Cryptocurrency’s Developer Gold Rush

06Jun

The hottest new industry for software developers is one they last flocked to in 2017 — cryptocurrency.

Citing a report by the crypto VC firm Electric Capital, Bloomberg says the number of new tech professionals going to work for cryptocurrency startups and taking on decentralized finance (DeFi) projects has been increasing at the rate of 15% per month since January. That’s about 13,600 new developers joining the crypto sector through October, according to Electric’s numbers.

Bloomberg reports that 80% of all active developers began their work in just the last two years.

Overall, however, the number of software developers working in cryptocurrency has stayed flat. Electric says the incoming professionals have gone to work mostly for the top 200 ecosystems. Outside those 200, there’s been a 30% exodus since December 2018.

The total pool of active crypto developers is about 9,000 a month, according to the report.

Yahoo Finance explains that “The [Electric Capital] report tracks ecosystems by blockchain. In other words, a Bitcoin developer is counted toward Bitcoin even if the person is working on its Lightning Network or any of its wallets.”

That developers are joining the top ecosystems and leaving those at the bottom is, Bloomberg says, “one of the best barometers of a project’s promise and health.”

Maria Shen, a partner at Electric, told Bloomberg, “Developers are one of the signals of quality in a crypto ecosystem.”

The big winner, she says, is Ethereum. With more than 300 developers a month joining the organization, Shen told Yahoo, “Ethereum has continuously grown through Crypto Winter.”

Electric’s survey of publicly available code documentation on GitHub and GitLab and elsewhere shows Ethereum had about 2,300 developers working monthly in the third quarter of the year. It’s closest competitor, Bitcoin, had 400.

Meanwhile, the report says the average monthly number of developers working on DeFi projects grew 67% since January. (Wikipedia defines DeFi as “an experimental form of finance that does not rely on central financial intermediaries such as brokerages, exchanges, or banks, and instead utilizes smart contracts on blockchains.”

Ken Deeter, an Electric Capital partner, suggested to Coindesk that developer interest in DeFi could be partially attributed to developers from fintech frustrated by what they can’t do there.

“DeFi is a really interesting area … where there’s an ability for developers to really experiment in a way that in the traditional financial system is difficult to do.”

Photo by Nick Chong on Unsplash

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Information Technology

Jun 6, 2023

8 Projects That Can Open the Door to a Future in Tech

Information Technology

Jun 6, 2023

8 Projects That Can Open the Door to a Future in Tech

Entry level software developers average $63,000 to start. Entry level network administrators start at an average of $45,800. Pay for desktop support techs averages $42,000.

With starting salaries above the national average of $40,200 (according to Indeed) and strong employer demand, what’s surprising is there aren’t more candidates clamoring for a job.

What holds back many otherwise skilled individuals is the lack of work experience and the computer degree so many hiring managers demand. Although employers are loosening the degree requirement, they still want to see evidence the candidate can do the job. And the usual way is to review past work experience.

That’s a conundrum for entry-level job seekers. If you have to have experience to get a job, how do you get it without having a job?

Computerworld says there’s a way around that. “In IT, hands-on experience can often be acquired using tools on your own computer or accessible through your current job before you try to get the new job.”

Working in tech support may be a rung or two removed from developer or admin, yet it can be a gateway job. You get hands-on work experience and plenty of opportunities to demonstrate the skills to move up. And the requirements are looser.

Computerworld has a series of projects it says provide “real hands-on experience.” Mastering them will give you experience you can point to when a hiring manager asks. And since most businesses run on Windows, these projects, at the beginner, intermediate and advance levels, are perfect for tech support positions.

At the beginner level, the Computerworld article demonstrates two essential Windows tools and provides an introduction to text commands.

Current tech support professionals will find these three projects a good reminder, if rudimentary. It’s at the intermediate level that the projects get more interesting. Here, Computerworld shows how to manage remote computers and mobile devices including Android, iOS and Mac. Another project goes into some detail about administering a Windows server.

The two advanced projects are even more challenging. They build on the intermediate server project to set up a domain network adding Active Directory Domain Services. The 8th project involves cloud services and managing user access via Azure Active Directory Domain Services.

None of these projects directly involves writing code (or at least not much), nor administering a live network. Instead, they offer the opportunity to learn and to demonstrate new and improved skills. It’s a chance for existing workers and prospective ones to show initiative and willingness, even eagerness, to learn. That, and having the basic skills to do the job, is the key to opening the door to a tech career.

Photo by Annie Spratt

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