GRTiQ Podcast: 73 Ahmad Mardeni

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Ahmad Mardeni (00:20):

Decentralizing the most important layer in web3 which is data is really important and making data accessible to all the apps is super important. Because after The Graph, now, dapps don’t need to hire a team or waste their resources on building hardware and software to create the blockchain. The Graph made it really easy for developers to just query the data they need from the production and start working on their ideas.

Nick (01:21):

Welcome to the GRTiQ Podcast. Today, I’m speaking with Ahmad Mardeni, a highly active and well-known contributor within The Graph ecosystem. Many of you will already recognize Ahmad due to his consistent activity in Discord, Telegram, and on Twitter. As you’re about to hear during this interview, Ahmad has had many roles within The Graph including Delegator, Curator, subgraph developer, technical writer, and soon to be Indexer.

(01:49):

Ahmad’s presence within the ecosystem is vast and he’s been a consistent contributing member of The Graphtronauts, Curation Station, and has even consulted with or helped support dapps and developers using The Graph. In addition to all his great community contributions, you’re also going to hear how Ahmad accomplished all this in the face of many obstacles and difficulties. You’ll also be inspired by his relentless quest to self-empowerment, through education, and personal development. I started the discussion with Ahmad by talking about his unique background and growing up in his home country of Syria.

Ahmad Mardeni (02:24):

Since I was a five years kid, my dream has been to become a pilot, explore the sky, and when I finished high school, I didn’t get the opportunity to travel to study abroad and we don’t have an academy here. But at the same time, I was obsessed with programming, with computers, so it was my second plan to study software engineering.

(02:52):

I enrolled in a local university four years ago just because it’s the path that everyone is taking here in my country. But after a year, I discovered that university is not the right path, actually, to become a successful developer. I didn’t learn anything from my university actually because they are still teaching materials from 10 or 15 years ago.

(03:18):

Let’s say, I’m interested in machine learning. For example, I want to learn Python programming language. I can do that in a couple of months on my own because there are a lot of resources on YouTube, a lot of resources you can find on the internet for free. But at university, you need to take there three or four different semesters just to learn about the basics of machine learning. So yeah, university, in my opinion, was a waste of time. I got some problem solving skills. But in my opinion, I would have learned all of them in a month on my own instead of wasting years of my time. Graduating from university should make you able to code some simple small programs but most of the work is actually on you.

Nick (04:06):

So then, after university, you got involved in programming and development work. How did that happen?

Ahmad Mardeni (04:11):

Actually, I started way before joining university. I started nine years ago. I discovered cybersecurity. I was able to find a vulnerability with a website. It’s actually a marketplace website. I got access to all of their users’ bank accounts. I felt powerful and got a grant because I shared that vulnerability with them. Then, I decided that I have to be a penetration tester. I self-taught myself for years. Then, I worked as a freelance penetration tester for multiple companies. Every single day, there were new vulnerabilities I have to learn about and I was not sleeping at all, just all the time on my laptop, learning, working.

(05:03):

Yeah. Cybersecurity is an amazing field but it’s actually super hard and need a lot of work, a lot of focus. I built multiple cybersecurity tools like a tool to analyze a network, the reports, detailed info about hosts using the threats which allowed the owner to perform multiple analyzing tasks in parallel.

(05:29):

Then four years ago, I saw an opportunity with machine learning and I decided that I had to deep dive into machine learning and started by learning about data science and web scraping. I got multiple certificates from Michigan University online with plus 98% grade in most of them. Then self-taught myself machine learning from YouTube and by also participating in hackathons and programming competitions. Yeah. So while learning about machine learning as well, I had to write a report during one of the hackathons and all of my team loved the content and one of the hackathons organizers told me that, “Hey Ahmad, you have the tech writing skills and you have to do it.”

(06:25):

So I wasn’t truly interested in tech writing but down the line, my friend who is also someone I participated in hackathon with told me about a tech writing program called Engineering Education which is a program at a company called Section. So it was a tech writing program and they helped me to start my career as a part-time tech writer. They taught me a lot of things and helped me develop a lot of new skills and after one or two years of tech writing at Section, I got promoted to a tech reviewer. Then after eight months from that, I got promoted to tech content moderator and was managing the entire Engineering Education program along with five other teammates. Some of my tech articles and tutorials on Section are actually on the first page of Google search which is, yeah, insane.

Nick (07:29):

Well, Ahmad, I’ve got a lot of questions about what happens next and how you learned about crypto, web3, and The Graph, but before I ask you those questions, I’m curious to know what the people of Syria think about web3 and crypto. You’re the first guest of the GRTiQ Podcast to join me from Syria. What are the attitudes and opinions there?

Ahmad Mardeni (07:48):

Yeah. So regarding crypto in general, there are a lot of people investing in crypto but actually, it’s not widely used or known because I mean, after 11 years of conflict, more than 70% or 80% of Syrians are facing hunger and wondering how they will put food on the table for their families. But regarding web3, actually, no one knows about it. I try really hard to teach my friends, my family about web3 and the potential of decentralization but I didn’t really succeed with that.

Nick (08:29):

I appreciate you sharing that. What are the benefits as you think of through greater adoption of crypto and web3 in a place like Syria, what are the benefits to the people living there in your opinion?

Ahmad Mardeni (08:40):

Yeah. So adopting web3 can solve literally a lot of our problems. Paying with Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency, actually, online can help us overcome the economic sanctions. At the same time, since Bitcoin has a limited supply of coins, it can be a hedge against inflation. There’s also giving people the opportunity to succeed, the Syrian people to succeed without just turning them down because they are a [inaudible 00:09:11].

Nick (09:10):

Yeah. It makes a ton of sense and I appreciate that perspective. So let’s go back a little bit to when you first became aware of crypto and web3. When was that?

Ahmad Mardeni (09:20):

I discovered web3 a year and a half ago. I was trying to find the best crypto projects to invest in and someone on Reddit was talking about GRTs. So at the beginning, it was just an investment for me. Then after four months, I did a deep research and I really love to do research and since I’m a developer, I quickly realized how Big Graph is a revolution in the data industry.

(09:51):

Actually, I knew nothing technical about the blockchain back then. So because of The Graph, I went deep down into the blockchain rabbit hole. I watched a lot of videos on YouTube. Because I understood the potential behind web3, I decided that I have to change my specialty from a machine learning developer to a full-time web3 Contributor. So especially when I found out how in web3 no one cares what is your nationality, gender, or where you live at. If you are smart enough to finish the task, then they will respect you and everyone has the same vision in web3. All of them are really trying to solve the centralization problems of our world and that’s not the case in web2.

(10:40):

When anyone knew that I’m Syrian, they simply rejected my application, they simply didn’t hire me, and yeah, that’s why I have been always a freelancer for a long time because the clients only care about finishing the task and nothing more. So everything I did before joining web3 was because I love programming, of course, but also because of the money. With web3, it’s way different. I’m here because I know that web3 is solving all the problems I had in web2 and at the same time, everyone has the same vision as I told you. In web3, you can simply ping a famous founder on Twitter and he will reply to you and help you. You can’t really do that in web2.

Nick (11:28):

So what problems then? What was the aha moment for you when you were learning about web3, when you were learning about blockchain?

Ahmad Mardeni (11:36):

Yeah. So the main thing actually is solving the single point of failure. Since web3 is relying on the concept of decentralization, then all the apps are not controlled by a single entity which is not the case with web2. With web2, let’s take for example Facebook or Google, they can simply delete your account, they can simply sell your data, they can control everything you are doing on Facebook or Google. On web3, that is not the case actually.

Nick (12:10):

Have you thought about the ways in which blockchain or web3, crypto, how these things address some of the problems that you were facing in a web2 environment working on cybersecurity issues?

Ahmad Mardeni (12:22):

Yeah. So blockchain’s decentralized nature, the perfect technology, of course, cybersecurity actually. The nature of technology has virtually endless uses in everything from medical and financial data sharing to anti-money laundering, monitoring, and encrypted messaging platforms.

Nick (12:42):

Sounds like you found out about Bitcoin first and you’ve shared some ideas about that and then eventually found your way to The Graph through finding out about GRT. Did you have any experiences early on with Bitcoin or Ethereum that pulled you further into the space and drew your interest?

Ahmad Mardeni (12:59):

Yeah. So actually, I discovered about Ethereum after a year from the launch. I tried to run my own node on my computer but I didn’t succeed because I was little [inaudible 00:13:11] and I didn’t have the required tech experience.

Nick (13:14):

So Ahmad, I got to ask you, you’re from Syria, you’ve already mentioned a couple times some of the barriers and obstacles that you faced in university and in trying to learn some of these tech skills, how did you do this? How did you overcome this challenge and why did you keep persisting? A lot of people, I think, would’ve given up.

Ahmad Mardeni (13:33):

I have a lot of friends out outside of Syria. They were helping me with bank online or registering an account on Twitter, for example. For example, Twitter does not allow Syrians to have accounts so I had to contact my friend who helped me to register an account using his number. And one time, I was trying to host a website online and I was using one of my friend’s credit card so I saw that the website is using Bitcoin. When I saw that, I thought, “Why would I rely on my friend when I can simply use Bitcoin?” So I believed and still believe that Bitcoin is solving the problem of centralization and because of web3, I really think that I have to keep going forward and one day, maybe we can solve all the centralization problems, we can adopt decentralization and web3, and maybe by adopting web3 and decentralization, we can solve the problems we currently have and maybe the generation after me does not need to have all the problems I had before.

Nick (14:49):

As somebody then who self-educated, you pursued knowledge your own way, facing some of the obstacles that you’ve described here, what are some resources that you found that you think would be really valuable to other people that also need to take that approach of self-education?

Ahmad Mardeni (15:04):

Well, I don’t remember all of them right now but the top two on my mind for web2 actually are Coursera and freeCodeCamp and for web3, InThisSpace and pointer.gg but I will share some links where you can add them to the show notes of this podcast.

Nick (15:24):

Ahmad, I’d be interested to get your advice for the next generation of developers. You talked about this a little bit in terms of your own journey but what about the future of developers? What’s your advice to them?

Ahmad Mardeni (15:36):

As I shared with you, graduating from university should give you the ability to write some simple programs but most of the work actually is on you. So I just want to tell the new generation of developers, “Do not go to university.” All the resources are available online. Pick up the field you like, machine learning, frontend, backend development, web3 or any other field actually, and just focus on that. After an average of six month of hard work, you will be able to get your first freelance job.

Nick (17:46):

Let’s turn our attention to when you became involved in The Graph and a lot of the listeners of this podcast will recognize your name, you’re very active in The Graph community. Let’s start with that. So when did you first become aware of The Graph and what were some of your original impressions of the protocol?

Ahmad Mardeni (18:00):

As I told you, it was a year and a half ago. I found that someone was talking about GRT on Reddit. After a couple of months from that, I started by joining Graphtronauts, then built Curation Station with other members, and I was and still one of the most active Curators. After that, I decided to start learning about subgraph development. So yeah, now, I’m really involved in The Graph Network as a tech content creator, as a subgraph developer, a Curator, a Delegator, and hopefully soon, as an Indexer.

Nick (18:45):

So when you first became involved with The Graph community, what were some of your first impressions? Was it a helpful community? Was it a resourceful community? What was that experience like?

Ahmad Mardeni (18:54):

So yeah, The Graph community is one of the best web3 communities, if not the best one actually. Because all of them are actually helping each other and all of them have each other’s backs, so whenever you ask a question, there are multiple people ready to answer you, there are multiple people ready to help you with the delegation process, for example, with how to become an Indexer, with how to find the proper resources. So yeah, The Graph community is actually really helpful and all of them have each other’s backs.

Nick (19:33):

As I said, a lot of people that are listening to this podcast will recognize your name. You’ve been very active in The Graph community ever since you found it. How would you explain your passion for the project and why, for example, you became so active in Discord, answering questions and helping people find solutions? What drove that passion and energy?

Ahmad Mardeni (19:51):

I love to be in a community where everyone has the same vision as mine and if I have to be completely honest with you, when I started learning about The Graph, a lot of people really helped me and I was asking tons of questions. So it was, and still, my duty to help others. Our motto at Graphtronauts actually is, “We rise by lifting each other.”

Nick (20:16):

Ahmad, for listeners that want to get involved with The Graphtronauts community or maybe learn more about the Curation Station community, what’s the best way to reach out?

Ahmad Mardeni (20:26):

Well, you can join our Telegram group, Graphtronauts, and for Curation Station, I will share the links with you so people will find the links under my podcast.

Nick (20:38):

So let’s talk about the different ways you’re contributing to The Graph community. You’ve been a subgraph developer, you’ve been a Curator, a lot of different things going on here. I want to start with this question about your recent work at The Graph Academy. How did you become aware of The Graph Academy and what can you share with listeners about some things you’re doing there?

Ahmad Mardeni (20:57):

Yeah. So when I started learning about subgraph development, I didn’t find the communication really helpful, especially because I knew nothing about GraphQL or TypeScript as in the script. So it took me a lot of time and effort to learn about everything and in fact then, we didn’t have any tutorials or guides as we do now like Figment’s learn tutorials, Nadesh’s workshops, and a lot of high quality resources.

(21:26):

So I had to write a course where a beginner can easily join the subgraph development sector and The Graph Academy is the place where you can find all the detailed guides about various topics related to The Graph ecosystem, like how to become an Indexer, how to become a Delegator, a tech Curator. So if anyone is interested in learning subgraph development and knows a little or nothing about how a blockchain works, what is GraphQL, or how to write TypeScript, then my course should be a good start. Also, funny fact that if you search for subgraph development or subgraph development course on Google, then my course will be the first search result and it’s even above the official documentation.

Nick (22:15):

Oh, that’s incredible. Congratulations for that. I want to ask you then some questions about subgraphs. Most listeners know what a subgraph is, there’ll be a few that don’t. You’ve taught a course on it and now, someone can get certified in building a subgraph. How do you describe what a subgraph is and why it’s important or useful in web3?

Ahmad Mardeni (22:33):

So basically data on blockchain is not easily available to be read. It’s really difficult to extract actionable insights out of it. This is because of the nature and structure of a blockchain. Data can live at different plots and there is no built-in mechanism to identify, categorize, or retrieve that data. Before The Graph, dapps had to build and maintain their own hardware to retrieve data from a blockchain and after that, they had to build software so they can filter search which is not cost or time efficient.

(23:14):

The Graph allows you to build custom open APIs called subgraphs and they are used to tell Indexers, which are server operators, which data to index on a blockchain and save on their servers, of course, in order for you to be able then to query it easily. The Graph actually is a powerful tool that supports multiple filtering and searching features that allow you to manipulate the data in a timely manner.

Nick (23:43):

When you created that course and the certification program, who did you envision taking the course and what did you hope they would do with this knowledge?

Ahmad Mardeni (23:53):

We don’t have enough subgraph developers in the community. We still need a lot of subgraph developers, freelance subgraph developers actually. So my hope was to encourage more developers to take subgraph development as an official career and to join full-time subgraph development.

Nick (24:14):

So let’s talk a little bit more about that. You mentioned earlier when you’re describing some of the ways you participate in The Graph ecosystem that you’ve done freelance work as a subgraph developer. What does that mean? What are you actually doing on a day-to-day basis and how does that eventually become a full-time career for somebody that says, ‘Hey, I want to make a career of that.’?

Ahmad Mardeni (24:34):

Yeah. So I started by answering questions, helping dapps to solve their problems by connecting multiple people with each other. Then, I started doing subgraph development as a freelancer. I’m subgraph development as a freelancer for some months now and the latest subgraph I built is with Derek at The Nexus which is the 721 Marketplace. It’s a market aggregator that allows you to get any sales related info from three different NFT markets places like OpenSea, LooksRare, and X2Y2. So if you are building an NFT dapp, hit my DMs and I will help you integrate the subgraph and we also have some documentation where you can easily integrate the subgraph even if you don’t know anything about The Graph.

Nick (25:31):

What else are you working on The Graph ecosystem right now that you can share?

Ahmad Mardeni (25:34):

Well, I’m working on technical content creation. I’m contributing to the official documentation of The Graph so some of the pages you see on The Graph website are actually either written or updated by me.

Nick (25:50):

So Ahmad, you’re doing a bunch of different things here. You’ve mentioned you’re active in Curation Station, you’re a Curator, you’re doing technical documentation, you’ve done some work at The Graph Academy as a instructor on subgraph development, and you’ve worked as a freelance subgraph developer. So a lot of different things here and I’m sure there’s even more that we haven’t even talked about but what do you enjoy the most? What’s the one or two things, I guess, that really resonates with you that you’d like to spend more time doing?

Ahmad Mardeni (26:16):

Actually, research. I love to be the main point of connection between what is happening on The Graph Network and between the community, the community of the Delegators, Indexers, Curators, and developers. I think you have seen, similarly, I’m active on Twitter writing a lot of threads on, for example, how query fees has been really high this month and how the hosted server is going to reflect on the GRT as a toolkit. So yeah, I love to be the main connection between what is happening on The Graph Network and between the community.

Nick (26:54):

Incredible. And what’s your advice for somebody else who wants to get involved with The Graph but doesn’t know how to start?

Ahmad Mardeni (26:59):

Well, The Graph is not only for developers because we have seen a lot of contributors from different fields. I’m a developer, yeah, but I have been contributing as a tech writer as well and as a community member, a community manager of Curation Station. So yeah, you can contribute to the community, you can write educational threads about the ecosystem or you can join the Curators team. And by the way, we at Curation Station are restructuring the group and we really think that curation is going to be really important the next 6-9 months since more than 15,000 subgraphs have to migrate to Mainnet and we have seen an increase of more than 17 [inaudible 00:27:43] in query fees the last month alone which is actually the highest month in query fees ever and only 2% of the total subgraphs are on Mainnet and half of the 2% are actually not being utilized yet. So I’m really excited to see how curation is going to unfold after sunsetting the hosted service. So yeah, no matter what experience you have, you will always find a place to contribute and all people are valuable to the ecosystem.

Nick (28:09):

Well, you mentioned The Graphtronauts earlier, that’s a community for individuals who want to learn and better understand The Graph and they maybe have a non-technical background. So sometimes, this is a community full of Delegators, for example, but you’re a technical guy and you’re involved in there so it crosses over quite a bit. But maybe, listeners don’t remember or know what Curation Station is and that community, what can you share about that and what happens there?

Ahmad Mardeni (28:35):

At Curation station, we are actually monitoring any subgraphs that get deployed on Mainnet. So whenever someone deploy a subgraph on Mainnet, we do a detailed and proper research to find out if that subgraph is going to generate query fees, if it’s legal. So if that subgraph is actually deployed by a real person or going to be utilized by a specific dapp to generate query fees, then we encourage Curators to signal that subgraph so they can get a portion of query fees. Actually, Curators signal a subgraph so Indexers can then index that subgraph. So Indexers are actually waiting for Curators to spot the subgraph that are going to generate query fees.

Nick (29:26):

Why do you say that and how important do you think the work of Curators will be over the long term?

Ahmad Mardeni (29:32):

Yeah. Well, curation started last year or 10 months ago and we have only seen 2% of total numbers of subgraphs migrate to Mainnet, half of them are not being utilized. So we now have more than 15,000 subgraphs on the hosted server and they have to migrate to Mainnet by the first quarter of 2023. So yeah, we will need a lot of Curators to analyze those subgraphs. When they migrate to Mainnet, we will need a lot of Curators to signal and spot the good subgraphs.

Nick (30:08):

Why are you so passionate about The Graph, Ahmad? There’s a lot of projects in crypto that could have taken your focus or energies and you could have fallen down one of those rabbit holes but you stuck with The Graph and here you are, you’ve become a leader within the community. How would you explain why you’ve stayed so passionate and energized about it?

Ahmad Mardeni (30:27):

Decentralizing the most important layer in web3 which is data is really important and making data accessible to all the apps is super important. Because after The Graph, now dapps don’t need to hire a team or waste their resources on building hardware and software to create the blockchain. The Graph made it really easy for developers to just query the data they need from the blockchain and start working on their ideas. So before The Graph, there were a lot of ideas that impossible to build because querying the right data from the blockchain is really hard and after The Graph, we are seeing a lot of really interesting dapps utilizing The Graph to bring their ideas to life.

Nick (31:55):

Obviously, you do a lot of work on The Graph and you’ve described how you contribute so much. Is this now your full-time work?

Ahmad Mardeni (32:01):

At the beginning, I was doing a lot of other things. Actually, two things, because I was learning about The Graph and trying to understand how the protocol actually works. When I did, when I understood the importance of web3 and decentralization and the vision behind The Graph as a protocol, I decided to go full-time web3. I’m really involved with The Graph but at the same time I’m also involved with other protocols. I’m still in my 20s and I’m building my future so I work most of the time. I work at nights, at weekends and I’m trying to build my future.

Nick (32:49):

So what’s your long-term vision for The Graph then?

Ahmad Mardeni (32:51):

My vision for The Graph, we often say that we are in the early days of web3 and today, The Graph is already recognized as a key protocol for searching mainly for the early adopters in the industry. But as we see The Graph expanding to all the blockchains and also moving to introduce new products like Geo for example, what I’m excited about is the ability for The Graph to be recognized as a true champion of decentralization and specifically as the guardian of our data.

(33:29):

What I mean here is the fact that thanks to The Graph and its nature as an open protocol, we can trust the accuracy of the data and the huge benefit of having no censorship of our data. I think this is a major leap for compared to what we have today in web2, where we all know that what we read and what we consume is what someone wants us to see. For this reason, we need open protocols where no one can apply any sort of censorship.

Nick (34:03):

Ahmad, you mentioned earlier that the people of Syria because of circumstances there don’t really have the time right now and can’t focus on web3 and crypto but they certainly could benefit from it. When you talk to friends and family about what you’re working on, I can only imagine you’re putting in a ton of time here on all these different things you’re working on. What do you describe to them that you’re doing? How do you describe what web3 is or what The Graph is to them?

Ahmad Mardeni (34:29):

I always try to share examples from the day-to-day application they are using. For example, one time I was explaining what is web2 to my mom, I told her, “Hey mom, remember when Facebook went down for an entire day and when you read that article about how they are selling your personal data? Well, web3 fixes that.” And since we have tons of restrictions on our country, it’s super easy to find real life examples like, “Remember when you told me it would be easier to pay online but we don’t have any online paying services? So yeah, Bitcoin is for everyone and no one can restrict you from using it.”

Nick (35:10):

And what about The Graph? How do you describe The Graph to friends and family?

Ahmad Mardeni (35:15):

Yeah. So that one is not easy to be honest when you are explaining it to non-technical people. But simply, Google is The Graph of web2. Just as Google indexes the old web, The Graph indexes, the new decentralized one. It’s ordering this huge ocean of data and classifying it in a way that it’s easy and fast to retrieve the info you need.

Nick (35:42):

What’s your long-term plan, Ahmad? What do you want to do long-term? You’ve got your hands on a lot of different things. You live in Syria. We’ve already talked about some of the obstacles that you face there. What do you hope to get out of this experience and all the work you’re putting in here?

Ahmad Mardeni (35:57):

Well, to make things easier for the next generation. I have faced a lot of problems because I am Syrian and because centralized entities don’t want me, for example, to use a specific app because of the restrictions but I really want this to be solved for the next generation where my kids can use any application or access any service without centralized entities blocking them from doing that.

Nick (36:25):

So I want to ask you just a couple final questions here and then Ahmad, I’m going to ask you the GRTiQ 10. The first question I want to ask is how do you stay optimistic? When I hear the story that you shared about how you had to educate yourself and, again, some of the challenges you faced in Syria trying to get access to learning materials and opportunities. How do you remain optimistic when there’s so many challenges?

Ahmad Mardeni (36:52):

Well, a lot of people actually lost hope here because we are facing a lot of problems on a daily basis. But if we don’t try, then we don’t know what is going to happen. So I have to work hard, I have to keep going forward and I’m 100% sure that one day I will achieve my dreams and I will make things easier for the next generation. I still have a lot of dreams I want to accomplish. For example, I shared with you that I want to be a pilot so I’m saving for that. One day, I will travel to a country where I can study at an academy and where I can achieve my dreams.

Nick (37:35):

I also want to ask you how becoming involved in The Graph has impacted your life.

Ahmad Mardeni (37:39):

So I made a lot of new friends and some of them are actually really close to me right now. I think this is because we share the same vision, we have the same goals, and they were really supportive. When I started learning about The Graph, I was asking tons of questions and they were really supportive. Also, since I’m really involved with The Graph, I am a developer, I am a Curator, a Delegator, and hopefully soon, an Indexer. So The Graph taught me time and self-management skills at the same time. Also, I think because of The Graph, I went deep down into the web3 rabbit hole. I think because of The Graph I started to learn more about web3 and about decentralization.

Nick (38:33):

And then, the last question I want to ask you is about time management. I’m impressed with everything you’re doing here. How do you manage your time in your workday? You’re involved in so many things. I got to imagine you’re probably not sleeping much.

Ahmad Mardeni (38:47):

Yeah. Well, people are calling me now Graph Machine because whenever someone ding me on Twitter or on Discord on Telegram, I instantly reply to him or her. So they are calling me Graph Machine because I don’t sleep at all. Actually, I love to be productive and this is the only way for me to achieve what I want.

Nick (39:12):

Well now, Ahmad, it’s time for the GRTiQ 10. These are ten questions I ask each guest of the podcast every week in order to help listeners learn something new or try something different or achieve more. So are you ready for the GRTiQ 10?

Ahmad Mardeni (39:25):

Yes.

Nick (39:37):

Ahmad, what book or articles had the most impact on your life?

Ahmad Mardeni (39:39):

I am fascinated with how our universe works and interested in string theory so I guess it’s Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos.

Nick (39:52):

Is there a movie or a TV show that you think everybody should be required to watch?

Ahmad Mardeni (39:57):

Yes, of course, Mr. Robot. This show actually pushes the boundaries of television in ways that I’ve never seen before.

Nick (40:05):

How about this, if you could only listen to one music album for the rest of your life, which album would you choose?

Ahmad Mardeni (40:11):

That’s a hard one. So maybe Make A shadow by Meg Myers.

Nick (40:17):

Ahmad, what’s the best advice anybody’s ever given to you?

Ahmad Mardeni (40:21):

Don’t trust or rely on anyone. If you want to achieve a dream, you and only you can do it.

Nick (40:26):

And what’s one thing you’ve learned in your life that you don’t think most other people have learned yet?

Ahmad Mardeni (40:30):

Yeah. So most people think that life is predictable, it’s actually not. The things I wanted to achieve last year completely changed to different things now. You have to dynamically adjust to achieve your dreams.

Nick (40:45):

What’s the best life hack you’ve discovered for yourself?

Ahmad Mardeni (40:48):

Well, it’s not a hack but you have to be actively learning new things no matter what level of degree you have or how experienced you are in your field. For me, I’m always taking courses and building side hustles to keep improving myself.

Nick (41:03):

Based on your own life experiences and observations, what’s the one habit or characteristic that you think best explains people finding success in life?

Ahmad Mardeni (41:13):

Yeah. So in my opinion, it’s to be goal-oriented. You need to be a goal setter and dedicate yourself to working from [inaudible 00:41:25] goals every year of your life. Forming daily habits, I think all highly successful people are intensely goal-oriented. They have it written down, they have written plans to accomplish it, and they both review and work on their plans as a daily routine.

Nick (41:42):

And then, the last three questions, Ahmad, are complete the sentence type questions. So the first one is complete the following sentence, “The thing that most excites me about web3 is”?

Ahmad Mardeni (41:52):

Decentralization and giving users the control back.

Nick (41:56):

And how about this one, “If you’re on Twitter, then you should be following”?

Ahmad Mardeni (41:59):

If you are interested in web3, then you have to be following Digital For DAO.

Nick (42:03):

And lastly, complete the sentence, “I’m happiest when”?

Ahmad Mardeni (42:06):

When I achieve my dreams and be more productive.

Nick (42:18):

Ahmad Mardeni, thank you so much for taking the time and I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you and I’m certainly inspired by all the work and the contributions that you’re making here within The Graph community. If people want to learn more about you and the work you’re doing, what’s the best way to do it?

Ahmad Mardeni (42:33):

You can find me on Twitter. My handle is @mardeni01 or on Discord @mardeni001.