#AviaChat with the DevOps Leader

 Hello, Welcome to this new AviaChat with The DevOps Leader at Bitcanna. How are you today? 

 Great, Thanks for the invitation! 

 Let's Start! What is your name or username, your current position at Bitcanna team and what specific role do you play in the project's development? 

 I'm Raul from BitCanna, currently leading the DevOps team, which includes server and service maintenance, as well as rollouts. Additionally, I'm in charge of blockchain software upgrades and security. 

 Could you briefly describe your background, including your education and any relevant experience or specializations? 

 I completed pre-university telecommunications studies and later began studying telecommunications at university. During the .com boom, I left my studies to work in emerging IT startups, gaining valuable experience and real-world knowledge. I ran my own website and app development business, and later started working for the government as an IT technician.  

 How did you first become involved in the crypto ecosystem, and do you remember the first coin you purchased and why?Or mining may be? 

 I started mining Bitcoin with my home PC around 2011 but quickly lost faith (a huge mistake). In 2018, I began mining Monero and some derivative altcoins, but I abandoned this due to the small returns compared to the energy expended. So, I decided to switch to PoS. My journey as a PoS validator began with Waves Network, Lunes.io, Regen Networks (participating in testnets and the Cosmos Game of Zones), Band Protocol, and of course, BitCanna. 

 How did you join the Bitcanna team? 

 I discovered the BitCanna project (in its ICO stage) while searching for new PoS projects. I began asking numerous questions in the BitCanna Telegram group, inquiring about technical details, and I felt in love with the project. As a regular user and investor, the team appreciated my engagement and offered me a position as a Spanish admin to help manage the influx of new Spanish-speaking users during the ICO stage. I started developing monitoring tools for the initial chain (built on the BitCore/Dash PoS fork) and monitoring server health. After the second penetration test I conducted for the team and considering my extensive knowledge of Cosmos, they decided to hire me. 

 What inspired you to work on Bitcanna? 

 Working with the BitCanna team is amazing. Everything is new, and doors open for research every day, which makes me feel alive. In fact, I left my government job (with a perfect lifetime contract) for this startup. 

 In your opinion, what is the most appealing aspect of the Cosmos ecosystem? 

 What attracts me most about the Cosmos ecosystem is that everything is designed with the big picture in mind, emphasizing interconnectedness. 

 How do you see the Cosmos ecosystem growing recently in General, any details? 

 I participated in 'Game of Zones' (2020) with the Regen Networks crew, and it was the most intense experience (the most significant hackathon) in the field of technology that I have ever had. In fact, I earned some prizes with Regen Network. Since then, I've seen how the ecosystem has grown with IBC and how collaboration among chains has increased; SDK developers and the community are doing a fantastic job, without a doubt. 

 What programming language do you use most frequently in your daily work at Bitcanna? 

 Python3 is my preferred language for building monitoring tools; it makes life easier :) My most recent public project is BCNAracle, but I don't consider myself a professional developer since it's not my area of expertise; I only code for fun and personal benefit (I'm lazy :). Go-Lang is essential to use and understand as a BCNAD core maintainer, but it's not 'my language.'  

 Can you tell us how many developers are currently working on the Bitcanna project? 

 The Core Team has 2 main developers including me. atmon3r#4253 (On Discord) is the main front-end developer. We count with a external company from Ukrany that support us when we are overloaded. The Core Team direct and organize the related resources when is needed. In the future the team will grow, news on that will be shared in our monthly dev updates found on our Medium channel 

 Could you provide an overview of the technology that powers Bitcanna, including, briefly, how your platform's payment solution operates? 

 We have deployed a mixed private/public server infrastructure to ensure the reliability of the Chain services. We run VPS for low-load processes and dedicated servers for high-load services. Our goal is to provide failover-enabled services that support the chain itself, as well as services like the WebWallet, the Explorer, the CosmosPay service, and the future Mobile App. The technology behind our payment platform includes always failover-enabled servers/services, such as PostgreSQL servers with Hasura that provide API services, BCNAracle that offers stable and curated prices, plugin maintenance & development for e-commerce frameworks, and back-end/front-end tools.  

 In your opinion, are there any blockchain development services or solutions that are currently missing from the ecosystem, which a proactive validator as AviaOne could potentially bring to the table for Bitcanna? 

 We miss more community engagement & marketing solutions, because the tech part is widely covered. Maybe more cross-marketing with other chains, like collaborations, contest and prizes, hackatons, etc When we finish our immediate roadmap and we deliver the Mobile Apps we will need to conquer the real Cannabis industry (including real-word cannabis stores and users) beyond the Cosmos. Our target audience is in the end not the people who are in crypto right now, but the cannabis consumers and the cannabis industry. We have a plan to target this group but more hands are always welcome. 

 What advice would you offer to someone interested in pursuing a career as a developer within the Cosmos ecosystem, and what programming languages, frameworks, or libraries would you recommend focusing on? 

 It depends on the field you want to specialize in. For example, Go-Lang is necessary for chain development and maintenance. NodeJS and everything related to JavaScript and TypeScript are perfect for front-end and back-end development (VueJS, Nuxt, etc.). Python and Bash scripting are essential for DevOps and server infrastructure tasks. 

 Where can we find you most active on social media, such as Twitter or Github? Let's share it here? 

 I'm active on the BitCanna Discord, but I also check Twitter from time to time. GitHub is my preferred way to work within the ecosystem https://github.com/RaulBernal. 

 So cool, Thank you so much for your time and dedication, let's talk again in some weeks for an update? 

 Sure! Thank you!