Last year, Chainlink community members from around the world participated in a beta test of the Chainlink Oracle Olympics to showcase the determination, talent, and commitment needed to maintain an oracle node at 100% uptime.

Competition participants ran self-managed nodes and were subject to a variety of simulated real-world events and adverse network conditions over the course of multiple weeks. With every mistake resulting in a “strike,” two teams with the fewest number of strikes over this intensive period were crowned as winners. 

Coming out on top last year were LinkRiver and CryptoManufaktur, two projects that have gone on to run high-performing nodes for the Chainlink Network and provide critical node infrastructure to the larger blockchain community. 

Now, Chainlink community enthusiasts once again have the chance to prove their development operations talent, with one team being crowned as the official winner of Chainlink Oracle Olympics #1. 

Register for the Chainlink Oracle Olympics #1.

What Is the Oracle Olympics?
The Chainlink Oracle Olympics is a challenging three-week competition designed to identify the next generation of community node operators that best deal with the challenges associated with maintaining a high-quality oracle node.

The goal of the competition is to give participating teams the opportunity to showcase their skill in quickly and efficiently responding to a wide range of simulated challenges, from various job requests to volatile market situations. This provides teams with valuable DevOps experience, both in a general sense and for the specific purposes of running a Chainlink node. 

The winning team will be able to keep their nodes running 24/7 through all the various adverse network conditions thrown at them throughout the weeks.

Why Should You Participate?
We know there are many members of the Chainlink community who wish to enter the ecosystem as node operators, and many more who already have significant DevOps experience. 

If you’re a Chainlink community member who has past experience with DevOps and wants to gain insight into the day-to-day tasks and challenges of a Chainlink node operator, this is a low-stakes way to get involved (though it may feel very high-stakes).

For the team that stands out above the competition, winning the Chainlink Oracle Olympics means becoming a part of an elite and professional group of DevOps teams that collectively help secure $75B+ in value for the larger blockchain economy—a badge of honor that will help the team in any future DevOps endeavor within the smart contract ecosystem.

Chainlink Oracle Olympics Details

Out of all the applicants who correctly complete the participation form, 30 will be selected and contacted to set up a Chainlink node on a test network such as Kovan or Rinkeby. With no more than four people allowed on each team, Oracle Olympics teams have a deceptively simple task—keep their node running for three weeks. 

Throughout the three-week event, teams will communicate in a Slack channel where they will be required to complete specific tasks as well as respond to simulated network events. The winning team will ensure that their node is operational for the entire three weeks and that it accurately delivers off-chain data on-chain. 

For more information about the event, visit the Rules and FAQ page.

Winning Chainlink Oracle Olympics #1

At the time of writing, over 700 Chainlink DONs have delivered 1.3B+ data points to help secure 75B+ in total value. Whether it’s market, weather, sports, or election data, Chainlink enables dApp developers to securely and reliably access off-chain data.

By standing out from the competition at the Chainlink Oracle Olympics, the winning team will receive the exclusive opportunity to run a Chainlink node and service Chainlink Price Feeds already in production, joining the blockchain industry’s most professional and talented DevOps teams in helping ensure seamless off-chain data delivery to dApps across the ecosystem.

Challenge Yourself

Node operators are the backbone of the Chainlink Network, performing the mission-critical functions that make Chainlink so invaluable to blockchain projects.

As open-source software that depends entirely on its amazing community of ecosystem contributors and maintainers, Chainlink is only as successful as the node operators facilitating both the seamless delivery of off-chain data and the execution of off-chain computation.

If you’re a community node operator looking to serve the Chainlink Network as a whole, don’t forget to apply to participate in the competition for a rewarding challenge.

Learn More
Those interested should check out the relevant docs page to learn more about operating a Chainlink node. If you’re a developer who wants to start building hybrid smart contract applications and needs some type of external data or computation, refer to the official https://docs.chain.link/, ask a technical question in Discord, or set up a call with an expert.

To learn more about Chainlink’s mission and role within the blockchain ecosystem, visit chain.link, subscribe to the Chainlink newsletter, and follow Chainlink on Twitter, YouTube, and Reddit.