In 2020, job hunting and conducting job search has become severely challenging due to the corona crisis and other significant events. For graduates gaining their first practical experiences through internships and trainee programs has become almost impossible due to the lack of work experience required. Training hard skills that are on-demand that do not fit the current education programs offered by different institutions can increase job opportunities in the market. At the same time, as a graduate, it is also vital to persist when searching for a job since most news headlines will always explain in detail how difficult it is to find a job nowadays.

On the other hand, enhancing and learning new skills can complement your already acquired degree or area of specialization knowledge. Therefore, focusing on gaining hard and soft skills that are on high demand in the job search market different business sectors during an apocalyptical year like 2020 will very much enhance the possibilities of landing a well-structured job position.

Such is the case of blockchain development skills that have taken on significant relevance in technology and areas outside technology. Blockchain technology came around when the term Bitcoin started gaining attention a few years back, which by the way, is outperforming financially price indicators thanks to blockchain fundamentals and its mass adoption. However, by mentioning the success of Bitcoin, we do not suggest that you sell your house and dog to buy some of these assets but rather seek to understand the knowledge fundamentals behind cryptocurrency technology. Understanding blockchain functionality becomes key to comprehending how companies from different industries adopt blockchain in their own development projects and seek to implement blockchain solutions in the coming years. 

Thanks to its applicability in a large number of industries such as fintech, cloud computing, digital marketing, e-commerce, and logistics, the demand for blockchain related jobs has increased substantially. The interest of different businesses in Blockchain development around the world, according to Deloitte, are in essence related to improving operation systems, reducing costs, and its immutability – security features. Therefore, it is not surprising that LinkedIn for 2020 ranked knowing blockchain or blockchain development as the number 1 hard skill that employers are seeking in potential candidates for this year.

Blockchain Technology Key Features

The main key component of why blockchain improves a diverse set of functions within an organization is thanks to its decentralized network system that makes data and information storage extraordinarily secure and easy to consult. Four fundamental traits give blockchain the ability to perform with such efficiency.

1. Blockchain enables digital provenance. This means that it makes it easier to track and trace data in real-time allowing to have a more effective control of data flow by implementing a verification protocol that at the same time eliminates trust issues.
2. A decentralized ledger, which in essence means one system network scattered through different computers. This makes third party authentication systems obsolete and therefore, safes substantial time efforts through verification processes.
3. Through consensus a decentralized ledger shares information and data that can only be added and modified if all the operating systems (computers) agree on it, making it available for everyone to see. This also generates trust since data cannot be easily tampered or corrupted when stored in several locations.
4. Security and Immutability: Since the blockchain is spread out through a network of computers in different geographic locations, it is almost impossible to hack it and requires a great effort to manipulate it by external operating systems that do not form part of the network.

With blockchain fundamentals, several companies and startups of diverse industries are transforming into more efficient and sustainable institutions where controlling information and data becomes more transparent. This makes it easier for institutions to be more accountable and allows for audits to be conducted more effectively and transparently.

Top 5 Industry Development Projects with Blockchain Technology

1. Fintech

The fintech industry is the application of technology and IOT to enhance and transform financial services. In fintech’s blockchain provides solutions that range from transactional efficiency to strong security features. At the same time, interestingly enough, blockchain development in this industry occurs outside the Banking sector and big corporate institutions even when 77% of financial service providers seek to implement blockchain solutions in the core of their business by the end of 2020. This is so since the cryptocurrency market has set a large number of innovation trends in financial services such as DeFi (decentralized finance), which has enabled the reinventing of digital assets through stable coins, flash loans, and different protocols.

2. Cloud Storing and Blockchain Development

The growing production of data generated in the internet of things era is becoming ephemeral. Due to the quantity of data produced, it will no longer be stored since the traffic of information becomes substantially heavy and large. Through blockchain based cloud solutions different opportunities emerge. In principle companies in this industry intend to create a decentralized ledger that gives complete traceability for the cloud and the entities that are either using or administrating the cloud. In simple words this would help also significantly regulate and prevent data leak scandals such as the “Facebook Cambridge Analytica” one back in 2018.

3. Digital Marketing and Blockchain Development

One of the many applications merged with digital marketing is created through the adoption of cryptocurrencies. For instance, “BAT or Basic Attention Tokens” is a project that seeks to create a market place for advertisers and users where, by engaging with different types of tailored marketing content, users get paid with rewards through this token. This is an example of how blockchain development is being used in this field. By implementing this system, “BAT” is transforming the way we consume marketing content. Initially, there are many initiatives in the market, such as Adblocker software that, on the contrary users have to pay to avoid being bombarded with useless advertising that they don’t even click on.

4. Blockchain in E-commerce

E-commerce benefits from blockchain also through the implementation and adoption of cryptocurrencies because these digital assets don’t require third-party verification to make a transaction. At the same time, the development of smart contracts allows us to pay goods and services once certain conditions are met.

5. Blockchain and Logistics

The focus of blockchain logistics is to find ways to improve logistic chain management and make more efficient endless documentation processes by solving inconveniences in inventory tracking and improving the shipping process efficiency.

For these reasons, having blockchain knowledge will become significantly more important in the future, specially for blockchain developers and software development but also for other professional fields of action such as project management, business management, marketing, sales and accounting amongst other operational fields. 

At the same time, as a graduate, it is key to remember that it is essential to never stop learning and to acquire new skills so that you can maximize not only your possibilities of finding a job but to pursue entrepreneurial goals that may lead you to new business development opportunities. Most importantly, be passionate about your own personal development. It should be your priority to invest your time in enhancing your profile and developing new skills. What’s more, Ivan on Tech Academy is the go-to online blockchain academy for learning everything necessary to land a blockchain job.