Make a career in blockchain

What do cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether have in common? Their underlying technology
is blockchain. While it is true that blockchain technology is at the heart of cryptocurrencies, mostly bitcoin, it is not limited to it. Created by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 to serve as
the public distributed ledger of bitcoin cryptocurrency, the technology has now spread its wings beyond it, and is finding its use cases in a variety of industries ranging from aviation to travel and mobility to infrastructure and energy to construction, architecture and building to healthcare and public records.

“In recent years, blockchain has expanded its scope and has moved beyond cryptocurrencies. Considering the benefits the technology provides in terms of transparency, trust, data security and privacy, we believe that more sectors and domains will design tech-
solutions using blockchain technology,” says Gunjan Tomer, Chairman, Information Systems Area, IIM Nagpur.

Agrees Hari Krishnan, co-founder, Great learning, “The scope of blockchain technology has applications across the board. It enables transparency, security and efficiency in business operations due to which it is increasingly being adopted by various industries.”

Market size to grow

According to market research firm Polaris, the global blockchain technology market is
expected to reach $1,235.71 billion by 2030, from $5.85 billion in 2021, representing a compound annual growth rate of 82.8 percent. While North America is expected to dominate the global market throughout the forecast period owing to the presence of a number of major games
Like Microsoft Corporation, IBM, AWS and others, the Asia Pacific region is expected to grow at the fastest pace due to the increasing adoption of these technologies in emerging nations including India and China. The popularity of the emerging technology can be gauged by the fact that funding for blockchain startups in 2021 increased by 713 percent year-on-year to $25.2 billion. Furthermore, the technology is listed by the World Economic Forum as one of seven technologies expected to revolutionize various aspects of our lives.

For the uninitiated, the blockchain is an open, distributed ledger that records transactions securely, permanently and very efficiently. It allows encrypted data on everything from money and medical records to be shared by companies, individuals and institutions. The information
stored in groups called “blocks”, and shared across the entire network of com-
putters on the blockchain.

“The technology is mainly useful in financial as well as other services to reduce friction. If you consider traditional digital payments, there are multiple intermediaries that a single payment has to go through, and each intermediary collects economic rent in the form of fees. This means that digital payments quite expensive. Furthermore, there is no transparency among these intermediaries – leading to a lot of bookkeeping and approval and settlement processes. Blockchain can short-circuit these to make digital payments cheaper, transparent and more traceable, according to Dr. Sandeep Shukla, professor, Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Kanpur.

Possibilities galore

It is predicted that as many as 56 percent of Indian businesses use blockchain technology in some capacity. And the increasing use of blockchain technology in various industries means that in the coming months and years these businesses will require a huge army of specialists. The top five in-demand blockchain jobs on various job portals include Blockchain Developer, Blockchain Engineer, Blockchain Quality Engineer, BlockchainDesigner and Blockchain Legal Consultant/Attorney etc. A report by industry body Nasscom and Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX, in 2021, estimated that by 2030, India may have over 8
lakh jobs created in blockchain and other web3 related fields.

Acquire skills

To make a mark in the most emerging field of technology, the first thing one must do is acquire the right skills. Surprisingly, out of the two million software developers in India, barely 5,000 software developers in India have blockchain skills.

Certification from leading institutes

Recognizing the gap between demand and supply, academic institutions including leading B-schools and IITs have come up with courses in blockchain technology. Take for example IIM Ahmedabad that
is running electives on bitcoin and blockchain technology in his MBA program. IIM Nagpur, on the other hand, has launched a nine-month online Post Graduate Certificate Program in blockchain technology in collaboration with Times Pro. The course is mainly for workers
sionals. Commenting on the course, Tomer says: “Two things inspired us to design this program-a-blockchain technology that is emerging as a significant driver of digital transformation across industries with its unique value proposition. We have seen an increase in the demand for skills. For that others, we found a gap in the academic offers that combine block-
chain technology from both a technological and managerial perspective.”

Tomer says that their program aims to combine both technological and managerial perspectives. “It will equip participants with the ability to both design and develop technology solutions based on blockchain technology and develop creative solutions to modern business problems. Unlike an elective, the program is a more
rigorous and holistic experience for participants to understand and apply blockchain technology across different contexts and domains.” Says Dr. Shukla, “Our goal in creating a blockchain course was to graduate software professionals who want to get into blockchain technology and understand it beyond hype of cryptocurrency speculation, gambling,
and various abuses of the technology.”

“In 2020, we at Great Learning in collaboration with IIT Madras started the ‘Advanced Certification in Software engineering for Cloud, Blockchain and IoT’ program. We have seen a 2.4 times growth in demand for the program in FY 22 from FY 21,” says Krishnan.

Courses at private universities
Besides the IITs and IIMs, undergraduate level courses are also offered by some private universities. Sharda University, Bennett University in Greater Noida, Alliance University, Amity University are among them. UPES offers a four-year, full-time bachelor’s program in blockchain technology, in collaboration with IBM. IIIT, Bangalore in collaboration with online platform upGrad offers PG program in software development with specialization in blockchain.

Recently, MIT-World Peace University inaugurated a Center of Excellence focused on Blockchain technology at the University’s School of Computer Engineering and Technology.

Previous qualifications

At least 50 percent aggregate in diploma (10+2+3) or bachelor’s degree or equivalent, or they should have a two-year master’s degree or equivalent from a recognized university in any discipline. Working professionals are selected on the basis of experience (minimum two years) and knowledge of one of the programming languages ​​(C++, Java, Python, etc).

“While 68 percent of our students are from the IT industry, students also enroll in the program from sectors such as BFSI, manufacturing, telecom, automotive and even consulting. Most of the students work in technical/functional roles in large companies., says Krishnan.

What does the course entail?
Besides covering concepts of Bitcoin, Hyperledger, Ethereum, Ripple, and multichain blockchain platforms, courses also help students set up a private blockchain network using Hyperledger Composer, and deploy smart contracts on Ethereum. The curriculum ends with
cornerstone projects. A participant-driven capstone project is a significant evaluation parameter where participants will design and create a blockchain-based technology solution,” adds Tomar.

Fee

The fee for blockchain courses varies across institutes. The fee for IIM Nagpur’s nine-month online course is INR 2.25 lakhs, while one can enroll in IIT Kanpur’s four-month Professional Certificate Program in Blockchain in conjunction with online learning platform Simplilearn for INR 1.69 lakhs.

Salary and placements

With a skill in such high demand, what salary package can be expected after completing the course? “The existing talent crisis has led to a large gap between demand and supply of professionals with blockchain development skills as well as functional expertise. This has also led to high salary premiums as many employers compete for a small talent pool. While the salaries of blockchain developers vary depending on the company , location and years of experience, in India they earn 50-100 percent higher than other developer roles.According to Ambitionbox, blockchain developer salary in India ranges between 2.4 lakhs depending on experience levels and skills and 23.2 lakhs with an average annual salary of 6.6 lakhs ,” says Krishnan.