Conversation with the Sui Developer Relations Lead: How to Build from Scratch on Sui

Recently, we had the privilege of having an in-depth conversation with Brian Hennessey-Hsieh, the Head of Developer Relations at Sui, about topics such as open source, decentralization, and developer success. He shared how his team supports developers in using Sui and achieving success, as well as how developers can receive official support.

Blockchain Journey

Brian has over 20 years of work experience in the open-source field. He is passionate about open source and believes that open collaboration and transparency are key to software development. After joining Uber in 2017, he created the company's open-source project office. Since then, he joined Coinbase Cloud, officially starting his web3 journey. Currently, Brian is the head of developer relations at the Sui Foundation.

Views on the web3 Industry

Brian views web3 from three perspectives:

1. Work perspective: Help establish a more open collaboration and governance to achieve true decentralization.

2. Technical Perspective: Focus on how to explain Sui technology and its applications to people.

3. Application and use case perspective: Although some use cases are still immature, the widespread application of the technology validates its value.

Developer Relations of Layer 1 Blockchains

In Layer 1 blockchains, developer relations involve decentralization and interaction with developers. This includes ensuring principles and methods for community building, how to interact with developers and the community, and how to accept contributions. Brian emphasized that they have drawn many principles from the open-source world, including open collaboration, transparency, elite governance, inclusivity, and community building.

Attracting Developers to Use Web3

Brian believes that web3 technology should be viewed as a way to solve problems rather than simply attracting developers. It is important to educate people in the right way so that they can evaluate web3 technology just like they evaluate other technologies.

How to Start Building on Sui

For mid-career developers looking to transition to Sui development, Brian suggests:

1. Understand the basic theories, including distributed systems, cryptography, and different programming languages.

2. Decide whether to become an application developer or a core protocol developer.

3. Research the codebase, try modifying and building the project.

4. Actively communicate with other developers and builders, and join the community.

Learning and Productivity Tools for Sui Builders

The Sui team is developing various educational content to meet the needs of different audiences. They are also hosting Builder Houses events and sharing content across various platforms. Brian encourages community members to develop tools and states that the Sui Foundation is willing to provide support.

Development Trends of the Sui Community

Developers are exploring new features of Sui, such as dynamic fields and programmable transaction blocks, and are considering how to leverage these features to improve existing codebases or create new use cases.

Looking forward to developing applications on Sui

Brian particularly hopes to see a solution that can fairly, transparently, and verifiably reward contributors. This solution should be able to validate contributions, estimate the size of contributions, provide appropriate rewards, and strike a balance between fairness, justice, and privacy. He believes this will further promote the decentralization process of Sui.