Evolution lays strong testament to the fact that with different times, different skills become more employable. While at one point, manual labour and farmers comprised the majority of the workforce, soon the same was replaced by heavy machinery, during the time of industrial revolution. The advent of computers further disrupted the employment sector, making another set of skills, a prerequisite. In this age of digitization, blockchain technology is posing itself as one amongst the most disruptive career option.
For a particular skill-set to emerge as a plausible career option, it needs to be high in demand. Besides, the demand should not be localized but spread across the globe. To the same end, interest in blockchain tech has been consistently increasing, following the rise of bitcoin, along with other blockchain-based ICOs. A global phenomenon, blockchain tech is catching fire in India, given the sprouting up of several blockchain-based exchanges.
In addition to the private exchanges, the government sector is also opening up to deploying blockchain tech, hence creating further demand for the talent in this field. Following the Union Budget 2018 announcement, where Finance Minister announced looking into blockchain tech for digitizing and securing records, several government bodies have also been in the pursuit of blockchain talent. Thus, right from the private sector to government enterprises, there is now a huge demand for talent in blockchain technology.
The Demand for Blockchain Talent
For the sake of simplicity, blockchain can be understood as a decentralized public ledger that records different transactions. While the ledger is available to all and sundry, nobody, in particular, owns this ledger, hence making it immune from external hacks or tampering. Owing to this very feature of digitized recording and security, the applications of blockchain tech are spread across various sectors and industries. Some of these sectors include:
· The Banking sector — The blockchain framework has already proven its mettle in digital settlements with low transaction fees. The banking sector stands poised as one of the foremost sectors to benefit from adopting the blockchain tech. A blockchain-based infrastructure can compute cross-border payments within seconds, in addition to digitizing and securing every transaction.
· Supply Chain & Logistics — Adopting blockchain tech will minimize or completely nullify the extent of human errors in supply and logistics verticals. Stocks can be updated in real-time with the blockchain tech, allowing enterprises to adequately monitor the same.
· Real Estate — Any fake property deal would become a thing of the past with the help of blockchain tech digitizing land and property records. Documentation can be digitized and made authentic with blockchain, aiding to fast-track processes.
· Healthcare — Medical institutions are considering switching to the blockchain-tech, for the same of securing records of medical histories and making the same information available in seconds.
· Media & Entertainment — The blockchain-tech is being touted to solve a number of issues faced by the media, news and entertainment sector. With blockchain tech, media authorities will be able to adequately manage, authentication and reward creativity.
A similar trend could be observed across other sectors, including crowd-funding, law, retail, insurance and more. While the demand is clearly growing faster than the number of blockchain talent available today, the same makes it an exciting career choice for aspirants.
Jobs Galore for Blockchain Talent
Students well-versed with JavaScript and Golang have the right foundation for building applications based on the blockchain tech. Furthermore, a deeper understanding of various business processes and operations will further help blockchain developers come up with robust applications, solving the real-world challenges. Here are some of the various career choices available for blockchain talent:
• Developer — Blockchain development skill is one of the most sought after in the present day. Making smart contracts that transform business logic into chain code is one of the most in-vogue skills today. Being familiar with Golang and JavaScript will provide students with a strong foundation for being a developer. Aspirants should further go through the fundamentals of Ethereum and Bitcoin blockchain, try building their own decentralized apps and learn from the burgeoning community of blockchain developers.
• Architects — Implementing blockchain tech would require blockchain architects, people who can foresee the platform interacting with complex IT systems and elaborately design input and output channels. Those with the understanding of blockchain tech and how enterprises work and communicate will stand a unique chance of bringing value to the company.
• Blockchain Engineers — Blockchain engineers are responsible for understanding existing crypto platforms, analysing similar algorithms and contribute towards developing various crypto platforms or projects. Engineering graduates with a strong background in C, C++ or Go, along with the fundamental knowledge of blockchain and smart contracts are prime candidates for this post.
• Consultants — Work with businesses to help them identify areas where blockchain tech can offer significant value addition. And then help businesses implement these changes. After being well-versed with blockchain technology, aspirants can work with leading and emerging businesses, helping them adopt this disruptive tech.
• Educator — Take the lack of a training module or structured protocol in blockchain education as an opportunity and provide credible education courses for blockchain aspirants. Given the rise of the blockchain tech in times to come, the world is going to need credible blockchain educators.
Learning Blockchain Tech is Easy
Along with blockchain, several other technologies like AI, Quantum Computing, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, Self-driven vehicles etc have come to mainstream prominence. While each of these fields provides handsome pay-packages to the talent, it does take them excruciatingly long to be taken seriously and be paid huge sums of money. Furthermore, venturing into either of these fields would require a degree or two, causing an equally high investment in the beginning.
However, blockchain aspirants need not necessarily go to a school or get a diploma in this field. The beauty of blockchain development is that the skill can be picked up easily and there is an extensive range of resources available online to learn from. Blockchain aspirants can easily find courses on bitcoin or crypto-currency on Coursera. Another learning portal, Cryptoversity, offers resources on becoming a blockchain expert. With the aid of online resources and the discipline required for self-education, aspirants will be able to build a strong career in blockchain tech.
