i followed the guide on the ZERO repo
git clone https://github.com/zerocurrency/zero.git
cd zero
git checkout master
./zcutil/fetch-params.sh
./zcutil/build.sh -j$(nproc)
mkdir -p ~/.zero
echo "rpcuser=username" > ~/.zero/zero.conf
echo "rpcpassword=head -c 32 /dev/urandom | base64" >> ~/.zero/zero.conf
echo "addnode=35.164.216.74" >> ~/.zero/zero.conf
echo "addnode=35.165.120.254" >> ~/.zero/zero.conf
echo "rpcport=23800" >> ~/.zero/zero.conf
echo 'gen=1' >> ~/.zero/zero.conf
echo "genproclimit=$(nproc)" >> ~/.zero/zero.conf
echo 'equihashsolver=tromp' >> ~/.zero/zero.conf
then did ./zcashd -listen=0
was smooth as butter