# Careers in Blockchain Technology: Binance 8 week training for African Developers In this article, I'm going to talk about last week's event by [Binance Africa](https://twitter.com/BinanceAfrica) in collaboration with [Bundle](https://bundle.africa/) to offer training to over 1000 African developers on Blockchain Technology. This event was the launch of the 8-week program that is set to begin on 6th February. The event was hosted by Emmanuel Babalola from Binance Africa The event and program was officially launched by [CZ Binance](https://twitter.com/cz_binance) the CEO of [BInance](https://www.binance.com/en) who talked of the aims of the program:- - the need to provide more education on how to rebuild financial systems - career options in blockchain off-trading/off-charts - the new financial systems across the world - to increase money freedom > "Focus is on infrastructure providers(developers) and Africa is important on Binance mission. We have set aside $ 1, 000, 000 for African developers launching their smart contracts on Binance Smart Chain. Study smart and stay safe." The second speaker during the launch was [Chimezie Chuta](https://chuta.me/) who is the founder/ organizer of #BlockchainDev1000 and #BlockchainNg. He basically started by saying that "For blockchain adoption, we need the right people and right tools yet there's a shortage of blockchain developers in the ecosystem". > "**Blockchain Technology** is an enabler... real disruptive tool in the emerging decentralized future. Africa as a continent is not poor it's only that there are mismanagement and misunderstanding on how to harness opportunities and natural resources we have in our continent. The real assets of Africa that can create an economic force to raise Africa's GDP through blockchain technology is its citizens." **what blockchain offers** - transparency - immutability - verifiability - security - decentralization All these can deal with a lack of trust/ accountability which common in African governments and between business associates. > Africa has the youngest population in the world. The average age of an African is 19.5 years compared to 46 or 47 years in Germany or Japan. Yet youths are the beast of burdens of governments in Africa. Africa lacks infrastructure which is a huge opportunity that is open. *Crypto-asset technology* which is the lack of legacy systems is an urgent need to rebuild Africa and *blockchain technology* is the best tool for this to be achieved. Blockchain & crypto-related jobs have come to stay and African youths should embrace blockchain & crypto Asset technology in order to:- - earn global standard income - control your future - control your wealth - fulfill your dreams #BlockchainDev1000 organizes cohorts to get more developers and beginners into blockchain development from basics of the web: HTML, CSS & Javascript which still play a significant role in development. > *Blockchain* adds an immutable layer of trust to web applications by being a distributed ledger that a tamper-proof history of all transactions is sent to it. The current market cap of cryptocurrency is over $ 1 trillion. Billion of dollars are flowing in from VCs. The global blockchain market size is $3.0 billion in 2020 to 39.76 billion by 2025. Impressive Compound Annual Growth Rate(CAGR) of 67.3% during 2020 - 2025. This means *there's more opportunities and the party has just started* **Who is hiring?** *industries, governments, startups, tech firms, and legacies.* > *virtual disruptions* means demand for people with blockchain skills is high. These are the people who have the skillset to navigate this new technology. **hottest Job Roles** - Blockchain Developer - Blockchain Solution Architect - Blockchain Project Manager - Blockchain UX Designer - Blockchain Quality Engineer - Blockchain Legal Consultant - Blockchain Forensic Expert > Blockchain developers with the expertise to help companies explore blockchain platforms are in high demand. Blockchain development is the most marketable career path today because people are eager to realize all benefits of blockchain **Non-Technical Roles** - Accountants - Public Relations Expert - Digital Marketers - Crypto Journalist - ICO/IEO advisors - Data Analysts - Crypto-Asset Consultants > Everyone in the organization has the fundamental organization of the blockchain. **How much do they offer** - $ 120 k - $ 175k *senior developer* - $ 75k - $ 120k *intermediate developer* - $ 36k - $ 60k *junior developer* > Better pay, remote flexibility, and employee liquidity **How to get your share on the blockchain space** - Get trained - Get certified - Keep abreast of development in the industry - love blockchain & crypto - Join a vibrant blockchain community > Go from zero to Fullstack hero by learning. *Web Fundamentals*(HTML, CSS, Javascript), *Front-end*(React), backend(nodejs, python, php) together with mobile app development & docker then can proceed to *Smart Contract development* by learning solidity. The third speaker was [Xiao Guang]() who is in charge of Binance Smart Chain. He talked about BSC, trends & possibilities in the blockchain industry and data where Africa makes it on top 5 on the Binance network:- > **Binance Smart Chain** is new blockchain technology to enable an internet of value. The Binance Smart Chain(BSC) since September 2020 has supported 20 projects which are globally approved. BSC is:- - 100% EVM compatible i.e based on Ethereum and supports solidity. - Proof of staked Authority i.e decentralized governance with 21 open validators and staking based consensus - Built a cross-chain financial system to enable the internet of value - Focus on *assets*, *data*, and *business logic* *Binance Token Canal* allows one to convert supported coins into wrapped tokens and use them on BSC with cross-chain interoperability. - The total circulating assets are $420 M - mainstream tokens - Smart chain (DEFI, NFT, Dev LandScape) for the smart contract, solidity and basic programming for developers, wallets to connect to Binance smart and connecting to business logic. To build a DEFI project you need to understand both development and financial technology(trading). - At Binance there are over 900, 000 addresses, and daily top trader total transactions are over $ 700, 000. ### BUIDLers: Accelerator Program **How the $ 1000000 will be utilized in Africa** - Tech/Business model - Hackathon Grant/ Education - Community/Promotion - Developer Incentive - Eco-collaboration - Accelerated funds ### Trends in dApps(DEFI) Ecosystem - Algorithms - Aggregation & Composition - Cross-chain multichain - Gamification - Community/Social Token - Synthetics - Institutional DEFI - Infrastructure & tooling ### Decentralizing the world ### Blockchain and Smart Contracts The fourth and final speaker was the CEO of White Matrix, [Xiao Wu](https://medium.com/white-matrix/white-matrix-wu-xiao-blockchain-is-changing-and-developers-need-to-change-their-thinking-cc69ffd21d58). [White Matrix](https://twitter.com/MatrixDapp) is a tech company for research and [Chain IDE](https://chainide.com/), a cloud-based Integrated Development Environment(IDE), supporting multichain and development of smart contracts on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) is one of their products. White Matrix will conduct the 8week training of 1000 developers from Africa training by Binance. Basic Key terms:- > *Smart Contract* - A computer program or a transaction protocol that is intended to automatically execute, control, or document legally relevant events and actions according to the terms of a contract or an agreement > *Ethereum* - code deployed on the blockchain, write standard logic that is immutable on any specific condition > *dApp* - computer application runs on the distributed computing system. **dApp idea**: - Game - DEXs - lending platforms' - stable coin - crypto-arts *Examples*: 1. [cryptokittie](https://www.cryptokitties.co/) one of the world’s first blockchain games. ‘Blockchain’ is the technology that makes things like Bitcoin possible. While CryptoKitties isn’t a digital currency, it does offer the same security: each CryptoKitty is one-of-a-kind and 100% owned by you. It cannot be replicated, taken away, or destroyed. DEFI & NFT 2. [uniswap](https://uniswap.org/) - automated transactions(Superpowers for DEFI developers.) 3. [From Duchamp to First Supper-Decentralized Revolution of Cryptoart](https://editorial.superrare.co/2020/06/09/from-duchamp-to-first-supper-decentralized-revolution-of-cryptoart/) for crypto-art **Innovative dApps**