How to Start a Career in Blockchain?

Blockchain is a new technology and is rapidly evolving with each passing day. That’s why it makes it even harder for aspirants to get started with their careers in the blockchain.

And that’s why, in this article, we will explore the ways in which you can start your career in blockchain.

But, before we do, let’s learn what makes blockchain such as a good career option.

Blockchain was there from 2009 when bitcoin was first released to the world. But, it started catching steam in 2017 when the price of bitcoin skyrocketed.

However, blockchain is not similar to cryptocurrency. We can think of blockchain as an umbrella term that contains cryptocurrency. Crypto, on the other hand, utilizes blockchain as an underlying technology — a way to enable peers to make transactions without the need for a centralized entity.

The online marketplace also started showing signs of demand. Upwork, the top online freelancer platform named blockchain as the most growing skill for two consecutive quarters of 2018. Not only that, other platforms such as LinkedIn Learning also listed blockchain as the number one hard skill that is required by companies in 2020.

Currently, we are in a pandemic, and if you open yourself up to learning something new, you will always be in benefit. And, if you opt to learn things such as blockchain which is already in demand, you are opening a better opportunity to yourself.

But how do you start a blockchain career? Let’s explore.

Blockchain Doesn’t Follow Traditional Path

If you are a college student or someone who is still pursuing studies, then you will find that there is no traditional path to follow when it comes to blockchain careers. So, if you think that completing a college degree in computer science will help you land a blockchain job, you will be disappointed!

The blockchain skills are relatively new and the path to learning them is not instilled in the education. Moreover, traditional formal education is never a good way to learn skills as the industry rarely values them and is mostly used for background checks.

So, what do you do? Well, first of all, you need to learn about your options. As I said earlier, blockchain is huge and that’s why you have tons of opportunities in the field as well. You can choose to become:

1. Blockchain Developer: Blockchain developers enables companies to develop, manage, and secure blockchain networks and platforms. However, this is also one of the most-demanding blockchain jobs that requires you to have programming skills. You may need to have pre-existing programming experience, and on top of that, you should also be familiar with blockchain frameworks such as Hyperledger.

2. Blockchain Project Manager: The blockchain project manager is the guy that takes the responsibility of carrying blockchain projects. They also know blockchain in-and-out and have the expertise to make critical decisions when it comes to blockchain solution design, implementation process, and other managerial decision making.

3. Blockchain UX Designer: The blockchain solutions also have a user interface, and that’s where the blockchain UX designer comes into play. They make the blockchain solution design intuitive and digestible by everyone around us.

4. Blockchain Quality Engineer: The blockchain quality engineer takes care of the quality assurance throughout the project development and also after the product/service is released to the users. He guarantees that the blockchain development processes and operations meet the highest possible standards. To make sure that he manages all of these, he needs to be an automation and testing expert surrounding blockchain frameworks. To become one, you need to have an eye for detail and have excellent communication skills.

5. Blockchain legal Consultant: Blockchain’s way of approach makes legality a completely new thing, and that’s where the blockchain legal consultant comes in. They take care of the legal aspects of the companies or parties that deal with blockchain.

Learn About Blockchain In The Right Way

Now that we have understood the demand of blockchain and the different types of scopes more than before, we are now ready to list the steps required to start your career in blockchain. The end goal is to educate yourself in blockchain so that you can find your own interest and apply for jobs that interest you the most.

1. Understanding the basics and build it

The first thing that you need to do is learn how blockchain works. Yea, I know that sounds obvious. But, most of us think that we already know what blockchain is and what it has to offer. By deeply understanding it, you are setting yourself up for future challenges like building a decentralized solution, coding smart contracts, or even building dApps.

Even if you are not aiming to be a developer, it is a good idea to get your hands dirty. This way, you will have a better understanding and can understand the needs of the companies you work with.

If you are completely new to programming, then you should start with Python or JavaScript. Once you are comfortable with a programming language, you can then learn Solidity — a programming language for developing smart contracts.

2. Cryptography — the heart of blockchain

At the heart of the blockchain, you will find cryptography doing all the hard work to secure the assets/data on the blockchain. You can simply not ignore cryptography. This means that any project that you work on in the future will also require you to have a good grasp of cryptography and what it has to offer. That’s why you need to learn it as well. Also, it is not required to go in-depth with the subject. A high-level understanding will also suffice if you learn it with complete focus.

3. Understand how distributing computing works

When you start working in the Blockchain industry, you will encounter distributed computing. Right now, the best term to use that describes the industry is distributed ledger technology where you can focus on wider technologies that work on the idea of decentralization but have different approaches.

4. Understand the business side of blockchain

As a learner, you also need to understand blockchain from a business perspective and what it has to offer. As such, you may want to study use-cases and listen to interviews or podcasts from the business leaders on how they tackle the blockchain project, and also learn how blockchain is helping them move forward.

What’s Next? — Choose Your Own Path

The goal is to make yourself ready for the career path in blockchain. You can increase your chances by learning yourself with How to Build Your Career in Enterprise Blockchains Course.

So, what do you think is the best path for you? Comment below and let us know.