Roadmap to becoming a Web 3.0 Developer!

With all the hype around Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, etc. Many eyes are on these Coins, how they work and how will they be used in the future. Blockchain is still a relatively new industry and getting a headstart might be a good bet. I have already taken the plunge, will you be taking it too?

The industry has a crazy demand for Blockchain Devs right now. With above-average salaries and the work being immensely fascinating, people want to get started with Learning Web3.0 but don't have a specific path to follow or what to Learn exactly.

I have been in this industry for the last two months and I'll be providing you, your very own Roadmap to get started with Learning Web3.0 and getting paid!!

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites as such, anyone can learn about the technology being used in Web3.0 from scratch without having any prior knowledge of programming. Although, it does help if you are well versed with JavaScript and Web Development in general. If you are not, I recommend taking a step back and at least learning about JavaScript and Web Development. There are many awesome courses you can find for learning Web Development.

1. What is Web3.0?

Web3.0 is basically the next version of the internet as we see it today. As of now everything is Web2.0 and with Web2.0 all the pieces of data are controlled by the Big Tech giants, such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft. Web3.0 is de-centralized where no single person/company owns any data or information about anyone and everything is visible and transparent to the general public.

2. Master the Basics of Blockchain

You need to know about what you are working with. Blockchains are the most advanced and interesting piece of technology we have right now. But it isn't easy to understand, it will take time to get a grip of what you are actually building on top of the blockchain.

A good idea is to start with a course that guides you through the fundamentals of Blockchain Technology. Such as this , it's free of cost and is actually covers the fundamentals required to help you dive deeper into the blockchain which you can with this course which covers everything from A-Z about the blockchain.

3. Learn about Smart Contracts

Smart Contracts are how you interact with the blockchain, it's how you program the blockchain to perform a specific set of instructions. It is almost similar to writing a program that your computer can understand and then give an output, it's the same thing but instead of writing to your own computer, you are telling the blockchain what to do. Pretty cool, isn't it? They will cover up the majority of your work if you decide to dive into Web3.0 so understanding them is quite crucial to your success.

Smart contracts can do everything, right from Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) to create your own CryptoCurrency, to handling the backend of your next decentralized app (dApp).

Here are a few resources to get started with Solidity, Solidity By Example, Official Solidity Docs, Solidity Zero to Hero. These are some of the resources that I had referred to.

4. Learning how to talk to the Blockchain

Smart Contracts are the backend of your application, but what about the frontend? You want your front end to be in touch with the Blockchain as well right?

This is where libraries walk in. There are many choices but two of my favourites are :

• ether.js
• Web3.js

Pick one of either two and master it, you will require these as much as you will require your smart contracts in the work you do and hence, it is one of the most important tools you can have in your arsenal.

5. Learn Solidity

We talked about Smart Contracts but never talked about which programming language they are written in. Well, if you haven't guessed it yet it's Solidity. Remember I said in the prerequisites that knowing JavaScript can be a huge advantage to have? Solidity is almost 95% based on JavaScript syntax and logic, hence knowing JavaScript can make learning Solidity a breeze.

Solidity lets you write Smart Contracts that can interact with the Ethereum Blockchain which is integrated into many other Blockchains as well. Don't worry, learning Solidity doesn't mean that you are restricted to only the Ethereum Blockchain, it will serve you well on other Blockchains as well. Also, the job market for Solidity is by far the largest, many companies require developers to build on top of the Ethereum Blockchain and it will take a lot of years to reach the level of adoption Ethereum has achieved recently.

Although, it currently has a few problems like the chain itself being overloaded resulting in extraordinarily high Gas Prices. However, the community is actively working on shifting the chain to a Proof of Stake model. All problems will disappear when this happens and the adoption might sky-rocket even more than it has today. According to recent rumours, the proof of stake model might be implemented as early as Q2 of 2022.

The major understanding you need to have is how each line you write in your smart contract directly affects the gas price, which is the major cause of concern with Ethereum right now and unfortunately, there is no way around it as of now. Some companies emphasize heavily on code optimization to reduce gas costs.

If you want to work in this field you will need to learn how to optimize your code as it is the major point of conversation in your interviews as well as the job you will be doing in these companies if you are looking to be hired as a Blockchain Developer.

You can learn more about Solidity by playing a game, it doesn't get any better than this.

6. Learn about Testing

Imagine you host a website on the Internet, you realise there was a mistake in the code and the website isn't working properly. You immediately find the mistake and fix it in your codebase. Well, this isn't possible on the blockchain.

Any Smart Contract you write and host on the actual blockchain is immutable. This means that once they are hosted on the BlockChain they can't be changed. Unlike hosting on Web2.0 where you can put up anything for free or with a minimal cost, Web3.0 requires you to pay money to host anything on the blockchain. Thus, there isn't any room for error to host on the blockchain. Hence, before hosting on the Blockchain a lot of testing happens on the Smart Contract itself. Truffle is the go-to Framework for testing your Smart Contracts. It hosts a Local Blockchain on your PC itself hence you can replicate any bugs or errors which might happen in the actual Blockchain. Learning Truffle can come in handy as Smart Contract testing is also a very big field as of now.

7. Build A Portfolio

A portfolio of Web3.0 projects can immensely help you in your search whether you are looking for Jobs or Internships in the space as it gives the recruiters a sense of confidence in you and your work as you have something to display for it.

To give you an idea about what a Web3.0 Portfolio should look like, it should contain the following projects

• A Smart Contract. (Solidity)
• A Frontend Project. (web3.js / ether.js)
• Some Solidity code optimization with explanations in regard to the optimization.
• Tests for everything. (Truffle)
• A local test network setup.
• E2E tests that test the contract take into consideration every possibility. (Truffle)
• A Deployment to the Official Mainnet

If you found this article interesting or helpful, leave a like, and follow me for more like this.

If you have any questions you can always reach out to me via my Twitter or LinkedIn