Blockchain Education: a Should-Have or a Must-Have?

Blockchain technology is knocking on the door of every industry to offer a chance for disruption. Currently, up to 10,000 people could become blockchain developers with various levels of proficiency. However, this number could rise to 100,000 within two years if companies experience increased demand and begin to require more blockchain developers. Automatically, more people will start to learn about blockchain. This is also true for non-technical people who come straight from business, who want to understand the standards of blockchain and inject them into their business models in a lean and efficient manner.

In any case, everyone will want to work with professionals. The blockchain sphere is obviously one that is oriented to quality, not quantity.

Blockchain is considered a prominent application for use in many fields, including banking, retail, and education. While the number of use cases of blockchain continues to grow, blockchain technology is still difficult to learn and understand, so the need for education arises.

Is Blockchain Education Important?

The data of one of the most popular freelancing websites, Upwork, shows that today, blockchain is the technology in the highest demand. The cooldown of the cryptocurrency market hasn’t influenced the increase in demand for blockchain job skills, which grew 6,000% in just the first quarter of this year.

Blockchain development for businesses was ranked first among the top 20 fastest-growing job skills.

In Silicon Valley, New York City, or Boston, where blockchain is the most popular, the annual salary of a blockchain developer is $158,000.

In addition to their salary, many blockchain developers receive a premium of $18,000.

Jerry Cuomo is the best blockchain engineer, and he earns a salary above $250,000.

Experts say the demand for blockchain expertise is coming from all fields, and this is just the beginning of the blockchain era.

Another factor that proves that blockchain education is a must-have today is personal security. Millions of passwords are stolen on an annual basis. You may ask why this happens, but if you look at the most popular passwords, you will probably conclude that there is still a lot to be learned.

One more reason for blockchain education is the fact that up to 99% of Bitcoin addresses have no Bitcoin wealth. This means that 99% of Bitcoin addresses possess only one-tenth of a Bitcoin, which is worth less than $655 USD worth at present. Many Bitcoin addresses are dead, abandoned, or lost because of forgetting passwords/keys/usernames, or because of hackers having cracked them.

Do you want to be among the 1% of lucky people? You definitely need a proper blockchain education.

Blockchain Education in Universities

The fact that universities are offering more and more courses and blockchain-related certificates proves that the crypto field is becoming truly powerful in all areas.

According to Coinbase surveys, students from varying departments are becoming more and more interested in cryptocurrency and blockchain courses. Nearly half of all social sciences students are willing to attend a crypto class. One of the main for such great interest in blockchain is its potential to impact a variety of fields.

Coinbase’s research shows that 42 percent of 50 universities conducted at least one class on blockchain or cryptocurrency, and 22 percent of them offered several. Today, 70 percent of universities offer at least one class on the blockchain.

By the way, 17 percent of computer science students, 15 percent of economics and math students, and 11 percent of business students have already taken a crypto-related course. However, only 5 percent of social sciences students have attended such a course.

The first course on blockchain and financial services was held by David Yermack, the finance department chair at New York University’s Stern School of Business in 2014. 35 students attended that course.

As of the end of spring 2018, the number of attendees had risen to 230. As a result, the decision was made to teach the course during both semesters.

Yermack held the class because he was interested in Bitcoin, and saw a reason to teach students at the same time that their interest in the cryptocurrency was also growing.

Additionally, corporate demand for people who understand cryptocurrency-related issues has increased. Yermack certainly knew that students would need this training for their jobs in the future, so he wanted to share his skills with them.

Universities are establishing research centers and developing crypto courses to meet this constantly-rising demand. They believe the cryptocurrency market is worthy of serious academic study.

Blockchain and cryptocurrency courses are mostly developed in the U.S. Twenty-seven percent of universities offer at least one class, and only two — the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and the National University of Singapore — offer more than one.

Johns Hopkins University holds a business course on blockchain in order to teach students its security features, advantages, and the disadvantages of its fundamental structure.

Princeton University was one of the first to launch an online course on “Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies” in 2015.

Coursera is an online education platform for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), in which leading universities and organizations worldwide provide online courses for anyone to take for free. These include video lectures, exercises, and online interaction with teachers and other students. The courses are clearly intended for a technically oriented, hands-on audience of programmers and computer scientists.

At Princeton, there is the possibility to attend an information-security class that focuses on secure computing systems, cryptocurrencies, the blockchain, and related economics, ethics, and legal issues.

Cornell University hosts the highest number of blockchain classes. Among 28 courses, there are classes like The Anthropology of Money and Introduction to Blockchains, Cryptocurrencies, and Smart Contracts.

Many engineering-oriented universities — for example, the University of Waterloo, Georgetown University, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign — have added blockchain courses and programs.

In the summer of 2018, Stanford created its Center for Blockchain Research to unite students from different departments around cryptocurrency issues.

Schools like MIT (the Media Lab, specifically), the University of Nicosia in Cyprus, and the (unaccredited) Holberton School, an alternative, teacherless software engineering school in San Francisco, have started to issue cryptographically-signed, verifiable certificates. Some universities, including the University of Nicosia, King’s College in New York, and Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, have accepted cryptocurrency for tuition payments.

Consider this chart, which identifies schools offering multiple blockchain courses:

In 2017, Gideon Greenspan, CEO of the blockchain platform Coin Sciences, created a list of eight conditions that must be met in order to succeed:

• A database
• Multiple people who are writing into that database
• Operations with an absence of trust
• No intermediaries
• Interaction between transactions
• Rules to restrict transaction performance
• Choice of validators
•  Return on assets

MIT, in collaboration with 2U, offers a six-week online blockchain certification program. The same course also is also offered at Oxford University.

The Atlanta-based Kingsland University offers an accredited blockchain training program for developers. The program is divided into two segments: the first four weeks are conducted in a face-to-face manner, and the other four weeks are dedicated to project work. There is an opportunity for free study for students in countries that can afford to cover the program. 275,000 students from the U.S., Singapore, Australia, and the Philippines can participate in this program. Kingsland also offers a two-day executive course.

The Blockchain Council, a group of blockchain experts and enthusiasts, provides a self-paced training program to become a certified blockchain developer. The opportunity to learn blockchain from a vendor-neutral perspective is what distinguishes it from other training programs.

A federation of trade unions in Singapore, the National Trading Union Congress Learning Hub (NTUC) and the Huobi Group, offers a variety of new courses on blockchain for cryptocurrency enthusiasts and fintech professionals. The program focused upon practical uses for the cryptocurrency.

The London startup B9lab developed an online Certified Ethereum Developer Training program in 2016, and also offered an executive course.

Learning is Earning: A World Where Knowledge Is a Currency

We have always believed that learning, earning, and doing what you love are separate things. Unfortunately, in most cases, these activities are not the same subject. As a rule, we spent our younger years learning what we don’t want to get a diploma in, only to work to earn money to do what we really want.

Perhaps it’s time to change this scenario?

The Institute for the Future (IFTF) and the ACT Foundation have created a project called The Ledger: a new technology that could make learning a way of earning. The “Learning is Earning” scheme is a descendant of the well-known game of designer and writer Jane McGonigal, a research affiliate at the Palo Alto-based IFTF.

The ledger tracks each course you have taken in units called Edublocks, each of which represents one academic hour. You can earn Edublocks from individuals, informal groups, or a formal institution, such as a school or your workplace. Additionally, students can share their Edublocks with others.

Each participant can get credit for learning from any point in the world, just by doing the things he or she loves. The number of earned Edublocks is shown on the participant’s profile. Based on your interests and skills, employers can offer you a job.

The application tracks the income of participants, and with provided data, generates feedback on a particular course. In this way, other people can choose the most popular and profitable subject to study in the future.

With the Ledger, you can find sponsors for your education. Offer investors a percentage of your future income in exchange for free learning hours. Blockchain provides smart contracts —self-executing contracts with the terms of the agreement between buyer and seller — that make concluding agreements easy and quick.

The blockchain’s immutable nature makes each earned Edublock a permanent part of the public record of collective work and education.
In this world, learning, working, and living can be combined.

Where to Get Knowledge: Courses, Training, and Certification Programs in 2018-2019

Check out this list of the 11 best blockchain certifications, training, courses, classes & tutorials that are available online. It was prepared by a global team of more than 50 blockchain experts. All of them will help you learn blockchain from scratch, as they are easy to understand even for beginners who have never heard about blockchain before.

More than 35,000 students have already passed these courses and gotten the best understanding of blockchain technology ever.

BlockGeeks

Blockgeeks is the world’s most comprehensive collection of blockchain courses, guides, and data. You can join BlockGeeks platform now to get first-class guides from experts worldwide.

BitDegree

There is a wide spectrum of courses, among which is blockchain niche devoted to crypto/trading, tech development, and investment opportunities. Start learning now!

IBM Blockchain Certification for Developers (Coursera)

This program has one of the best collections of feedback from its students. Moreover, it was developed by experienced IBM blockchain developers who are ready to share all effective concepts and strategies for building blockchain business networks.

Do not worry; this course was designed especially for beginners in software development. The main coaches are Ant Cole and Dave Gorman from IBM. Another advantage of this training is its flexibility and free manner of study. It lasts for only 6 weeks with only 2 hours lesson per working day.

Do you want to join the course? Do not hesitate. Be among 40,000 professionals who have already benefited from studying, and are now developing their own projects.

What you will get:

• awareness of Fabric development & architecture
• exploration of the ways you can transform your business
• a certificate upon successful completion of the course
• knowledge of Hyperledger Composer from A to Z

Rating: 4.4 out of 5

Blockchain Certification from State University of New York (Coursera)

This program consists of 4 courses, during which you will learn Basics, Smart Contracts, Decentralized Applications(Dapps) and Platforms.

The course was designed by the State University of New York (SUNY) and the University of Buffalo, the alma mater of millions of alumni around the world. The coach is Bina Ramamurthy.

During the course, participants will learn how to design, deploy, and execute a smart contract and develop decentralized applications. In general, a deep understanding of the whole blockchain ecosystem is guaranteed.

The program lasts for 16 weeks and requires an investment of around 3-4 hours each week.

What you will get:

• knowledge of blockchain technology
• programming language on the level that allows you to get started with this program
• the backing of the State University of New York and the University of Buffalo
• the opportunity to practice and apply obtained skills

By the way, there is the possibility to get a free 7-day trial of this course before deciding to pay for it. Click and start your studies right now.

Rating: 4.6 out of 5

Blockchain Technology Certification from UC Berkeley (edX)

This program was developed by faculty from UC Berkeley’s premier Computer Science department to provide a full foundation for comprehension of Bitcoin and blockchain technology.

The teachers are Rustie Lin and Mengyi (Gloria) Wang from the University of California, Berkeley. This course comes with distributed systems and alternative consensus mechanisms, fundamental applications of Bitcoin technology, and methods of implementation (including

JP Morgan’s Quorum, Ripple, Tendermint, and HyperLedger).
The course lasts 6 weeks. In total, it will consume 3 to 5 hours per week.

What you will get:

• an easy and comfortable means for learning
• versatility for both beginners and professionals
• all of the necessary topics on the blockchain

Rating: 4.6 out of 5

Blockchain for Business Certification

Do you want to learn how to generate, store, and share information, and find the solution most suitable for your business (and know which ones aren’t)??

Here is something special for you. The program was developed by the Linux Foundation to give you all of the required insights on how to start building blockchain applications with Hyperledger frameworks. The teachers of the training are Navroop Sahdev, FinTech entrepreneur, and Nathalie Salami, attorney. It is an eight-week course that requires 3-4 hours per week for the best results.

What you will get:

• how to identify suitable blockchain uses according to your business’s individual requirements
• the help of advisors, both during and after the course
• flexibility for both nontechnical and technical audiences. All are welcome.

Rating: 4.6 out of 5

Blockchain Training: Ethereum & Solidity Developer’s Guide

Do you want to learn from Stephen Grider, a champion online instructor who has taught more than 200,000 students? If so, Blockchain Training: Ethereum & Solidity Developer’s Guide is the best way to do this.

Stephen Grider has an excellent background working for top corporations. Now he wants to share his skills with students to open minds that are ready to learn all aspects of web development.

During the course, you will learn how to use Ethereum and Solidity, and deploy smart contracts to build applications based on the blockchain.

What you will get:

• the mentorship of an experienced, skilled teacher who will help you work on real projects with Ethereum
• the opportunity to learn all about smart contracts and use the latest version of Ethereum development tools
• deep exploration of the Solidity programming language

All you need is 24 free hours to dedicate to learning. If you have that, register for the course and develop yourself in the blockchain.

Rating: 4.7 out of 5

Blockchain Courses for Beginners & Experts

During this course, you will learn a great amount of new information on the implications of decentralized, encrypted data storage and the concepts of mining, cryptography, distribution, and smart contracts. The great advantage of this program is that it is practically free since the first month is available on a trial basis.

What you will get:

• learn blockchain technology within a short time frame
• the opportunity to learn how to generate and trade cryptocurrency
• the mentorship of international trainers in the field

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Blockchain Course: Blockchain and Bitcoin Fundamentals

This course is considered to be the best on the subject. It was designed by George Levy. The program demystifies the key elements of the technology and explores its operation. In general, it is a quick program, as participants need only 3 hours to complete it.

What you will get:

• the fundamentals of the blockchain
• features of Bitcoin miners’ work and the hashing procedure
• learn all about DAOs and DACs

More than 30,000 students from all over the world have already taken this course. If you are ready to spend only 2.5 hours to get a spectacular knowledge and a certificate, then register!

Rating: 4.7 out of 5

Blockchain Developer Tutorial with Ethereum and Solidity

The great advantage of the course is the trainers. One of them is Sebastien Arbogast, a full-stack software developer, consultant, speaker, and entrepreneur. The second trainer is Said Eloudrhiri, a proficient developer, software architect, and team leader who has been working on the development of better tools for more than 25 years and seeks to involve more developers in the blockchain.

There is no doubt that you will be in very safe hands in this course. 15 hours of online content + 3 articles and 49 supplemental resources sounds very tempting, doesn’t it?

What will you get:

• learn how to develop a distributed application and use the Truffle build-and-test framework
• the Solidity programming language from scratch
• useful knowledge both for beginners and professionals; both will gain new experience

Rating: 4.6 out of 5

Blockchain Developer Training: Getting Started with Ethereum Solidity Development

This course was also developed by Sebastien Arbogast in collaboration with Said Eloudrhiri, whose experience in IT is 25 years! With a CV like that, you know you are in the safest of hands. Growth in blockchain technology and Ethereum is assured.

What will you get:

• the skills needed to develop a distributed application, deploy smart contracts and create a user interface
• knowledge about Metamask and building with Truffle

Rating: 4.6 out of 5

Ethereum Developer Masterclass

Don’t miss the opportunity to learn how to create real-time projects with trainers and get special knowledge on Git, HTML, JavaScript, and Bootstrap.

This is a 10-hour course developed by Thomas and Ravinder. It helps you become adept at the programming languages used to create projects.

Most importantly, you will get:

• knowledge of how to develop using the latest in Solidity, Web3js, Truffle, TestRPC, and MetaMask
• basic knowledge of the blockchain

Rating: 4.4 out of 5

The eleventh course worth taking is obviously Applicature’s. Contact us and develop your skills with professionals! You can also consolidate your knowledge in practice and develop your own project with the Applicature team.

Conclusion

With the rapid development of blockchain, education has become a must-have in today’s world for most professions.

Just choose and register for the most suitable course for you on blockchain or cryptocurrency, and implement the knowledge you obtain in practice!