Curious About Blockchain? Explore the Path to Becoming a Developer!

Blockchain is a cutting-edge and revolutionary technology that is the foundation of those transformations already in process.

Not only the financial industry but the whole society is on the threshold of the global changes that will have long-term positive consequences.

By becoming a Blockchain developer, you will be a part of this new world full of opportunities and benefits. What are those?

Reasons to Become a Blockchain developer

Becoming a Blockchain developer will give you the following advantages:

1. Competitive salary. The income bracket ranges from $100,000 to an impressive $180,000 annually, with opportunities for career growth within a short period.
2. High demand for blockchain experts. This is one of the fastest-growing niches nowadays. The demand for developers working in this industry is constantly rising as the number of new projects does. The technology looks promising, which guarantees that blockchain developers will have job offers in the future.
3. Blockchain ecosystem expansion. With the growth of blockchain infrastructure, the range of developers who can participate in project creation becomes broader. Modern networks integrate cloud computing, AI, and other features that increase blockchains’ speed, making them more stable and efficient.

4. Being a part of glocal changes. Blockchain is considered to be one of the life-changing technologies. Along with shifting to a new financial era, smart contracts are able to bring significant alteration in the everyday life of every human being. By becoming a blockchain developer, you have this unique opportunity to be on the edge of those inevitable changes.
5. Additional financial opportunities. By participating in the development of a particular Blockchain, you can allocate your tokens there or learn how to invest your cryptocurrency in other projects.
6. Teaching the others. If you have a deep knowledge of blockchain and the ability to teach others, you can propagate blockchain through your own lessons.

Who is a Blockchain developer?

The range of developer types is more than wide nowadays. There are those working on AI, creating websites and web apps, mobile services, etc.

Blockchain developers are responsible for creating networks themselves as well as developing various dapps, smart contracts, sidechains, services, and other products related to blockchain.

It is to mention that there are two main types of blockchain developers: core blockchain developers and software engineers.

First are responsible for creating Blockchain platforms themselves. They create the whole infrastructure, work on consensus protocol and other blockchain network solutions.

As for software engineers, they use the infrastructure to create various types of software, including decentralized applications that can be later launched in a particular network. In short, core blockchain developers have the following tasks:

1. They work on Blockchain protocols.
2. Design the consensus mechanisms and security tools.
3. Create the network infrastructure.
4. Supervise the entire network and maintain its stability.

As for software developers, they have the following roles:

1. Developing smart contracts.
2. Creating dApps (both front and backend solutions).
3. Supervise and maintain their dapps.

Tips on how to become a blockchain developer

Now that you are aware of the role of blockchain developers and the key reasons to become one, it is time to provide you with some tips on how to make your career in this industry. We are pleased to provide you with the step-by-step guide, which will help you to start.

Basics first

The main thing you need to do when starting your Blockchain developer career is to learn the basics. Even if you already have an idea about what a blockchain

is, it is worth diving deeper into the main concepts, basic principles, and architecture. It is also a good idea to learn more about decentralization (all Blockchain projects are decentralized by their nature) and privacy. You will also need to understand how consensus mechanisms work and what is the difference between them.

When familiarizing yourself with the basics of blockchain infrastructure, it is also worth spending some time learning the basic terminology to be aware of the key concepts.

Apart from all those aspects, it is recommended to get familiar with the development tools that you will use when you become a blockchain developer as well as the market. Don’t skip such features as ICO (Initial Coin Offering), TGE (Token Generation Event), IEO (Initial Exchange Offering), STO (Security Token Offering), etc.

When learning the basics of blockchain development, make sure you understand the main concepts of the existing cryptographic algorithms that you can find in the most popular Blockchain solutions.

And last but not least, you should also get familiar with modern Blockchain ecosystems. Most currently working networks are more than cryptocurrencies. They should be considered Blockchain platforms with a wide range of features that allow developers to create smart contracts, deploy applications, create various services, etc.

Join Blockchain developers communities

You will never have solutions for all challenges you will face when developing a particular Blockchain or dapp. As with other types of programming, we recommend you join any existing blockchain developers communities to get information from there and contribute.

Dive deep into blockchain processes

The first stage is happily over, and now you are ready to continue your studies. This time, you should dig even deeper to understand how blockchain processes are arranged. If you don’t know what to start with, learn more about cryptocurrencies, as they are one of the most popular use cases of any particular blockchain system.

To make your first step in this niche, you can buy a small amount of cryptocurrency of tokens (this will not be an expensive deal as there are plenty of projects where coins have close to zero price).

By doing this, you will get access to the blockchain itself and try most of its features. By doing this, you are

not investing or trading anything. You are learning about the key aspects of a particular network from the inside. It is not enough to read a White Paper document or other documentation to see how a Blockchain platform works.

By buying a particular token, you will also get familiar with another vital Blockchain feature called cryptocurrency wallets. Who knows, maybe you will join a team that develops this type of storage for digital assets one day.

Make your first lines of code

Enough with the theory. Now it’s time to get down to business. With this solid understanding of blockchain and its features, you are ready to create something on your own.

The easiest entry point for all beginner blockchain developers is Solidity. This language is widely used by Ethereum software developers who work on various dApps and smart contracts.

You can look through open-source code at the same time. Most networks or software are open source, meaning their code is available to everybody. This is the essential part of your training. You need to do the following:

1. Create a genesis block and implement it.
2. Provide the blockchain with the opportunity to add new blocks and record them.
3. Validate new blocks.
4. Conduct all types of tests to make sure your blockchain is working.

And never forget to add security and provide your network with encryption features. Once you are done with coding, you should have a working sample of blockchain.

Smart contracts

These are an integral part of most modern blockchains. Smart contracts are designed to be a kind of bridge between blockchains and real-life legal contracts.

When learning how to develop your blockchain, you are recommended to create smart contracts to practice them.

Never stop learning

This refers to any type of development, and Blockchain coding is not the exception. Technology changes all the time. New features are added, new challenges appear. Even if you have learned the theory and managed to create your own platform, you should never skip learning. This is how it works.

Blockchain developer technical skills requirements

1. Before we proceed with the most popular blockchain platforms that currently exist in this niche and the most popular questions about blockchain developers, we would like to make a brief stop on what exact technical requirements you will need to start creating Blockchain projects:
2. Blockchain infrastructure and architecture. Each Blockchain developer should understand how blockchain works and what lies in its foundation. In short, you need to have deep knowledge in cryptography, consensus, smart contracts, hash, and other important features required for a blockchain to be called a blockchain.
3. Smart contracts. They are designed to substitute real-life contracts in the future. As an example of a smart contract, you can imagine an agreement between a seller and a buyer about purchasing a portion of goods or various services. The most advantageous feature of those contracts is that they are self-executed ones, meaning all stages are autonomously executed when a specific event happens.
4. Data structure. Each block in a blockchain can be seen as a type of data structure. To become a good Blockchain developer, you will have to work with data structure all the time and understand how the networks of the Blockchain type use it.
5. Languages. There is no single programming language that you can use to create each type of software connected to the blockchain. The most popular are Java, C++, Javascript, and Python. You should also be good at OOP as well as know various libraries and frameworks.
6. Finally, you should have skills in web development. This means that you need to be a professional web developer, knowing how to create applications and protect them from various threats.

What are blockchain platforms?

If you want to become a skilled Blockchain developer, you should also be aware of the industry’s current state. There are plenty of networks and Blockchain platforms that provide their customers with a plethora of opportunities, including cryptocurrency services, tools for building dapps, creating smart contracts, etc. The most popular are:

1. Ethereum. This blockchain was the first to provide customers with smart contracts and the opportunity to create dapps.
2. Velas. A relatively new low-cost blockchain offering 70,000+ transactions per second and various tools to create dapps, services, smart contracts, NFT marketplaces, etc.
3. EOS, Tron and many others.

How to become a blockchain developer with Velas?

Building dApps on top of Velas Blockchain will bring you the following benefits:

1. You will be able to work with an innovative platform that combines the advantages of Solana and Ethereum Virtual Machine. This will allow you to use the fastest blockchain in history to develop and run your application or integrate an existing Ethereum-based dapp.
2. Velas is a developer-friendly platform allowing you to make an easy start. Velas smart contracts use Rust and Solidity (one of the most popular languages for this particular task nowadays).
3. The platform has launched VelasPad, a special campaign aiming at helping developers and teams to get support from the Velas administration related to technical aspects and marketing.
4. The Grant program, launched by the Velas team is an opportunity for the upcoming projects to receive the necessary funds to create dApps on top of the Velas Blockchain. Final words
5. Becoming a Blockchain developer requires both skills in programming and deep knowledge of the blockchain technology itself and its infrastructure. You can use the tips we have given in this article to start your career as a Blockchain software engineer.

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