Blockchain has emerged as a viable transaction ledger for today and the future. Being fully decentralized and free from censorship, it has become an adaptable business tool across industries. But what exactly is blockchain and how is it changing how we work and live today?
Blockchain History and Evolution
Founded in 2008 by a person, or possibly a group of people using the name Satoshi Nakamoto, the idea was to create a way to timestamp documents that could not be tampered with while keeping the entire ledger transparent. Blockchain is a series of digital blocks linked together. Each individual “block” contains a series of valid transactions. These blocks then link together into a chain making the history of transactions public (so it’s not a clever name, it’s literal). The block is also available for anyone in the network to see, keeping both trust and accountability high.
The real triumph of blockchain is the trust that it builds in the form of a P2P network interaction. For most of digital history, transactions have needed the facilitation of a trusted third party, someone to oversee the legitimacy of the transaction itself (this is mostly where banks come in for example). With blockchain, the trust is formed inherently from the P2P connection, with no need for third-party oversight. This innovation is the key to blockchain’s growing success.
This new way of doing business could revolutionize how we consume media, exchange money, or even work collaboratively on digital projects. For example, without the need for a third party authorizer, we could purchase tickets directly from organizers, and the blockchain would ensure that a record of the purchase would be secure and free from fraudulent tampering.
One of the key principles of blockchain is that it is add-only, meaning data cannot be removed from the chain, only added in chronological order, leaving a record of every transaction in the blockchain.
And just as a blockchain continues to grow with every block added, we will continue to see the growth in professional blockchain careers.
So How Do I Get Involved?
There’s no shortage of career opportunities when it comes to blockchain, and the earlier you can get involved the better. We have seen massive growth in public knowledge of crypto-currency and business in the last few years, and because of that, there has been an explosion in career options in the blockchain field. Some examples of these are:
Blockchain/Technical Project Manager
Blockchain Community Manager/Lead
With positions like this popping up every day, there hasn’t been a better time to get involved in this revolutionary technology. Just like the growth of tech, the field of blockchain is wide and varied, with a position for anyone willing to work hard and learn. Interested in joining the world of blockchain? Check out Udacity’s Blockchain Developer Nanodegree program today and be a part of the future of tomorrow.
