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Stanley Ugwu
Stanley Ugwu

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"Blockchain Developer", What does it mean?

Hi Guys! 👋, Today I will be attempting to give a straight-to-point explanation about Blockchain, Blockchain Developers and the types of developers in the blockchain space.

Let's jump in!! 😉

WHAT IS BLOCKCHAIN

Blockchain is a distributed database existing on multiple connected computers at the same time.

Blockchain is an example of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), blockchain network is a network of peer-to-peer connected computers
called nodes, and these nodes each have a record of the transactions that has being carried out in the chain. sort of like a database. (that's what makes it decentralized, each node has up-to-date records)

APPLICATIONS OF BLOCKCHAIN

Cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and other buzz trends are all applications of blockchain technology. They're all possible
because of how Blockchain works and it's decentralized nature. The nature of Blockchain has made way for so many
applications and NFTs, Cryptocurrencies, are just few of the applications.

These application is just a matter of writing
programs that will run on the chain, and then that program will leverage the features of the blockchain (think decentralization),
and do mind blowing things. You can build a simple todo-app that runs on the blockchain, that way you don't need a database
to store the data as you have access to the blockchain which you can use as storage.

BLOCKCHAIN CLIENT

Blockchain Client is what makes it possible for the nodes in a blockchain to be connected to each other.

It is a software that runs on each of the nodes and is responsible for verifying and relaying the transactions and blocks
to other nodes across the chain (network). Parity Ethereum and Geth are two examples of Blockchain clients for Ethereum
blockchain.

TYPES OF BLOCKCHAIN DEVELOPERS

There are two main types of developers in blockchain development:

  1. Core Developer
  2. App/dApp Developer

1. Core Developers
Core Developers are the developers that does core development on the blockchain.
They write codes for the Blockchain Client Software using low-level programming languages like C, C++, Rust, etc.

Blockchain core development is not an easy task as you need to understand system architecture and low-level programming
languages. Blockchain core developers are very rare and prefer to stay anonymous.

2. App or dApp Developers
App or dApp(decentralized application) Development is what most blockchain developers do and what is commonly meant when
"Blockchain Developer" is mentioned. It can also be called dApp development because of the fact that the app you deploy to a
blockchain exists on all the nodes on the chain.

Just like Web developers write codes that'll be executed in the web browser, Blockchain
App Developers write codes that'll be executed in a Virtual Machine environment, and these VMs are created by the Blockchain
Clients which reside in the nodes on the chain. With that for a fact, your app can read/write data from/to the blockchain.

Wanting to be a blockchain developer is one thing, the second important thing is choosing a blockchain network to develop on.
There are some important factors to consider such as Transaction fees, Privacy, scalability, etc.

That's it guys!, I hope you got an idea of what blockchain and blockchain development is about. Good-luck on your journey to hacking in the blockchain space and I'll be making a future post on things to consider when choosing a blockchain network to develop on.

Your appreciation and corrections are highly welcomed. Thanks for reading 🥕🥕.

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