Introduction

As a Computer Science student currently undergoing the Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) at Web3Bridge, and as someone deeply passionate about tech, I couldn’t have asked for a better place to grow.

In this post, you’ll get a glimpse into how my first week at Web3Bridge went and why I genuinely believe that doing my SIWES here is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

What is Web3Bridge?

Web3Bridge is a program launched in 2019 with a mission to train Web3 developers across Africa. The initiative is focused on building a sustainable Web3 economy on the continent by providing both remote and onsite development training.

Beyond just teaching, Web3Bridge also supports developers and startups while working to lower the barriers to entry into the Web3 ecosystem. It's more than a bootcamp; it's a movement aimed at empowering African talent to contribute meaningfully to the future of decentralized technology.

Day-by-Day Breakdown

Day 1 – Introduction to Blockchain

We kicked off the day with a test on the pre-course content that had been sent out weeks before. Afterwards, we began learning about the brief history of blockchain, starting from its early conceptual foundations.

We discussed the cryptographically secure chain proposed by Haber and Stornetta, which laid the groundwork for blockchain technology. We also looked at the Merkle tree, which is used in blockchain because it efficiently verifies large datasets by organizing hashes in a hierarchical structure.

Next, we explored Bit Gold, proposed by Nick Szabo, a decentralized digital currency concept that uses cryptographic puzzles and a distributed ledger to create a system resistant to central control. We also covered Hashcash, created by Adam Back, which introduced a Proof-of-Work (PoW) system initially designed to combat email spam.

Moving on, we dived deep into the birth of blockchain (2008 to 2009). This was when the Bitcoin whitepaper titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System was released in 2008 by an anonymous individual or group under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. The paper introduced a decentralized digital currency that used blockchain technology to solve the double-spending problem without needing intermediaries. It was the first system to successfully combine cryptographic hashing, PoW, and decentralization into a working protocol. Bitcoin officially launched in 2009 with the first block, called the genesis block, mined on January 3, 2009.

After that, we explored the early blockchain evolution (2010 to 2014). This was the period when Bitcoin began gaining traction as a currency. Early adopters started mining and trading, but Bitcoin also faced scalability issues. During these years, new blockchain experiments emerged, such as Namecoin (2011), which reused Bitcoin's code to build a decentralized domain name system, showing that blockchain could serve purposes beyond just currency. This era also saw the introduction of Colored Coins and the idea of applying blockchain to broader use cases.

Finally, we were introduced to Ethereum, a programmable blockchain platform. The Ethereum whitepaper was published in 2013 by Vitalik Buterin, who was just 19 years old at the time. Ethereum officially launched in 2015 and expanded the possibilities of blockchain by enabling smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps).

To wrap up, we reflected on the impact and legacy of these technologies. It was fascinating to see how early ideas like Bit Gold and Hashcash influenced Bitcoin, and how Bitcoin paved the way for platforms like Ethereum, which are now shaping the future of Web3. We end the day with a test.

Day 2 – Presentation of the Bitcoin Whitepaper and Introduction to Ethereum

The day started with a test, followed by the presentation of the Bitcoin whitepaper, Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System by Satoshi Nakamoto. This was given to us earlier as an assignment.

During the session, a few people took turns presenting sections of the paper, while the rest of us answered questions from our mentor, Mr. Franklin, and other classmates. It was interactive and thought-provoking.

We learned that the whitepaper was created to solve the problem of double spending without relying on a trusted third party, by proposing a system for decentralized digital currency. We explored how transactions are grouped into blocks, and what each generic block contains, such as the previous block header, nonce, timestamp, Merkle root, and a list of transactions.

We also discussed the timestamp server, which works by taking a hash of a block of data and widely publishing it, proving that the data existed at a certain time.

Another core part of the paper was the Proof-of-Work (PoW) system, which was similar to Hashcash by Adam Back. In Bitcoin, PoW was used to implement a distributed timestamp server and to secure the network.

We continued by exploring key sections of the whitepaper, such as:

Network structure
Incentive model for miners
Reclaiming disk space through pruning
Simplified Payment Verification (SPV)
Combining and splitting values
Privacy and anonymity of users

After that, we were introduced to Ethereum, a programmable blockchain that differs from Bitcoin by supporting a Turing-complete language.

We learned about its core features:

Smart contracts, which allow automatic execution of code on-chain
The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), used to run decentralized logic
Its native currency, Ether (ETH)
How Ethereum opened the door to innovations like Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)

The day ended with us taking a second test, wrapping up everything we had learned so far.

Day 3 – Deep Dive into the Ethereum Whitepaper

Wednesday was all about diving deep into the Ethereum whitepaper. We started by revisiting the history of blockchain innovations from b-money by Wei Dai, to Proof-of-Work (PoW), Reusable PoW by Hal Finney, and of course Bitcoin. It helped me appreciate how PoW was a breakthrough that made decentralized systems truly work.

One concept I found interesting was understanding blockchain as a state transition system. This stood out to me because it connects with the theory of computation, something I’ve studied in school. We learned that the ledger of a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin can be viewed as a state transition system, where:

A "state" is the current ownership of all bitcoins.
A "state transition function" takes a state and a transaction and produces a new state.

We also revisited how mining works and how each block contains the previous block's hash, a nonce, a timestamp, and a set of transactions.

From the paper, we also reviewed the Merkle tree, a binary tree structure used in blockchains. We learned about its purpose mainly for efficient verification and how it contributes to the long-term sustainability of the system.

The paper also touched on earlier blockchain projects like Namecoin, Metacoin, and Colored Coins, which showed how blockchains were being experimented with beyond just currency.

Another topic we covered was Bitcoin’s scripting language, a simple, stack-based language. We discussed its limitations, including:

Lack of Turing-completeness
Value blindness
No support for complex state
Blockchain blindness

Then we shifted to Ethereum itself.

We learned why Ethereum is Turing-complete and how it goes beyond Bitcoin in flexibility. The whitepaper introduced us to two types of accounts in Ethereum:

Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs)
Contract Accounts

We discussed the differences between them and why they matter when building dApps.

We also looked at Ethereum’s transition from PoW to PoS (Proof-of-Stake)—why the shift happened and how PoS helps improve energy efficiency and scalability.

Next, we explored gas in Ethereum: how it is calculated, why it's important for controlling resource usage, and how it differs from Bitcoin, which doesn’t have a gas mechanism.

We also compared Ethereum’s state transition function to that of Bitcoin, which helped us understand how Ethereum’s system is more flexible and programmable.

Toward the end of the session, we discussed Ethereum’s scalability issues, which led us to explore solutions like:

Rollups
Sidechains
Plasma
State channels

Reading and breaking down the whitepaper opened my eyes to a lot of possibilities. It gave me a clearer picture of Ethereum’s architecture and the future of programmable blockchain platforms. I left the class feeling inspired to dive deeper into how Ethereum works behind the scenes.

To wrap up the day, we also learned about Ethereum clients, and our assignment was to run a node using Geth (Go Ethereum) on our own PCs. Doing this helped me understand, in a hands-on way, how Ethereum nodes function and how they stay in sync with the blockchain. It made everything feel more real and technical, no longer just theory, but something I could interact with and build on.

Day 4 – Cryptography and Hashing

Day 4 was all about learning cryptography and hashing, and we used the Mastering Ethereum book as our primary guide. I was the first person to present in front of the class, where we were asked to speak on any subtopic related to cryptography or hashing. This was an assignment given to us earlier.

I spoke about two main topics, which are something I learnt from the book:

The first was prime factorization, which is a foundational concept in cryptography. Multiplying two large prime numbers is easy, but trying to reverse the process, figuring out which two primes were multiplied to get a large number, is extremely hard. For example, if I give you the number 8,018,009 and tell you it's the product of two prime numbers, it would be difficult to find the exact primes. But if I tell you that one of them is 2,003, then you can easily find the other using basic division:
8,018,009 ÷ 2,003 = 4,003.

This is an example of a trapdoor function, a function that is easy to compute in one direction but very difficult to reverse unless you have some secret information. That’s the same idea behind how private keys and public keys work in blockchain systems.

The second topic I talked about was hash collisions. While a good cryptographic hash function is designed to make collisions nearly impossible, they can still exist theoretically. A hash collision happens when two different inputs produce the same hash output, and that’s a major concern in designing secure systems.

As more people presented, we covered a wide range of topics. We learned about:

Asymmetric cryptography, which is the core of blockchain security
The difference between private keys and public keys
Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC), a type of asymmetric cryptography based on the discrete logarithm problem
Hash functions, and the fact that Ethereum specifically uses Keccak-256, not SHA-256 like Bitcoin
Ethereum addresses, how they are derived from public keys, and even touched briefly on ICAP (Inter-exchange Client Address Protocol)

It was a deep dive into the mathematics and security principles that make blockchain work. Although the concepts were complex, it felt rewarding to finally understand the crypto part of cryptocurrency.

Day 5 – Weekly Recap: Blockchain, Cryptography, and Ethereum

The last day of Week 1 was dedicated to reviewing everything we had learned so far from blockchain fundamentals to cryptography and Ethereum.

We ended the day by watching a video of Vitalik Buterin speaking at Devcon Bogotá. Hearing him explain Ethereum in his own words gave me a strong sense of clarity. I could follow along and understand what he was saying, something that might have seemed impossible just a few days earlier.

That moment made me realize just how much I had learned in one week. It felt good. Week 1 wasn’t just intense; it was meaningful. Not a wasted week.

What I Have Learned So Far

Honestly, I’ve learned a lot as a student, not just technical concepts, but also how to think with a Web3 mindset. Some of my biggest takeaways so far:

Decentralization isn’t just hype; it solves real-world problems around trust and transparency.
Blockchain is more than just crypto; it’s an entire infrastructure layer that can transform many industries.
Ethereum enables smart contracts, which power decentralized apps (dApps) and bring automation to blockchain.
Cryptography is the backbone of blockchain security, and understanding it is key to understanding how everything works.

I’ve also come to appreciate the importance of community. Everyone at Web3Bridge is willing to support, explain, and push you to grow. That kind of environment makes all the difference.

What I Hope to Achieve in the Next 16 Weeks

Looking ahead, I’m excited for what the next 16 weeks hold. I don’t just want to go through the motions; I want to truly understand how Web3 works, from the low-level blockchain mechanics to building real decentralized applications (dApps).

By the end of this program, I hope to:

Build and deploy my smart contracts
Contribute to open-source Web3 projects
Understand the architecture behind protocols like Ethereum and Layer 2s
Get comfortable using tools like Remix, Hardhat, Metamask, Geth, and others
Start thinking more like a blockchain engineer, not just a student

More importantly, I want to grow in confidence so I can eventually teach others, collaborate on meaningful projects, and be part of the Web3 movement in Africa and beyond.

Conclusion

My first week at Web3Bridge has been a powerful start to something big. From learning about blockchain and Ethereum to understanding the cryptographic foundations of the decentralized web, it’s been a journey of growth and discovery.

I’m excited for what comes next, and I’ll keep sharing my journey as I go. If you’ve ever been curious about Web3 or you're looking for a community to grow with, this is your sign.

Let’s build the future. Decentralized.

Starting My Web3 Journey: First Week at Web3Bridge (Beginner Experience)