@J4X_Security

@J4X_Security

🏅3 on Cantina 2024 | > 160K$ in contest payouts

Words of Wisdom

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"Stay away from the crowd"

I always try to do the most unattractive contest currently offered. It's usually either a very complex codebase, or a language no one wants to learn.

This way I always keep myself challenged (avoiding fatigue) and get the minimum of competition which leads to a way less diluted pot.

"Check for 3 signs that will tell you that this is a good contest to do:"

1. New language / protocol type

2. Complex Math

3. Gigantic codebase

"Predict highs"

When deciding on what contest to look at, nowadays its becoming more and more important to know if a contest will contain highs, due to scaled pots. You can usually predict the chances of this pretty well by looking at 3 metrics:

• Prior audits -> Who audited it before? In case of no one or a low quality company we can be pretty sure to find stuff

• Code quality -> If there is almost no testcases or documentation, we can usually expect highs

• Size -> The bigger the codebase is the better as the chance of highs increases exponentially

"Favor big codebases"

So if I do a scaled pot, in the best case I want those 3 to align.

A big codebase, that is badly documented / tested and had no or only low quality audits before. In that case you can be almost sure that the pot is unlocked, but competition will still be a lot lower due to the pot being scaled.

"Meet Everyone"

I always try to meet as many people in the industry as possible.

First of all you will find a lot of friends that have a similar mindset to you which is awesome.

Second of all these friends can be helpful all along the way. I have gotten many opportunities or clients referred to me by friends I met along the way.

"Don't be a leech 🐛"

If you just want others to help you but not do anything for them no one will want to be your friend. Try to help and support each of your friends whenever you can. It might be referring a client to them, it might be putting a good word in for them with someone you know etc. This way you can build lasting friendships out of which both sides profit.