Code4rena Automation, Breaking Through Plateaus and Auditing Advice for Beginners/Intermediates

Interview with Dravee who is a top gas reporter on code4rena, taking first place for gas optimisations on the $1Million OpenSea contest in May and reaching top 20 on the leaderboard for 2022.

In this conversation we talk about Dravee’s background and how he learned smart contract auditing from scratch. We discuss how he was able to break through learning plateaus, his auditing strategy and his report automation setup.

Contact Dravee:
https://twitter.com/BowTiedDravee

Links:
https://github.com/x676f64/secureum-mind_map

OUTLINE:
0:00 - Introduction
0:49 - Learning Smart Contract auditing
8:15 - Secureum Bootcamp
14:20 - Connecting the dots
16:23 - The steep learning curve
20:20 - How has code4rena changed
23:10 - How should a newcomer approach code4rena?
24:45 - code4rena's value for getting hired
26:08 - The rising quality of code4rena's reports
27:35 - Why web3 security
36:04 - DeFi
38:25 - Learning resources
39:43 - Meeting top auditors IRL
42:36 - Being early
45:28 - Confidence to go fulltime
48:18 - Additional learning resources from Secureum
49:43 - Starting with the basics
50:38 - Approach auditing as a beginner
57:48 - Semi-Automated report generation process
1:05:38 - Being 1st in 2022 on the Leaderboard for Gas Optimisation
1:07:37 - Breaking through plateaus
1:27:14 - Inspiration from yAcademy
1:29:05 - Audits at Spearbit
1:35:00 - Preparing for the next Bull market
1:38:47 - Future Goals
1:47:05 - Final Advice