Becoming A Web3 Developer: Why And How

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NFT Daily Dose

8 min readJun 14, 2024

First, let us know about Web3.

Web3, which is the core concept in this paper, was initiated by Gavin Wood, the founder of Ethereum in 2014, as a solution for the Internet faulty for trust.

Of course, the centralized networks provided a great opportunity for billions of Internet users in connecting to the Internet and for creating a powerful and stable base on it. However, at present a few large-scale enterprises have almost ‘seized’ the Internet and they can act at their own discretion. While Web3 reintroduces ownership to the users through blockchain, cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and other such futuristic integrations.

Web3 has now evolved into an even more neutral term that defines the future of the Internet — Web3. Although it is difficult to strictly define Web3, it generally has the following characteristics:

Decentralization: Not controlled by a centralized entity, but rather owned by builders and users;
No permission required: everyone has equal rights to participate in Web3, and no one is excluded;
Trustless: operates through an economic incentive mechanism (token) without depending on a trusted third party.

The Times And Trends Of Web3

There is a saying in “Lu’s Spring and Autumn Annals”: “A gentleman plans to act when the time comes and act according to the trend.” This means that smart, forward-thinking people will be prepared to act quickly at the right time, make judgments based on the situation at that moment, and then make a difference.

Well I believe that Web3 is very notable and is a trend, but to what extent did it begin trending? There are people out there who believe it started with Bitcoin while others believe it started with Ethereum. However I do not fully subscribe to your view here. Starting with the emergence of Bitcoin, everything related to Web3 is beginning; the emergence of Ethereum is the foundation of the Web3 industry. But what really makes Web3 a “trend” is the large-scale explosion of it. the DeFi industry in 2020. Let blockchain have a practical application in financial scenarios.

User numbers in the entire Web3 industry have grown rapidly since 2020, including users of platform projects in the industry. The only year that witnessed a slow down in growth was in the year 2022 pursuant to the bear market that occurred in that year, other than that users have continued to rise and I am confident that getting to the middle of Bitcoin and other digital currencies will be a natural occurrence. Thus, with the appearance of the bull market in 2024, the new number of uses will continue to grow more and more, and the upward trend is irreversible.

Indeed, one can see the prospects of Web3 in Hong Kong, China as well. Since 2023, Hong Kong, China has frequently issued friendly signals towards Web3:

On April 20th, 2023. The Hong Kong Web3 Association was formed to promote the Web3 space.

In August 2023, the “Policy Statement on Development of Virtual Assets in the Hong Kong SAR” was released to ensure its support for Web3 development.

Beginning in October 2023, the China Securities Regulatory Commission revised the cryptocurrency market regulatory policy in response to the changing market environment, and published guidelines for virtual asset exchanges compliance standards.

By January 2024, Hong Kong’s first virtual asset exchange gained licenses.

On April 30, 2024, the Web3 Carnival was organized in Hong Kong, and, also in April 2024, the Hong Kong government approved the release of the digital asset ETF.

Ever since Web3 has been a buzzword since 2020, the right time to be part of Web3 was 4 years ago yet better late than never- Time is NOW! ! !

Citing the author’s background as a developer that met Web3 in 2020 and moved from web2 to web3 in 2022, the article answers the “Why Web2 developers should learn Web3” question based on the author’s experience.

Actually, this question is equivalent to “Why should non-AI researchers learn AI?”I believe that as a developer, you must first be a continuous student, because the technology industry changes rapidly, and continuous learning is required to keep up. Keep up with changes and stay competitive.

Learning is divided into depth and breadth. Both are equally important. Depth will help you become an expert in the field by delving into technical details and can introduce new ideas to your professional field by tracking technological trends and learning knowledge in adjacent fields. make work more creative.

This is the reason to learn AI and Web3 now. You can increase your technical breadth by learning the latest technologies, just like learning mobile development in the early years. But Web3 differs from these two in that it lacks a “uniqueness”. moment” “.

The appearance of the iPhone has led to the transformation of mobile terminals. The iPhone is the “moment of singularity” of mobile terminals. The emergence of ChatGPT has opened up the imagination of AI. However, Web3 currently does not have such a revolutionary innovation, but this also means that Web3 is an industry with greater potential and innovation. If a Web2 developer can combine original technology and experience to build on top of Web3, great innovation can be born.

Web2 Another advantage of learning Web3 is that if Web2 cannot run in the future, you can still join.

How to become a Web3 developer

Web3 technology stack

There is currently no unified definition of the Web3 technology stack. I use Alchemy’s Web3 technology stack landscape, which is bottom-up:

Network layer: also known as chain, including Layer 1 and Layer 2, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Sui, Starknet, etc.;
Blockchain interaction layer: This layer allows developers and users to read and write data to the blockchain, including node services, faucets, indexing services, and blockchain browsers;
Presentation Layer: This layer is largely for developers and represents several features of Web2 development, such as particular tools and class libraries for blockchain developers and blockchain data storage.
Distributed Applications (DApps): This layer is primarily user-facing and covers DeFi, NFT, identity and authentication, data and analytics, and many other DApp categories.

When you decide to become a Web3 developer, you must first understand which layer of the Web3 technology stack your technology operates in.

If it is the service network layer, it means that Layer 1 or Layer 2 needs to be developed, usually in the corresponding laboratory or foundation. The skills required vary greatly. The underlying technologies include cryptography, consensus algorithm, storage, network, language and. virtual machine, etc. Engineering technology is determined based on the architecture and performance of the chain.

If it is to serve the interaction layer of blockchain, it is generally targeted at some infrastructure service providers, such as node services, data analysis services, and index services. This layer is actually similar to Web2 infrastructure service providers (such as cloud services). And the roles are also the same: front-end, back-end, data, testing, operation and maintenance, etc., so the skills required are approximately the same. You may also need to learn more about the interface. the blockchain network;

If it is a service presentation layer, it develops tools and class libraries for developers, commonly known as “sales shovels.” Specific development skills will be determined by the form of the product and the type of service developer. an IDE will involve user interface and building local networks, building contracts, deploying contracts, etc.;

If it is to serve DApps, in fact, the vast majority of Web3 development needs to focus on DApp development, so what we generally call Web3 development mainly refers to DApp development. This content is expanded in the following section.

Skills needed for DApp development

Everyone should be familiar with the traditional architecture of Internet applications, including front-end, back-end, and database. Using an online shopping website as an example, the user initially visits the front-end interface via the browser to complete shopping-related tasks. If a user searches for a specific product keyword, the backend will handle the processing. the corresponding logic, that is, responding to the front-end request and returning the necessary data to the front-end after retrieving the database. The database stores all of the application’s product and user information (such as shopping cart contents).

The biggest difference between DApps built on blockchain and traditional applications is the change in backend and database functions. Smart contracts serve as the traditional backend, but blockchain replaces traditional databases and provides decentralized data storage. The close collaboration between smart contracts and the blockchain makes data storage and retrieval transparent and difficult to manipulate.

Therefore, the skills of DApp development mainly lie in front-end and smart contract development. The skills that must be mastered are the following:

Interface

Interface development. Web developers can apply front-end development in the job because the basics which are HTML, CSS, and JavaScript do not need explanation, and they must be acquainted with modern front-end development frameworks such as React and Vue.

Authentication and data reading and writing mechanisms. In DApp, user authentication and identity management are implemented through blockchain wallets (such as MetaMask), so you need to learn how to integrate the wallet interface, and data reading and writing is also done through Chain API, using Ethers.js like this. JavaScript library that facilitates the implementation of authentication and data reading and writing mechanisms.

Rear End

Since many DApps are now semi-centralized, there are also many back-end requirements. Although the skills of back-end engineers can also be migrated, since it involves reading and writing data to the chain, it is necessary to integrate a blockchain. The best development language is Go/Rust/NodeJS;

Smart Contract

For contract development on the EVM chain, it is recommended that beginners mainly learn the Solidity language in the WTF Academy; For contract development on non-EVM chains, they must learn based on the specific chain. For smart contracts on Solana, you need to learn Rust and develop smart contracts on Sui. You need to learn Sui Move, but there are currently relatively few learning materials, so you need to go to the corresponding official website.

Some Suggestions For Learning Web3

Brush Web3 media daily for industry news: recommended Panews, Foresight, Rhythm, Golden Finance, ODaily;

From time to time, hang out in the Web3 developer community.

When learning a new project, read the official documentation first, then follow the official Twitter/Discord, and take a general look at the codebase when you have enough energy;

You must do projects. Those who have the channels can implement the projects directly. Those who do not have the channels can also participate in Hackthon to accumulate experience in the project.

English is very important, learn English well.

Resume

Web3 must be the future. For Web2 developers, by exploring the field of Web3, whether it is client, front-end or back-end, they can make full use of their existing technical advantages, broaden their career horizons and improve their possibilities. creativity in your work.

However, the current Web3 industry is still very impetuous. Many people are crazy about pursuing and making aggressive investments, which often makes people feel anxious. If you are determined to become a Web3 developer, you should consciously block out some distracting information, focus on the technology itself, and do something of long-term value that will help you grow.