What, Why, How?
Here we would like to share a proposal to introduce a Tiering System for all contributors in Sandbox to facilitate newcomers’ growth within Sandbox and broader NEAR ecosystem. The rationale is to identify individuals who need the most support from our team and to focus our effort (”Mentoring system” in the nearest future) on the contributors who are most interested in both deepening own blockchain knowledge and also developing the ecosystem in the long run. As OWS scales and more people join, the process of giving-receiving feedback to/from the contributors in OWS had become rather challenging. Therefore we believe now is the time to advance the way our team supports newcomers which will help us adjust better to the different needs of our contributors.
Just as Guild Leaders are encouraged to grow sustainably, we want to follow a similar trend and encourage Sandbox contributors to make the best use of the suggested Tiers. Based on our observations on contributors’ behaviour in OWS in the last 6 months, we have come up with a following classification:
(Should png be challenging to read, an equivalent is available here)
These indicators are rather descriptive than prescriptive in nature, meaning that contributors vary significantly in their journeys across the ecosystem and we would like to capture that. In case of doubts, we plan to send surveys to contributors themselves asking them to what tier they relate themselves and why. This will leave space for better sensing and calibration in case OWS moderators miss some important contributions/activities. Being experimental in nature, we do not exclude a possibility that the aforementioned classification might turn out inaccurate and we will be happy to adjust it when good arguments are provided from anyone involved.
How do I evolve leveraging this Tiering system?
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Tier 3 → Tier 2
- First things first, you will always start in Tier 3 or Tier 2 when you come to OWS and after your first month, your status will be reconsidered. If you enter Sandbox to work on rolling opportunities, you are likely to start in Tier 3. After your first month of submitting work and being approved, one is encouraged to try working on one of the projects. If you are chosen to work for a project and manage to bring it to the end successfully, you will be moved to Tier 2.
- In a different scenario, if a contributor from outside OWS comes in, applies to work on a project immediately and gets approval to work on it, this contributor automatically moves to Tier 2 (meaning we consider them a high potential).
- This way, someone who comes in can end up either in Tier 3 (when starting with the rolling opportunities) or Tier 2 (when starting with a project work).
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Tier 3 → Tier 4
- If you work gets entirely rejected by OWS Council, that means that some more learning (and probably motivation) has to be shown before your work can be compensated by OWS. After one becomes Tier 4, one cannot submit any work to OWS during the next 2 months (i.e. 2 rounds of rewards from time of the second rejection). One should use this period to develop some basic understanding of the NEAR ecosystem, its values and core principles and probably reconsider the motivation to be in OWS. Being in Tier 4 means that you have submitted poor quality work twice and were ignoring moderators feedback to improve; that we have not seen you looking for ways to learn from peer Sandboxers or other community members. Please, keep in mind that low motivation is a core element here. If we notice individuals who show up only during the reward period and do not bring any other value, they will be soon classified to Tier 4. Further, after 2 months Tier 4 contributor can apply to join Tier 3 again if they can show the community their progress in learning curve and motivation (e.g. sufficient improvement in work done, engagement with with other Guilds/projects, active seeking for feedback)
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Tier 2 →Tier 1
- When a contributor receives outstanding feedback from the project, we can discuss moving them up to Tier 1.
- If the feedback is mediocre/ok, they stay at Tier 2 until they get on another project and get amazing feedback there.
Corresponding Bonuses
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Why should I strive to be in Tier 2?
- Tier 2 is allowed to work on the project opportunities while Tier 3 is not
- More close contact with cool projects
- No limit on 300$ monthly if you are completing a task for a NEAR project
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Why should I strive to be in Tier 1?
- As you have good reputation, you are likely to be invited first for the most interesting projects
- No intake interview with OWS needed to start working on the project (written agreements are sufficient)
- If you complete the project and get nice feedback on your work from the project requestor, your will get 3% bonus from the total reward
- No limit on 300$ monthly if you are completing a task for a NEAR project
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Why should I NOT want to be in Tier 4?
- Not qualified to apply for any rewards in OWS during 2 months
Conclusion
In the month of January we are going to collect as much feedback as we can on that proposal to ensure we can place every contributor to the right tier. Therefore, if you have any suggestions for us, please leave them under this post or contact me privately.
By the end of January, we will implement received feedback and launch this initiative as of February 1st. Tier status of each contributor who filled in the contributor form will be updated monthly.
Thank you 