Blockchain has a talent gap

The demand for blockchain engineers is at the highest level. This should not come as a surprise as the market limit for cryptocurrency has increased from $ 17.7 billion to $ 565.1 billion last year.

Now that more startups are adopting decentralized systems and existing companies offer services related to cryptocurrency, there is a growing need for highly qualified professionals. However, there seems to be a serious lack of talent in this particular field. This means that the exponential growth of industry has left companies competing for developers from the same technology pool.

So, what do we need to bridge the skills gap?

Today we see blockchain reshaping different sectors such as retail and health care. Non-profit organizations and government agencies are also catching up, using the blockchain to encourage trust through open and transparent networks.

Juniper Research has discovered that venture capital investments in blockchain and bitcoin technology have reached $ 300 million in just the first six months of 2016. Within a year, more than $ 1 billion had been diverted to the development of startup blockchain.

Despite being at its main stage, blockchain is a rapidly evolving field, and even the academic world is aware of its potential. To bridge the skills gap in this area, universities all over the world are now working with private companies to provide blockchain training programs and courses.

Developers interested in acquiring blockchain skills will be able to do so through numerous open online courses. As mentioned, the universities also offer lessons to meet the growing demand of the labor market. Stanford University, for example, offers hands-on courses for developers, including a three-unit classroom lesson with lab sessions focusing on bitcoin applications.

In addition to these, there are also larger movements put in place to bridge the talent gap in the blockchain industry. For example, Ethereum provides an initiative program that rewards developers who eliminate bugs and security flaws with cryptocurrency. However, FundRequest completed this approach when they started a decentralized platform for open source collaboration. Their goal is to mobilize and involve the whole community. From there, programmers who want to get involved with blockchain can find projects like SingularityNET, which aims to accelerate network growth by offering bounty and initiatives.

Specialized training and training are the best solutions to tackle the lack of blockchain talent. To bridge the gap, there must be a globalized approach to training programs. Courses must be made accessible to developers around the world. We would have a better solution to fill the talent gap if we made more programs available.

Bounties and development initiatives encourage programmers to acquire the required skills, especially those related to blockchain. But will they be sufficient to guarantee the future of the entire sector?

To advance the sector, we must also support blockchain research. Some of the brightest developers today still need to acquire the skills to operate in this new space. When they do, they must have the resources to innovate and build tomorrow's tools.