The Blockchain Developers Shortage

I recently read an article that highlighted the shortage experienced in blockchain Development. Obviously, we see a steady rise of blockchain innovation, just look at this year's Blockchain Expo in London. And with this meteoric rise, the shortage becomes ever more apparent. Innovation is indirectly proportional to the supply of talent. Consequently, it has been noted that some companies are having to scale back on some projects. Granted, therein lies an opportunity for individuals and/or businesses to seek to plug in this deficit, we’ll look at some here, gleaned from my readings, echoing the thoughts of nobler minds, whilst my mind works up a neural storm in also contributing to the intellectual rigor of attempting to solve this crisis, if one is being too dramatic.

Michael Scott (Scott, 2017) goes ahead to extol the book written by the well-famed William Mougayar, who has become a thought leader in this space. The book, The Business Blockchain, in a short span of text, explores this emerging trend, stating that by his mid-2016 approximations, there were only “5,000 developers dedicated to writing software for cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, or blockchain in general.” He admits that “perhaps another 20,000 had dabbled with the technology, or have written front end applications that connect with the blockchain.” My friend and I belong to the latter part based on this piece of statistic; we, like all googly-eyed dreamers, moved to develop on this platform, though with limited success, nonetheless with increased progress of knowledge.

But, when you look at the nine million Java developers worldwide, and about 18.5 million software developers in the world, I cringe and smile at the same time because the opportunities are so rife. An interesting piece of fact that the book notes and where Michael emphasises, is that the Blockchain has the “good fortune of being tied to languages and scripts that are already in popular use — like Java, Javascript, C++, Node.js, Python, Golang and Haskell.”

Quoting Mougayar, Michael writes, “Getting more developers proficient on Blockchain technology is key, and part of its successful evolution. We can't avoid not having a critical mass of knowledgeable software engineers that know how to program blockchains and develop blockchain applications. Whereas it might take a few weeks of effort today to get a seasoned developer up to speed on blockchains, it might eventually take only two days.”

Mougayar is convicted that efforts to address the prevailing blockchain developer shortage can be impacted by the following:

• More general mass awareness about the blockchain; and that is what BitHub Africa is attempting to accomplish.

• Popularity of certification programs, such as from the CryptoCurrency Certification Consortium; I eventually see myself with a certificate from BitHub Africa.

• Formal education programs specializing in this field, such as the Master of Science in Digital Currency, University of Nicosia in Cyprus.

This talent shortage, I do believe, will slowly balance itself out as more and more qualified people migrate out of the government sector, and graduate from colleges and universities. It is a sort of build-it-and-they-will-come type of situation. We see a clamouring for developers, and if you observe, money is very little motivation compared to the interest-creating coefficient for projects. People want to be part of something they perceive to be ‘big.’

So, the question is begged, what can be done to address this situation, a few of them being:

• Flexible work situations- including remote work, especially for very experienced software dudes.

-Mentorship programs- programming functional skills bootcamps, Digital Skills, et cetera.

I should note that this shortage is not entirely not without precedent. During the early days of the web, we had such a situation akin to this, but well into almost two decades, look where we are.

The interesting thing is you don’t have to be fully-immersed in code to be able to apply the blockchain, just have to know how to run cryptographic protocols.

We do see also some well-seasoned programmers are well able to handle blockchain, but simply the buzz has gotten to them and are uninterested.

Even so, BitHub Africa, stands on the cusp of a great duty that will echo into the generations to come.

Mougayar, W. and Buterin, V. (no date) Synopsis. Available at: http://thebusinessblockchain.com/synopsis/ (Accessed: 28 January 2017).

Scott, M. (2017) The Blockchain developer shortage: Emerging trends and perspectives. Available at: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/the-blockchain-developer-shortage-emerging-trends-and-perspectives-1477930838/ (Accessed: 28 January 2017).