As the current boiling mudflow of the Mount of IT, the global market of blockchain technology is all set to grow statistically around $20 billion by the year 2025. There are cryptocurrencies and technology at the peak of the mountain that appears and can be seen by anyone from any angle. Starting from farmers, elderly, children, natives, expats, tourists both far and near, even cows! – all can see the beauty of the potential of today’s IT Mountain peaks from afar. The easiness of being seen by anyone is what makes many people feel challenged to reach the peak. Let’s call them, the IT mountaineer, as a blockchain developer.

However, as a mountaineer – or, well, blockchain developer, what gear is needed to get to the top? This article exists to answer your questions more.

Who is a Blockchain Developer?

Blockchain developers can be regarded as someone with a strong mix of skills in areas like data structures, cryptography, computer networking, and algorithms. They are responsible for the respective tasks such as blockchain protocols designer, smart contract builder, etc. 

What Does a Blockchain Developer Do?

To put it simply by the literal meaning, a blockchain developer develops blockchain. 

Well, on the serious look about what a blockchain developer does, we need to establish that there are two different types of blockchain developers; 1) the Core Blockchain Developer, and 2) the Blockchain Software Developer. They are named as sub-divisions of blockchain development. The roles and responsibilities of both profile as follows:

Core Blockchain Developer:

• Blockchain protocols and consensus protocols designer
• Network architecture designer and monitors
• Implement various blockchain features and functionality, etc

Blockchain Software Developer:

• APIs developed for integration of blockchain
• Develop the frontend and backend of Decentralized Applications
• Develop and implement smart contract, etc

Blockchain developers have track slash obstacles awaiting them on the way to the top. As being a hot magma as aforementioned at the preambule of this article before, it has set the bar high to meet the expectations inherent in a blockchain development project. While, in reality, the developer has to work with legacy infrastructure and its limitations. Blockchain developers need specialized skills to face the challenges of understanding the technical practicality of implementing decentralized cryptosystems, then processes that fall outside of the traditional IT development skill-set. 

How to Become a Blockchain Developer?

Generally speaking, there are two divides as to where the person might differ at work here. They are blockchain hopefuls who are starting completely from scratch, having no background in programming whatsoever, and those who have experience in careers that share similarities with blockchain.

For you who came here to learn some steps yet interested in a blockchain developer career, but not from the blockchain familiar field, here you go! Because, there is will, there is a way, right?

Learn Why Blockchain Was Needed in the First Place

Bitcoin is the pioneer of a decentralized system with blockchain technology standing behind it. Until recently, developers were able to dive deeper and become familiar with bitcoin. Then the developers can purchase some cryptocurrency to better understand how the system works. Following the blockchain enthusiast community, discussion forums, and staying updated with blockchain technology developments either through blogs or YouTube, blockchain technology activists and cryptocurrencies can be a source of increasing your knowledge of blockchain technology.

Apart from being self-taught as mentioned above, formal education in the Computer Science / Information Technology field can be taken to help you better understand and strengthen your foundation to learn blockchain technology effectively. Non-formal education by participating in training programs etc. can also be an option to explore blockchain technology more.

Both from self-taught and/or formal education, the crucial concepts to learn are how public and private approaches, decentralization, and more.

Tech Skills Proficient Required

In order to fulfill some responsibilities before becoming a blockchain developer, here are the skills you are encouraged to master:

1. Programming Language; comfortable with programming languages such as C++, SQL, JavaScript, and Python is a huge help for you to develop applications for blockchain and various other tasks conveniently. To become a blockchain developer, programming concepts (OOPs concepts, specifically) is required.
2. Data Structures; understanding various data structures such as linked lists, binary trees, heap, hashing, graphs, and more is required for blockchain developers to develop the immutable and efficient system.
3. Databases and Networking; the purpose is for you to understand the mechanism of distributed systems and other crucial concepts for blockchain development.
4. Cryptography; learning various cryptographic concepts like digital signatures, hash functions, RSA algorithm, and more is one of the must-have technical skills to become a blockchain developer. 
5. Web Development; this is a core aspect of blockchain development, because most cases a blockchain developer will be developing web apps. So, you need to learn web design, development, and programming of apps, which can help you while developing Dapps, handling APIs, etc.

Learn about Cryptonomics

Cryptonomics is an emerging word combining two terms – cryptography and economics. This learning purpose is to understand the economical concepts and methodologies behind cryptocurrencies. Transaction fees, mining, transaction lifestyle using bitcoin, and more that are covered in the cryptonomics curriculum is required to learn for blockchain developers.

Learn about Smart Contract

Allowing two parties to exchange goods or services without a third party interference makes smart contracts used in almost every blockchain solution to their benefit. After the parties involved fulfill both of their conditions, a smart contract will finish the transaction. 

Learning smart contracts can be accomplished by visiting docs.vexanium.com and/or github.com/vexanium with the work of three major components – deterministic, terminable, and isolation. After you get familiar with smart contracts, you can use them in many areas of numerous industries like construction, law, etc. 

Conclusion 

Now we have arrived on the Mount of IT’s top! Congratulations! Indeed, there is much to be learned and mastered to become a blockchain developer, in hopes in the future that there will also be many potentials that will continue to be explored in this growing industry.