Hello LeoFinance & Hive,
How's it going? It's NEO here, a Telos Senior Eagle with another news straight from Telos Blockchain :)
In today's post I've got something cool to share with you. I have made an interview with "Ajinkya Jagtap" who is the one of the first Telos Block Producer from India.
Are you ready? Let's GO! ;)
NEO: Hello Ajinkya, How are you? First things first. Please tell us a few words about yourself, please.
Ajinkya: Hey, I am doing fantastic! I am the founder of CreativBlock - the first Telos Block Producer from India. My background is a business development and I have experience in organizing events. I have also co-founded an educational institute in India a few years back so I have a pretty much diverse background experience you can say.
NEO: When you have discovered Telos Blockchain?
Ajinkya: It was during the end of 2020, when Appics decided to migrate to Telos. I was a Senior Ambassador for Appics for quite a while and it intrigued me as to why Appics choose Telos. I did see Telos earlier on the Wombat wallet, but this is when i really started to pay attention.
NEO: What is your positions at Telos Blockchain?
Ajinkya: I have worked with the exchange's team and also with the business development. Currently I am working as a freelancer for the team and assist whenever I got time.
NEO: How's your work as a Telos block producer starts and how's it going so far?
Ajinkya: It was Suvi, the former CEO of the TF who instilled in me the idea to be a Block Producer. I was a part of the MSIG team who was responsible for the funds raised through the bounce sale - the liquidity generation event for Telos and at that time, technically I was a nobody! And yet, i was given an opportunity to safeguard the funds. I was honestly blown away by the level of trust and responsibility given to me - that's when i realized how Telos is truly the people's blockchain. I started exploring ways of how I could contribute to Telos and that's when I decided I wanted to be a Block Producer too.
NEO: Let's say that someone would like to start to produce blocks in Telos Blockchain, what kind of minimum equipment and setup you need to have and what is yours?
Ajinkya: Being a note validator on Telos is pretty much easy, the difficult part is getting people votes. I don't have a technical background so the first thing I did was researched how to be a block producer - what are the skills required and equipment necessary. I was searching for almost 3-4 months for a system admin with amazing linux skills and the will to learn about blockchain. Once I have found a sysadmin, I had to setup conference calls with other BP's who had actually executed this and there was a learning curve involved. I was ecstatic to be live on Testnet as that is the primary requirement and since day 1 of being live on the Mainnet, community has been showering love and votes! And for the technical part, you will have to interview the sysadmin, haha!
NEO: Haha! Ok, You got me with that sysadmin :) Next question... Is creating a blocks at Telos are as profitable as you expected?
Ajinkya: It wasn't as profitable as everyone think it is initially - but as the TLOS price rises then profit increases. There are certain fixed costs & salaries that have to be borne irrespective if we are in a paid position or not. For me, the initial few months I was running at a loss as I wasn't in the Top 42 but that's how it is and I knew of the risks when I have decided to be a Block Producer.
NEO: You officially inaugurated the 'Blockchain Incubation Center (Lab)' at Sinhgad College in India. Can you say a few words about it?
Ajinkya: This is something I was definitely looking forward to for a long time and Thomas who is the Community Relations head supported me for setting it up. The idea of the Blockchain Lab is to educate the students about blockchain in general and then compare Telos to a few others and show how Telos can do everything better. We will be introducing Telos dApps to the students and hope to incubate a few projects under this initiative. Right now the Blockchain lab is set up in a collaboration with "Sinhgad College of Science" so it is specific to a college; but we intend to have a physical location dedicated to Telos or blockchian in general and can be someting similar to a Telos Embassy in the future.
NEO: I've heard that you recently became a father, congratulations! :)
Ajinkya: Thank You! Being a father is indeed one of the most beautiful moments I have experienced in life! It's difficult, a bit stressful, haha, but totally worth it.
NEO: How do you manage to balance between your work and your new father duty? Got some secret recipes?
Ajinkya: I am still a few weeks away from doing my fatherly duties honestly. In India, the baby's mother stays at her mother's place for a couple of months initially. So right now i visit my wife & daughter almost every alternate day, but when she is back to our home, that's when I will experience being a father & change diapers - frankly i am very much looking forward to it!
NEO: Thank you very much for your time brotha. It was a pleasure to talk with you and I wish you all the best.
Ajinkya: Same here man! This was really good and i appreciate you taking the time to getting to know me better!
That was fun :) Hope you like this interview. I will consider to do more interviews like that in the future. Let me know in comments what do you think.
Thank you.
Stay Safe.
/NEO
Telos
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