We’ve been hard at work since the public Pre-Launch. We’ve staffed up new team members from all over the world. We’ve set detailed plans for the tech, community and partnerships. Now we’d like to introduce some of our team members to you, in a celebration of the diversity and transparency of Team Ocean.

Ocean Software Engineer Ahmed Ali on Egyptian tech, building data substrate, and management’s role in a flat hierarchy workplace.

Firstly, tell us a bit about you. What did you do prior to joining Ocean as a Software Engineer?

Before I committed myself full-time to blockchain, I worked as an R&D engineer at ITIDA-Egypt, as well as a research assistant at both Nile University and American University of Cairo. During that time, I also worked as a consultant for startups and tech companies throughout Egypt. I am an ongoing member of the IoT-Egypt Forum, the Open Data Institute (Cairo Node), and local mentor for Egypt’s Docker community. However, these days I am fully focused on blockchain, verifiable computation and service integrity, with an additional interest in distributed systems and consensus models.

Why Ocean?

First time I read about Ocean, I was really inspired by the idea of building data substrate, but I think Ocean is about much more than just data and blockchain. It is about unlocking our past data in a democratized way in order enhance our future. In addition, I realized that now is the time to move away from the era of data silos, and into a new era of quick and easy access to data. This will in turn have a huge impact for researchers, scientists and companies, who will now be able to accelerate their process and come up with new findings.

Yes! So, now that you are here, what do you like most about being a part of this project?

I enjoy having the chance to explore these new ideas and technologies. Plus, the people are so nice and the work environment here is awesome!

Which challenges will we start seeing as we work towards a decentralized future?

The most challenging part will be the interpretation of legal and law systems, especially for licensing and consuming services (datasets, computations, algorithms, etc.). Moreover, due to complex scenarios of AI and Big Data technologies, there is a clear need for service integrity and verifiable computations.

What does Ocean’s flat hierarchy mean to you?

If you mean flat organization, for me this essentially means good communication between employees and management layers. Additionally, it also means managers are doing more than just managing (they are actively participating as well), and it provides employees with more flexibility to take decisions.

How do you get to work in the morning at our Berlin office? (U-Bahn, bike, walk?)

Normally U-Bahn, but when the weather is nice, sometimes I prefer to walk.