Future Builders Academy - How It Works

About

Over the last 20 years, we have been working on the Global Village Construction Set. 2025 has historic significance for OSE, in that we have achieved an important funding milestone. We have developed a boot-strapping funding mechanism enabling us to take this work to scale. This mechanism centers on efficient production, and it involves education to spread our work to global impact. The production model that we have developed is the swarm build of the Seed Eco-Home. With trained cohorts of 24 apprentices, we will be able to build each house in only 5 days - which is a breakthrough that allows bootstrapped funding by building homes.

First Year On-boarding

What exactly did we solve for? We solved a way for people to get involved in OSE work for the long term - at least for 4 years. This time is sufficient for students not only to learn, but to contribute fundamentally to society to open-sourcing the economy by engaging in open source product development. While the first year focuses on build skill, we transition to new product development in the second year - while continuing work-study for sustainable financing of the entire program - both for OSE at large and for students.

The Future Builders Academy apprenticeship involves two days of work per week - as work study for which students are paid. This allows our students to pay their way through the program. Because our program cost includes housing and utilities - the cost of living for each participant is low. This allows our apprentices pay their own way for the program, without incurring debt.

Students earn between $14-$35 per hour in their work-study, depending on documented competency. The first year we focus on acquiring build skill, which allows all of us to build homes for sale. Since housing is a global crisis and a high need - there is no shortage of the need for homes. The housing market imposes no limit for the number of students that we can sustain by building housing. 1.5 million new homes are built in the USA alone. The homes we build are expandable, with our smallest production model currently being 720 square feet. This is not an Amazon house - but a high quality, expandable seed eco-home that meets real needs and appreciates the moment it's built.

If apprentices work 2 days per week, then they earn approximately $900-$2240 per month. This is how we sustain the program - for as long as the student wants to stay. The Builder Crash Course occurs every 2-3 months, during which students do not engage in work-study but instead engage in a rapid-learning opportunity by building a house. After 1 year There is a 2 month summer break, in which students have an opportunity to engage in service learning and travel, or summer work. We engage in a 2 week service trip each year, depending on student interests and global needs.

The 4 Year Program

The overall program involves learning how to design and build anything - along with learning how to learn, learning how to solve problems, and learning how to be a global steward. Each year covers some of this, but the focus is cumulative:

• In the first year, the focus is learning construction. The milestone here is that each person attains at least $1600/month competency level in their work-study so that financial sustainability is addressed.
• In the second year, we move on to OSPD. We develop new products in the GVCS - up to the level that the Seed Eco-Home currently enjoys - that of a commercially viable product that can be produced for the open market with clearly visible advantages over the competition.
• As we work on OSPD, we cultivate our abilities: to design and build just about anything, to learn how to learn; to learn how to solve problems; and to learn how to be a human and a steward of the planet
• The integrated nature of the program make this an exponential growth journey. Once you learn a sufficient diversity of experience and practice, you will find that learning new things becomes easier - and your dedication to hard work and excellence bears fruit
• Each Apprentice is tasked with developing a new product for their final project. This product can be large or small, that contributes significant value to the GVCS, or to the 500 Modules that compose all of the technosphere. This product is some open source hardware, hardware-software combination, or an associated business model that is proven and open-sourced. Final projects are all related to new product development - as opposed to documentation of existing work.
• In the Learning Goals Meeting in the early phases of the program, each Apprentice determines their personal open source product development goal and publishes this on their log. This can change, but the initial goal setting is important for focusing one's effort.

At 4 years, we provide an opportunity to work for OSE at a starting salary of $95k as a build manager running 24 person crews. We also hire builders at $72k starting pay, which is outlier in the industry. We also offer the opportunity to continue studies with OSE, for a Master's and PhD level skill set in world-building. As we are building a new civilization with the existing campus as a prototype facility - we can also invite graduates to live on site with a clearly defined production contract for contributing clearly visible value to our Zero Marginal Cost Society prototype.

Future Builders Academy Remote Options

For individuals who have a business problem that they would like to solve and share openly with the world, we offer the remote option.

The idea is that it requires sustained effort from people with knowhow, and with discipline to seek zero-marginal cost society abundance.

The way remote contribution - short of onsite presence - could work is by people who are interested in solving their own economic problems, while sharing the results with the world. For example, a Mexican blueberry farmer signed up to optimize his operation. Thus we have high confidence that he has the motivation to deliver working product, and that it will be open source - because our method requires it. Such as open source desalination or blueberry picker.

That is actually how all of the project works. We solve our own economic problems, while releasing important solutions to the world - and while committing to Distributed Market Substitution ideals.

If it is just about replicating our plans - that has a low chance of making an Economic Time-Binding contribution to the GVCS. If it is about adding clearly visible value based on a high level of enlightened self-interest, then that has a much higher chance of success.

Do you have an economic problem that we can solve together, while committing to releasing an important solution to the world? How much is that solution worth to you? Would you pay 10% of that value to OSE for an opportunity to collaborate with OSE? If the answer is yes, then consider applying to the Future Builders Academy.

Seed Eco-Home Remote Enterprise Option

Do you want to learn how to build the Seed Eco-Home enterprise, but cannot participate on site? Or you are already degreed, a designer, architect, builder, or engineer - and don't see yourself spending another 4 years in school?

For this, we suggest the Seed Eco-Home Remote Enterprise Option

Intended Audiences

Our program is for young people who want to change the world for a living - by learning the discipline of abundance creation through open source, zero-marginal cost society development. Other audiences include mid-course career shifters looking for additional meaning in their work. Other audiences include remote participants, see above.