that follows an engaging successful tale. His experience at ApeLabs dipped his toes into real-world crypto opportunities like Mushies NFTs and LabRats. He cites his experience as fun and enjoyable overall. 

ApeLabs is building success stories like Zeinzu every day. They are now offering Flex Labs courses that act as stand-alone courses for individuals to brush up or learn a new subject. The future of ApeLabs looks bright.

The growth of education around crypto is a critical tool for users, not just laymen. Among daily users, there still exists a critical knowledge gap that ApeLabs is filling. Zeinzu has certainly taken the task upon himself, appearing in Twitter Spaces and helping get the ApeLabs message out. 

The Zeinzu transformation in ApeLabs was successful. When will you start yours?

Where to find ApeLabs:‍

Website | Twitter | YouTube

Source : bsc.news