Before the emergence of blockchain technology, developers built applications through two major approaches; open source and closed source/proprietary software. However, blockchain has significantly enhanced both these models, particularly when it comes to incentivizing development.

Ethereum and Cardano, the two most actively developed protocols, evidence this fact, having 866 and 761 average weekly commits, respectively.

Developers can be involved in this space by building:

• The blockchain core
• Decentralized applications

Blockchain core development

This part involves writing the foundational rules of the blockchain, such as how nodes achieve consensus on transactions, the encryption methods, token standards and more.

Some recognized blockchain core developers include Satoshi Nakamoto of the Bitcoin fame, Vitalik Buterin and Gavin Wood, some of the founders of Ethereum. Gavin also went on to create Polkadot. There are also other notable names, such as Fabian Vogelsteller, the creator of the ERC-20 token standard.

Being a blockchain core developer comes with many advantages, such as:

• A greater chance to create business models and embed them into the blockchain’s code, in aspects such as tokenomics, where you choose maximum supply, inflation rate, launch types (fair launch vs. presale), token distribution, and more.

In the case of conventional proprietary software, developers are more likely to create features and functions based on the business team’s market penetration strategy.

• Increased influence in the way you are compensated. Developers can create environments where people can vote on proposals that adjust the number of tokens allocated to advancing the blockchain’s core technology and the broader ecosystem.

They can institute treasuries with recurring payments for core developers and build a base for foundations that attract application projects through grants, networking events and more.

• Open and faster collaboration with other developers on how to make a blockchain more efficient, secure, and profitable for stakeholders.
  

Decentralized application development

This field is about building applications on smart contract platforms such as Ethereum, Polkadot, Cardano, Solana, and more. The applications can span several areas such as finance, supply-chain management, gaming, identity, tokenization of real-world assets like real estate and music royalties, and much more.

Developers can benefit from innovating in the decentralized application (dApp) space in numerous ways. For example:

• Since many dApps run on public blockchains, developers don’t worry much about deployment requirements and the subsequent infrastructural maintenance exercises involved. In a way, they are like people using serverless computing.
• By having dApps on widely used blockchains like Ethereum, developers can get massive exposure, with many people knowing the person behind a brilliant smart contract function or a bug discovery. This enables them to find more work elsewhere.

“We really appreciate them because they also bring a lot of creativity, they tell us that we can do X and Y but we can’t do Z because Z is technically impossible. But they bring their own creative idea and that’s very important.”

Sven Van de Perre, the creative director at Tropos AR

• Developers can enjoy a more democratic approach to approving improvement proposals and stand a better chance of rolling out features that users want.
• Open smart contracts can be very reusable, shortening the time taken to build an app. A developer can replicate an existing smart contract with the same use case they want to address and refine the areas needing improvement rather than building from scratch.
  
  

How to become a Blockchain developer

Here are the basic steps to follow to become a Blockchain developer:

• Choose a blockchain.
• Read about the blockchain and understand how it works.
• Find out the programming languages commonly used to build on that blockchain, such as Solidity for Ethereum, Haskell for Cardano, and Rust for Solana.
• Get conversant with frameworks and libraries used for the blockchain you choose, like Hardhat, Ganache, Truffle and Ether.js, which are helpful for Ethereum developers.
• Learn how to use the language through training courses, self-administered practice and going through code repositories to see what people wrote to produce a specific application.
• Contribute to an existing dApp or conceive an idea and utilize testnets.
  

 “I think it’s important to have very good knowledge about cryptography. You don’t need to be a master in mathematics. You don’t need to become a cryptographer, you need to have very good knowledge of the essentials".

Shane Deconinck, a blockchain researcher at Howest University of Applied Sciences

In a nutshell, the blockchain space improves the way developers can earn and build application features. It also simplifies learning as people can follow conversations on application improvement and the actual code changes in real-time.

And through companies like bevopr, developers can easily connect with organizations embarking on the kind of blockchain projects they desire.