POAP Intro and GitPOAPs

POAPs, essentially NFT badges for attendance at events, is launching a Git integration that may become the new software resume.

POAP Intro and GitPOAPs
Photo by Oskar Yildiz / Unsplash

A Proof of Attendance Protocol (POAP) is a digital collectible non-fungible token (NFT) that is meant to be a record of life experiences.  They’re typically associated with hosted events.  Unlike normal NFTs, they’re free to mint and distribute because they exist on xDai, an Ethereum side chain.  While NFTs can often be thought of as art, POAPs can be thought of more as a passport stamp or badge.  There is even an easy to use mobile app to snag your POAP while you’re at the event.

This week GitPOAP was announced as a way to recognize developers for making substantial contributions to projects.  Git is a tool that software engineers use to manage the code they write and work collaboratively together on problems.  When a developer contributes to an open source project, the code goes into Git and is approved by the project maintainers.

This is meaningful in the software development world because one of the ways engineers find new jobs is via contributions to open source projects.  Many job listings will ask about your history of contributions.  Having POAPs verify that the project maintainers have acknowledged your contributions as meaningful could become a new form of software resume.

By the way, that’s pronounced poh-ap, not pope.