How to be a Blockchain Freelancer
I am going to talk about a great opportunity that I missed because I preferred money over education and then will talk about the current opportunities to make it in this fascinating emerging industry. Anyone that understands the implications of blockchain technology must feel like hacker miles ahead of other hackers, especially if you know what you need to know to monetize it and hack time before the train passes away as Bitcoin did.
I just graduated from the University of Saskatchewan as a Master’s in Computer Science in the field of Blockchain Technologies. My masters involved a thesis based on the distribution of digital assets of copyrights over a blockchain platform (Mainly Ethereum and Hyperledger). Additionally, I tested the performance of both platforms in this application. Therefore I could realize how much potential there is the change of paradigm against a traditional database. Anyway long story short, one month before graduating I was applying for jobs but since this town, Saskatoon is too small I wasn’t expecting to get a job in Blockchain technology, so I applied to any job that involved software development.
Although I did my fair amount of tries to get remote jobs or relocation jobs related to Blockchain Development. To my surprise, most of those companies were very interested in hiring me. For example one of them was a startup of some people that were working in Ubisoft for a gaming application that used EOS Blockchain. Unfortunately at the time, I didn’t have experience with it yet(is C++ and I was rusty on that language). Although when I was about to get other offers of normal software development jobs I received a call from a private project. To my surprise, it was here in Saskatoon. I went to the office and they told me it was a project that involved a game of exchanges in cryptos using TRON tokens(based on Ethereum). At that moment in time, they told me I could be the only developer on the town that had the minimum knowledge for auditing their smart contracts that were designed by another developer in Toronto. Long story short, they were completely sure about my minimum skills and I started learning what they wanted me to do.
The job was to find vulnerabilities in the smart contracts before deploying it in the Blockchain since deploying it without complete certainty of the security flaws could result in great losses if it was hacked. I started my research and discovered that the auditing of smart contracts alone was just as exciting and complex that it was a challenge. Even a bigger challenge than my research. I was already doing my research and communicating with the other developer in Toronto when I received a call from a startup that needed a Full Stack Developer and they chose me. They offered me a decently paid job and my situation at that moment was difficult. I came to Canada with a scholarship and I needed some money to be able to be secure. I ended up choosing a normal job as a Full Stack Developer instead of getting a temporary contract with the Blockchain private project.
Looking back I regret my decision, I could have had real Blockchain experience and freelancing experience that could have led me to get more gigs in Blobkcxahian either relocating or remote. Now I am trapped in a job that involves PHP and React. I like to React but I don’t like PHP. My boss is a bit difficult to deal with, but I have a decent salary. I have insurance, I pay my taxes and I have a reference for future endeavors. Still, I regret my decision. The moment to jump to Blockchain is now. I already started planning to switch my focus and career to this for the following reasons:
-DEMAND FOR BLOCKCHAIN DEVELOPERS IS HUDE NOWADAYS: If you are looking for money, this is the hottest trend right now. Imagine all those finance companies that deal with the stock market and all the banks that need secure transactions. They are spending billions of dollars in talent that can build this technology. From some YouTubers and other content creators that share their experiences and I follow, you can easily aspire to a 6 figures salary even without too much experience. For example, DApp University talks a bit about the opportunities in places for finding jobs.
-IMAGE THAT YOU COULD BE ONE OF THE FIRST DEVELOPERS: From my experience, I could affirm that Blockchain technology is becoming Internet 3.0. Imagine that we could go back in time and be the first people that invented Google, Microsoft, Apple. It is happening, the process is slow but soon all the current networks will migrate to decentralization. I could bet my dreams and aspirations to that.
THE HACKER MINDSET: Developing blockchain technology puts you in a position of constant awareness, so much more than current security systems. We don’t just need to know about middleware, back end, and front end security but also flaws in the consensus mechanisms, auditing Smart Contracts, dealing with scalability, dealing with performance, dealing with integration. Overall, the Full Stack Development is not even enough to be proficient at Blockchain development. If you like to push your knowledge forward this is one of the best ways to do it.
-CHANGE IN THE PARADIGM OF THE CURRENT SOCIETY. I am political oriented too. Blockchain technology is not just about money, is giving back the power to the users, and on a great scale to the people. The main feature of this technology is the avoidance of third parties. That means that all the services will eventually switch from models that benefit the intermediaries such as banks, public institutions, tech hubs, to models where the users and the people have complete control over their data and their behaviors over the internet. I feel this is positive for us as a society.
-HOW TO GET JOBS OF BLOCKCHAIN DEVELOPMENT:
Regarding real experience for getting gigs and jobs as a Blockchain Developer. I must say that my recommendations are based on the education I am getting from other sources, I know the demand is there because I experienced it but took a poor decision. Although these are some of the recommendations so far I feel it can help you to find Blockchain development opportunities. Most of them apply to any software job seeking field:
-SPECIALIZE IN ONE STACK: This is a common mistake of all software developers. They want to learn so many frameworks at the same time that they end up not learning anything in deep. I just realized later in my career that I would rather be the best at one specific stack and charge lots for the specialization that knowing 6 frameworks and not be proficient in any of them. In Blockchain, for example, I am interested in Hyperledger Fabric, Ethereum and nothing else. I want to know all the frameworks that involve these two platforms and nothing else. Since our big asset right now is time, you must choose carefully what you are going to focus on.
-FIND REMOTE GIGS AND CHARGE HIGH: Dapp University talks with Simple Programmer in that interview if you want to get details. Although what I get out of since I have used those tools such as crypto jobs that you must be careful to choose who you are working with. There a lot of scammers out there still since ICOs were a boom last year. Research the company that is offering the job and see if it’s legit. After that Don’t mind about the kind of job. It means that there are so many kinds of Blockchain development jobs out there not precisely for software development, for example, there are positions of teaching, writing, marketing. Honestly, I would pick up anything that feels right for you. We are so early to know what is this technology and what it can become that any experience is worth the try. Thereafter, don’t be afraid to charge high. Blockchain developers are earning in average 100000 US per year for a full-time position, would not be weird to be paid more even.
-WRITE ABOUT BLOCKCHAIN DEVELOPMENT: This is what I am doing. I am building my consulting business but before that, I want to build an audience with blogs, maybe a youtube channel, and any source of communication channel I can find that will show the experience I have. I agree with John Sonmez from Simple Programmer about the exposure for your marketing as a software development strategy. Additionally, it’s not just about the exposure to attract an audience but also an education tool useful for gaining literacy and even experience on Blockchain development. Writing teaches you more than just trying things out since teaching is learning. Lastly, I will give you a tip. Steemit seems to be a good place to try out how you can get tokens that can be exchanged with money. I haven’t tried it yet but I know it uses EOS blockchain and it’s becoming very popular.
-CREATE A PORTFOLIO: When I say portafolio I don’t mean just a couple of small side projects and a website. I mean EVERYTHING you can think of. For example, I am building a website that offers immediately Audit Smart Contract Services, paid tutorials, one on one consulting and all the info of my experience on the technology. But don’t get me wrong, don’t quit your job. I have a secure job with a decent salary and won’t quit until I am a bit more secure about my knowledge and the structure of my consulting business, and at least have a couple of clients. I am working my ass of all days to keep building posts, my website, and education of this technology, so I can apply for good jobs that involve this technology. Soon though I will be there and will be ready to jump to this train.
Anyway, I hope these insights help you in some way. As I said in my last post I am concentrating my time to write mostly about blockchain technology so be aware of new topics I will come across and let me know if you guys have had these kinds of experiences. Again I really recommend considering the education of this new paradigm so everybody benefits, better jobs, better companies and overall a better internet for all of us.