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Blockchain: Top In-demand Skill of 2020 – All You Need to Know!

Blockchain: Top In-demand Skill of 2020 – All You Need to Know!
Blockchain: Top In-demand Skill of 2020 – All You Need to Know!

Blockchain is out of its beta phase!

First, there was hope. Then came skeptics. And when the future looked bleak, the tides turned again for Blockchain.

A skill that didn’t even find any mention in LinkedIn’s list of most in-demand skills last year – blockchain – has now become the MOST wanted skill for 2020. The demand for blockchain professionals is skyrocketing in all industries around the globe, shows LinkedIn report. That’s an indication of industry’s rising confidence in blockchain technology.

Blockchain: Top In-demand Skill of 2020 - All You Need to Know!
Blockchain: Top In-demand Skill of 2020 – All You Need to Know!

Job postings demanding blockchain skills have grown by 200 percent (reports Burning Glass Technologies, a research firm).

There are over 15,500 openings on LinkedIn, 2,558 on Monster, and 1,938 on Indeed, for the term ‘Blockchain’. For vacancies containing the term ‘cryptocurrency’, LinkedIn has over 3,700 listings, and Indeed over 521. Other than traditional roles… some of the coolest jobs in blockchain are offered by the crypto world itself under the titles of ‘Meme Lord’, ‘Feeder of the hungry’, and ‘Bitcoin Street Artist’!

IBM says the industry is rather facing a shortage in the supply of blockchain professionals compared to the offshoot in demand. With your blockchain skills honed, you can find and attract rewarding jobs across domains.

What do you need to make the most of this development? Here’s all you should know about blockchain hiring landscape.

The changing status – All hail Blockchain!

The blockchain industry is clearly coming out of the ‘trough of disillusionment’ to the ‘scope of enlightenment’ depicted in Gartner’s hype cycle. With big supporters like Intel, IBM, and Microsoft backing blockchain, the technology is improving explosively. It is forecasted to become critical for computing, AI, and cybersecurity in the years to come. LinkedIn report says:

Blockchain is a business solution in search of problems.

Businesses are exploring how the benefits of this budding technology can work for them. The use cases have moved beyond finance and are being incorporated in all sorts of industries – from shipping to healthcare, farming, food safety, entertainment, and gaming. Organizations don’t have to be in financial services anymore to seek new hires with expertise in blockchain technology to explore where this promising technology takes them.

Over 75% of the executives believe that by 2025, blockchain will be as omnipresent as cloud (Statista).

Other technical skills joining blockchain on the list of most In-demand skills of 2020 are: Cloud computing, analytical reasoning, artificial intelligence, and UX design.

Top 6 Recruiters – Who are hiring blockchain professionals?

Crypto space has gone from being a niche business to an up-and-coming industry. From

behemoths like Microsoft, and IBM, to start-ups, all are at the top of onboarding blockchain engineers and developers.

Businesses are voting for blockchain with their job openings. They believe the potential in blockchain technology is worth gambling for – even if it means facing challenges that still remain to be addressed, tells Steve Davies, Blockchain Leader at PwC.

The biggest recruiters of blockchain professionals, according to LinkedIn report are:

  • IBM
  • Oracle
  • JPMorgan Chase
  • Microsoft
  • Amazon
  • American Express

Top Countries – With highest Blockchain vacancies!

More hiring means more development in blockchain technology.

Countries actively supporting companies in advancing this technology are the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Australia. These are also the countries with the highest number of advertised blockchain professional openings (LinkedIn).

PwC in its Global Blockchain Survey of 2018 also dubbed China as a rising blockchain leader who is leaving even the US behind.

Types of Blockchain Developer – Who’s who?

There are two types of blockchain developers – core and software developers. Both work on three types of blockchains: Public networks as used in Bitcoin, Permissioned Networks like in Ripple; and Private Network as in Hijro.

Core blockchain developers design the architecture of blockchain system, while software blockchain developers use those systems to build decentralized applications operating on blockchain tech.

Core blockchain engineers or developers chiefly:

  • Design blockchain protocols,
  • Design the consensus protocols, and
  • Design network architecture.

Example: Chain, a blockchain tech solutions company, released Chain Core Developer Edition on Microsoft Azure. It is an open-source and free version of digital ledger platform developed by the company.

Software blockchain developers build decentralized apps or Dapps. They work on:

  • Development of smart contracts,
  • Developing interactive front-end Dapps designs, and
  • Supervision of whole stack running the Dapps.

Example: Ethlance, a Dapp, is used for job postings similar to Upwork – though it doesn’t take any fee. Its commission is completely decentralized with 0% service fee.

8 Skills you must have to become a Blockchain Professional (IBM)

  1. Know your blockchain platforms – 3 Powerful Choices

You should know your platforms well. Choosing the right blockchain platform is usually a key challenge for most developers and firms in devising a solution. It entails the ability to select a blockchain platform that fits your needs. Deepening your understanding of three powerful blockchain platforms – Hyperledger (Linux Foundation), Azure (Microsoft), and Bluemix (IBM) – can enable you to identify the right platform for your use case. Other well-known blockchain platforms include R3 Corda, Ripple, and Ethereum.

  1. Programming Language

Most prominently used programming languages for blockchain development are Python and C-Sharp. However, software developers will need to know Solidity as well. Other languages you can bank on for blockchain programming are C++, Java, and Simplicity.

  1. Distributed Ledger and Smart Contract Knowledge

Gaining expertise on Distributed Ledger and Smart Contracts is very important for blockchain software developers. Object Oriented Programming that includes wrapping data and functions in a single unit and Solidity is required to create functional applications.

  1. ‘T’ Shaped Expertise

This follows from LinkedIn report, which describes Blockchain as a solution that is looking for business problems. The use cases of blockchain suggest the application of the blockchain technology differs with the problem at hand, the industry in consideration, and other factors. It isn’t enough for a blockchain professional to possess technical skills. One must have a strong cross disciplinary bent and skill-sets – such as in design thinking, agility, DevOps, among others.

  1. Master of interoperability

While it helps to know end to end life cycle and the technologies involved at each stage, the true merit of using blockchain, or any disruptive technology is using them in unison than in silos. This requires skills to interconnect ledgers and shift across different platforms while keeping an open-source mindset and integration with enterprise systems.

  1. Drive Blockchain Architecture Patterns

You must know why one blockchain solution is better, efficient and secure than the other. This requires using blockchain architecture skills to review technical designs. This skill becomes highly sought on platform selection and planning phase.

  1. Keeping it simple and impacting business outcomes

It’s time for technologists to get inspired by business. Blockchain engineers and developers often focus on technology, and the need to simplify business processes suffer. Blockchain developers should keep an eye on business’ needs to lead real outcomes.

  1. Understanding of blockchain security

Security is at the heart of blockchain, and ironically enough many executives still do not trust this technology fully (the reasons range from strict government regulations to the lack of knowledge). Blockchain security frameworks are constantly changing and evolving, you must keep your skills also up to date with those. Skills like public and private key cryptography, Merkle proofs and elliptic curve digital signatures, cryptographic hashing, can prove to be great assets.

  1. Web Development

Web development is among the most basic skills you require to kick off your blockchain career. Know-how of web development – front-end and back-end technologies used to design decentralized applications will help and open up an array of opportunities to create apps based on blockchain.

The blockchain industry is ready for you. Are you prepared to take your blockchain career to the next level?

About the author

Jitender Sharma

Publisher on Google News and Founder of The Next Hint, Inc. Spent 40,000 hours in Business development and Content Creation. Expert in optimizing websites according to google updates and providing a solution-based approach to rank websites on the Internet. My aspirations are to help people build a business while I'm also open to learning and imparting knowledge. Passionate about marketing and inspired to find new ways to create captivating content.
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