Blockchain Developer Roadmap: Tech Stack, Tools, Salaries & Career Path

Many people/developers have a question while doing blockchain development: which blockchain should we use? When we talk about more than 90% of developers working in blockchain, they are all application developers. In today’s article, we are going to talk about blockchain development roadmap.

First of all, let’s talk about the Average Salary. Blockchain development, as a skill, has been growing significantly in recent years. Since 2022, there has been a 300% to 500% growth in this sector every year. Additionally, LinkedIn conducted a survey stating that blockchain development is one of the most highly paid tech skills.

Talking about average packages, in the US, the package is above $136,000 for experienced Blockchain developers. In Europe, the average figure is around $100,000. These are really good packages.

The hiring companies for blockchain developers range from big corporations to small startups. Some popular names fall under this category.

Applications of Blockchain Development

We have technologies like NFTs, or Web 3.0. We use blockchain to work on these technologies. Additionally, many applications can be built using blockchain. Many banks are transforming their usual operations with the help of blockchain.

Applications for storing medical records are developed using blockchain. Essentially, any transaction where you want to remove the middleman can be an example of a blockchain application.

In this roadmap, we are going to talk extensively about how you can become a blockchain developer.

What is Blockchain?

Before moving forward, let’s first understand what a blockchain is. The basic meaning of blockchain is a chain of blocks, meaning you can imagine some boxes where each box stores data. These boxes are linked to each other, forming a chain of blocks.

We can imagine blockchain as a secure database.

In general life, whenever we visit a website, an app, or use software, it has its own database, like SQL or MongoDB, which are commonly used in companies. Blockchain is a little different because it does not focus on mutation. Once we understand this basic meaning, we can better grasp other concepts.

Now that we have understood blockchain, what exactly is a blockchain developer?

What is Development? (For Beginners)

So far, we have seen two types of development:

1. Front-end development
2. Back-end development

Whenever you visit a website, there is a part of it that you interact with—buttons, forms, login, and signup. This visible part of the website is called the front-end.

On the other hand, there is a back-end, meaning all the processes running behind the scenes. When you enter data on a website, it connects with blockchain on the backend.

Think of a website as a house:

• The paint, fans, and switches represent the front-end.
• The electrical circuits and pipelines hidden inside the walls represent the back-end.

Understanding these two terminologies is essential when you start learning about blockchain development.

Languages to Learn for a Blockchain Development Roadmap

There are mainly two types of blockchain developers:

1. Application Developers
   • More than 90% of blockchain developers fall into this category.
   • They build applications on top of an already existing blockchain, like Bitcoin or Ethereum.
   • For example, if you want to build an app that tracks Bitcoin price fluctuations, you don’t need to create a new blockchain—just develop an application on the existing blockchain.
2. Core Developers
   • These developers build new blockchains from scratch.
   • For this, you need languages like C++, Go, and Rust.
   • If you want to create a new cryptocurrency, you need to focus on core development.

For application development, the most important language to learn is Solidity.

Application Development

• Blockchain development primarily involves smart contracts, which are written in Solidity. Solidity is used for Ethereum blockchain development, and most blockchain applications are developed using it.
• Another important language is JavaScript. JavaScript is globally one of the most popular programming languages. It is used for both front-end and back-end development.
• If you learn Solidity and JavaScript, 99.99% of your blockchain application development is covered.
• Some developers prefer using Python instead of JavaScript for back-end development. Python has a framework called Django that can be used.

However, beginners are usually advised to focus on Solidity and JavaScript because they have many online resources and forums for help.

What are Smart Contracts?

Developer, what exactly will you be doing? You will be creating something called smart contracts. We discussed what blockchain is. Now, inside every block on every node of the blockchain, some of our code is stored. What kind of code can it be?

For example, suppose you have created an application based on cryptocurrency, and you set a condition that as soon as the last day of the month arrives, some of my bitcoins or some of my cryptocurrency should be sent to my milkman, some to my electricity provider, and some to my bank as a loan payment. These kinds of conditions can be written inside smart contracts, enabling transactions.

For example, in cryptocurrency, this transaction would mean that some of my cryptocurrency is transferred to someone else, or someone else makes a payment to me. These types of transactions are written with the help of smart contracts.

In real life, what are contracts?

A contract is when we make a promise to each other that we will do certain things, and we create a legally binding document that the government recognizes. Similarly, using code, you can write smart contracts that are recognized by the blockchain and followed by it. Once you have created a smart contract and deployed it on the blockchain, you cannot make changes to it. It becomes fixed from both parties, ensuring a fair agreement.

Now, for creating smart contracts, the blockchain we mostly use is Ethereum. Many developers ask which blockchain should be used when doing blockchain development. The most popular one, with the most resources, tutorials, and Q&A forums available, is Ethereum blockchain.

Why Ethereum blockchain?

Ethereum blockchain also has a cryptocurrency called Ether, but Ethereum itself is more popular for creating our contracts and for development. If you want to use a different blockchain, I suggest having a logical reason for doing so instead of using Ethereum. Some people might have a reason, such as getting a job that requires working on Bitcoin-based projects. In that case, you will have to use Bitcoin blockchain. However, the most popular blockchain for application development is Ethereum.

For Ethereum, we use a language called Solidity, which I explained earlier. Solidity is quite similar to JavaScript. The documentation link for Solidity is available in the end of this Blockchain development roadmap, where you can read about its different concepts. Using Solidity, we perform most of the development work that interacts with the blockchain.

Tools & Technologies to Learn

Now, apart from languages, we also use various tools and technologies when talking about blockchain development.

JavaScript

JavaScript helps us with frontend, backend, and even blockchain interaction.

In JavaScript:

• We have a library called React.js for frontend development.
• We have a framework called Node.js for backend development, and Express.js is another framework for backend development.
• Additionally, we have a library called Web3.js, which facilitates interaction between the frontend and the blockchain.

Documentation for these four technologies is available at the end of this Blockchain development roadmap.

The main point is that JavaScript provides different libraries and frameworks that make frontend development, backend development, and blockchain interaction easier. This is why JavaScript is considered very versatile and is widely used in blockchain development.

Truffle

Truffle is a framework that allows us to write smart contracts on Ethereum. You can install Truffle on your local system, and it sets up a complete development environment for blockchain development. After setting up, you can test your entire code within this environment.

Ganache

Whenever we need to host our blockchain application, we must pay some fees in cryptocurrency. But if we only want to test our application, we don’t want to spend real money. That’s where Ganache comes in. Ganache provides free test accounts with fake Ether coins. It offers around ten test accounts, each with 100 test Ether. These are not real Ether, but fake test Ether that allow you to test whether your application is working properly or not. Once you have tested your application, you can deploy it to the main Ethereum network and share it with users.

MetaMask

Whenever we interact with a blockchain application, the interaction happens in the form of transactions. Normal web browsers do not store cryptocurrency, but we can store Ether and use it for transactions using MetaMask. MetaMask is a browser extension that must be installed, allowing us to interact with blockchain applications by performing transactions.

Once you have developed a blockchain application, you can deploy it on your local network, such as Ganache, to test it. Finally, when you deploy it on the main Ethereum network, you cannot make changes to it anymore. The smart contracts on the blockchain will remain as they are. If you need to make changes, you must redeploy the entire application, which will erase all previous data (redeploying a new contract does not automatically erase past data unless the old contract is explicitly designed to remove it). This is why testing beforehand is essential before deploying on the main network.

Summary + Next Steps

Now, what are our next steps? We now know which languages we need to learn. You will find documentation links for all languages at the end of this Blockchain development roadmap. We also know which tools and technologies to learn and how to use them.

The first thing we need to be clear about is web development. When we do blockchain development, it doesn’t just mean interacting with the blockchain or writing smart contracts. It also means building a proper application for users, which includes a frontend, a backend, and all necessary features, similar to how a normal website functions. This means you should have a basic understanding of web development.

Additionally, having some knowledge of cryptography will help in the long run. Understanding basic concepts like how public and private keys work will give you a deeper understanding of blockchain.

Step-by-Step Learning Process:

1. Learn the basics of blockchain-related languages.
2. Explore the tools and technologies used in blockchain development.
3. Understand how blockchain works in real-life applications.
4. Start with tutorials. There are many high-quality, free tutorials available online.
5. Read documentation carefully, as it contains examples and sample codes that you can run and learn from.
6. Build multiple projects to gain hands-on experience.
7. By working on projects, you will develop a strong resume showcasing blockchain development experience.
8. Once your resume includes blockchain projects, you can start freelancing or applying for jobs.

I hope you now have a clear understanding of various tools, technologies, languages, and the step-by-step process of blockchain development. You also have a sense of the career scope in this field.

The entire blockchain development process takes around three to six months. If you already have knowledge of web development, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain basics, you might complete the learning process in around 2.5 months. However, if you are starting from scratch with coding, blockchain development, or web development, it might take up to six months to gain solid experience.

The duration depends on your current stage in development and learning. I hope you explore all the resources mentioned and make your blockchain journey successful.

If you want more details on anything on this Blockchain development roadmap, let me know in the comments.

Resources & Documentations

1. Solidity Documentation: https://docs.soliditylang.org/en/latest/
2. Javascript official documentation: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript
3. Truffle documentation: https://archive.trufflesuite.com/docs/
4. Ganache documentation: https://archive.trufflesuite.com/docs/ganache/
5. MetaMask Developer Documentation: https://docs.metamask.io/

That’s it for the complete Blockchain development roadmap:

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