Vinteum is a Bitcoin education group based in Brazil. Last year they launched their first Bitcoin developer launchpad cohort:
Participants entered with very different levels of technical experience and progressed at very different speeds. Some already had software engineering or open-source backgrounds; others arrived with little understanding of Bitcoin’s technical foundations. Some moved quickly into full-time open-source work, while others needed more time to study, find the right project, or create the conditions to make that commitment.
Several participants moved relatively directly from BDL into funded work. Lucas Balieiro, Moisés Pompílio, João Leal, and Guilherme Martins are now supported by OpenSats, while Luis Schwab received a grant from the BDK Foundation. Erick Cestari and ThgO.O became Vinteum grantees. Others transitioned into professional engineering roles: Caio joined Boltz, Gustavo Stingelin joined Lightning Labs, and Lang joined Tether to work on QVAC.
Other trajectories were less direct. Joãozinho, who had just finished high school, continued studying and contributing from Casa21 before finding his place in the Krux ecosystem and independently securing an OpenSats grant. TheMhV later entered Vinteum’s fellowship program and is now contributing to Cashu Dev Kit while deepening his expertise in cryptography. João Vitor Senna, who did not reach the BDL1 residency, was later hired by Synonym and continues developing Mandacaru in his spare time. Ingrid Gama remained active in the community and recently won Hack4Freedom with Satra Wallet, while Raphael Dutenkefer has begun exploring how his data-science background could contribute to Bitcoin privacy and network research alongside his other professional commitments.
It's cool to see new people coming to work on Bitcoin stuff. Also, I am reminded that there are programs in India (Bitshala) and Africa (BTrust) and South America (Mi Primer Bitcoin) and Germany (never can remember how to spell it) and Switzerland (PlanB) and South Africa (Bitcoin Ekasi) and El Salvador and New York and San Francisco and of course Austin (@PlebLab) and I know I didn't name them all.
If you feel down on Bitcoin, just take a look at these organizations.
What I like here is that not everyone entered with the same technical background or followed the same path afterward.
It’s easy to look at Bitcoin development from the outside and think you need to understand everything before you can start. Seeing people learn first and then find their own area to contribute is encouraging.
That is really nice to see, thanks for sharing.
I am going through the Btrust programs with the same goal. Still early days for me, and reading articles like this is always motivating.