Part of being in tech is knowing that you can find your spark at any time, at any stage. There are so many fields, and you can change careers when you find your spark.
Web3 is a fairly futuristic field that many people are still finding more information about it every day. Web3 is still deeply attached to crypto which does dull its shine, but web3 is way more than that, more developers are finding this fact, hence more people jumping ship.
As a web developer, if you want to get started with web3, here are the things you need to know.
From Web to Web3
Understanding the true meaning of web3 is crucial to your success, most people still don't understand what exactly Web3 means, No it's not crypto, and it's not NFTs. let's understand it a little better.
What is Web3
Everything we operate now on the web is considered the second generation of the internet where everything is owned by a private institution or a person, the invention of social media launched the Web2 phase, which gave users the upgrade from just reading, to providing content for the internet as well.
We had Facebook, Youtube, and much more, now the internet is filled with user-generated content, but still managed and controlled by private institutions acting in the best interests of the public, this is where web3 comes into play.
Web3 takes power away from just private companies in control and directs it back to the users, web2 is commonly dubbed as a "read-write" version of the internet, and web3 is considered "read-write-own".
Web3 development
Now that you are familiar with what web3 is, how do you develop the third generation of the internet?
One of the core concepts of web3 is decentralization, disbanding the centralized nature of the Internet where trust is built solely on the masses, people, and users. The only way to achieve that is through blockchain.
Blockchain technology opens doors to a whole new world of decentralization and we've already seen it in action through countless of dApps on the market right now, to be a core Web3 developer, you have to understand Blockchain.
How to Successfully Transition
As a web developer, you would have been using one major language for your day-to-day. The idea is to give yourself a smooth transition by looking for common technologies so that changing fields won't be as challenging.
As a web developer, you would have been already used to several languages like Javascript, React, HTML, and CSS, great! these technologies are also used in web3 development so learning a bunch of new languages won't be needed. You will however need to learn one major language...
Solidity
Solidity is a high-level programming language that is used to interpret smart contracts that are directly connected to a blockchain network, since blockchain is the core of Web3, knowing how to work your way in and out of a blockchain network will be your primary task along the line.
Solidity has all of the standard programming features including variables, loops, conditional statements, and much more. The best part, it's very similar to Javascript so you won't have too much of a hard time learning it.
Tutorialspoint has a very comprehensive tutorial on Solidity, that will take you from novice to intermediate and you are well on your way.
Tieing it all together
I am pretty sure by now you've understood the basic concepts of Web3, still, how does it directly tie into what you already know in your web3 journey? Working directly on the blockchain by creating smart contracts isn't the only route, you can still make dApps.
A tutorial by LogRocket explains how you can build web apps that connect to a blockchain network using JavaScript, React, and Solidy to build an app.
Web3.js is also an amazing option when it comes to Web3, as you dive deeper you'd want to use this Javascript library to connect and interact with a local or remote Ethereum node whenever you are working in the Ethereum network.
What if I still want to remain a web developer?
That's fine, you can still be in the web3 industry and not directly build smart contracts or your blockchain, multiple web3 companies still need web developers for their landing pages, admin dashboard, and much more. Web3 is big enough to accommodate you.
If you enjoyed this article, message me on Twitter, I'd love to connect with you all there and answer whatever question it is that you have!