Hi! I'm a contractor who works on go-IPFS and have been for a year. I have no PHDs but I have been programming a couple decades across all kinds of products.
Rather than wade into the self-taught vs pedigree debate, I want to point out that based on my experience working on the project, I think technical challenges are actually not the biggest challenges.
Much of the challenge has to do with process -- managing a huge issue tracker, tracking a giant project that lives in multiple repos with many interlocking components, benchmarking a system that is quite hard to benchmark, developing an effective release process, developing systematized ways to collect community feedback, etc.
IPFS needs solid product focus and team direction. From what I’ve seen, the folks at Protocol get this. That’s why they have started focusing on achievable priorities like hosting package managers. The technical problems are complicated but not insurmountable-- not beyond the scope of what many talented senior programmers can solve. I think IPFS would be improved by strong team leadership and process, not more whiz kids, and I see Protocol taking steps to insure this happens.
Rather than wade into the self-taught vs pedigree debate, I want to point out that based on my experience working on the project, I think technical challenges are actually not the biggest challenges.
Much of the challenge has to do with process -- managing a huge issue tracker, tracking a giant project that lives in multiple repos with many interlocking components, benchmarking a system that is quite hard to benchmark, developing an effective release process, developing systematized ways to collect community feedback, etc.
IPFS needs solid product focus and team direction. From what I’ve seen, the folks at Protocol get this. That’s why they have started focusing on achievable priorities like hosting package managers. The technical problems are complicated but not insurmountable-- not beyond the scope of what many talented senior programmers can solve. I think IPFS would be improved by strong team leadership and process, not more whiz kids, and I see Protocol taking steps to insure this happens.