There's a buzzword that tech, crypto, and venture capitalists have recently been obsessed with. It's now mentioned throughout conversations, and you're not serious about the future until you include it in your work bio: Web3.

It's a catch-all word for a variety of concepts aimed at cutting out large middlemen on the internet. Navigating the web in this new era no longer entails signing up for Facebook, Google, or Twitter. The internet is changing, one Web3 update at a time.

Web 1.0 was the first version of the Internet in the 1990s. They considered the web as a tool to democratise information access, but there were few good ways to navigate it beyond visiting a friend's GeoCities page. It was chaotic.

After that, in the mid-2000s, came Web 2.0. Platforms such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter rose to bring order to the Internet by making it simple to interact and transact. Critics claim that these corporations have emerged as tech monopolies.

The goal of Web3 is to reclaim some control.

Taking that power back lies at the core of Web3's functioning.

However, the question of the hour is- WHY EVERY DEVELOPER NEEDS TO GET STARTED WITH THE WEB3 JOURNEY?

Web3 is the future. From a developer’s point of view, the decentralised intent that it brings to the foray will make all the difference. The system can get populated with developers who bring on efficient ideas on board. From the perspective of a developer, Web3 appears to be in a phase of transition, attempting to move away from a reliance on centralised services such as Coinbase, OpenSea, and Alchemy.

However, the significant question that arises is- HOW CAN A DEVELOPER GET STARTED ON WEB 3.0?

That’d be through nurturing some skills.

This article will serve as a guide for the essential skill sets that will make the difference.

Developer’s Roadmap To Get Started With Web 3.0

1. Web 2.0 Skills

As a developer, you should be familiar with JavaScript and web development as a prerequisite. Your Web2 talents, such as TS/JS, React, and Chakra/Material UI, will give you a leg up on Web3. Core computer principles such as in-depth knowledge of operating systems and problem-solving skills are also essential, regardless of whether you're working on web2 or web3.

2. Understand Basics of Blockchain Technology

Blockchains are an incredible piece of technology, but difficult to grasp. To comprehend what you'll subsequently build on, you'll need to devote some time to it. One of the most important ladders to success is devoting time to understanding the tech. You could use the Blockchain Technology Course on EdX or the Blockchain Explained [YouTube] course for a better niche-focused understanding.

3. Become familiar with Metamask or a similar wallet for cryptocurrency

Metamask is a blockchain wallet that allows you to communicate with a set of blockchains. This is a fairly basic skill that a crypto user should have; although developers should be more knowledgeable than the regular user. For example, how to request a network change programmatically and detect present accounts and networks? You could start using the Metamask Docs for initial understanding. The utilisation of Ethereum wallets along with the construction of applications is integral to the core of Metamask. Metamask for Developers: Building First Web3 Apps Step By Step is a well-listed guide to the possibilities Metamask can bring in for developers.

4. Get a Basic Understanding of Smart Contracts

Smart contracts are the means through which the blockchain can be programed. They're pieces of code that are published on the blockchain and written in a language that the blockchain nodes can comprehend. From fungible and non-fungible tokens to the backend of your next decentralised app, smart contracts can accomplish almost anything. They are, however, not the same as the code you are used to writing. For a better understanding, look for Smart Contracts [Coursera] course.

5. Deploying Smart Contracts

Remix IDE is a simple and beginner-friendly option. Before Hard Hat, there were just two tools. Truffle, for deploying and testing contracts on the Blockchain, and Ganache that run a local blockchain with 10 wallets. Hard Hat results from combining these two tools.

6. Join Communities and take part in Hackathons

Web3 is about bringing the community together like it has never been before. It is a force to reckon, to take back control from the operations that own Web2 operations. You can become a part of change by joining communities such as Developer DAO, Buildspace, Web3Community, SuperTeamDAO and India specific- Questbook .

Hackathons are a substantial source to get accustomed to the entire crypto and Web3 space. You can come across like-minded developers and build upon a potential project. A few hackathons and open source contributions that can be helpful are:

• Devpost

• Gitcoin

• Hackerlink

• ETHGloba

THE WEB3 STACK

While some applications created on decentralised tech stacks may replace their predecessors, the new primitives offered by blockchains have also enabled a new paradigm of apps.

Native digital payments and public backend infrastructure–such as machine learning, virtual reality, and other technological primitives, platforms, and building blocks–allow for the creation of whole new applications, some of which are yet to be envisaged.

The web3 stack gives us an insight in that direction-

Blockchain-There is a plethora of blockchains with no single "best" option; instead, weigh the different options available. Learning Solidity with the EVM (or Ethereum Virtual Machine) may be the best way to get started as a blockchain developer in the blockchain world. You may use this set of abilities together with the technology stack) to create not only for Ethereum but also for other Ethereum Layer 2s, side chains, and blockchains such as Avalanche, Fantom, and Celo. That said, Rust is becoming increasingly popular in the blockchain realm, with first-class Rust support in Solana, NEAR, Polkadot, and other projects.

• Blockchain development environment- Hardhat is a relatively new alternative that is rapidly gaining favour. Truffle is a set of tools for creating and debugging EVM applications. It's well-developed and tried-and-tested. It's been around for a while and is used by a lot of developers. Brownie is a Python-based smart contract creation and testing framework for Solidity / EVM development. Anchor is increasingly becoming the entry-point for new developers in Solana development. It includes a command-line interface (CLI) for scaffolding, building, and testing Solana projects, as well as client libraries for creating front ends. It also comes with a DSL that abstracts away a lot of the complexity that developers face when they first start using Solana.

• File storage - You may need to store data off-chain besides file storage and on-chain storage. You can use these solutions in the same way that you would a database in a traditional tech stack, but they are replicated across nodes in a decentralised network, making them more dependable. Here are a few possibilities: Ceramic Network is a decentralised, open source data creation, storage, and sharing network. ThreadDB for Textiles is a multi-party database based on IPFS and Libp2p.

• API for indexing & querying-The way we engage with and develop on blockchains differs significantly from how we interact with and build on top of databases in the traditional tech stack. Data on blockchains isn't stored in a format that can be consumed readily by other apps or front-ends. The writing operations on blockchains are optimised. Transactions per second, block time, and transaction cost are frequently mentioned as areas where innovation is taking place. Data on the blockchain is written in blocks over time, making anything except basic read operations impossible. Relational data, sorting, filtering, full text search, pagination, and many other types of querying capabilities are required in most applications. To do so, data must be indexed and arranged so that it can be retrieved quickly. Traditionally, databases do this task in the centralised tech stack, but the web3 stack lacked an indexing layer. The Graph is a protocol for indexing and querying blockchain data that simplifies the process and provides a decentralised alternative. Subgraphs are open GraphQL APIs that anybody may create and publish, making blockchain data easy to query.

• Identity- In web3, identity is a different paradigm. Authentication on web2 is almost usually based on a user's personal data. This information is typically collected via a form or an OAuth provider that requests the user to pass up for application access. Web3 identification is entirely based on wallets and public key cryptography. A wallet incorporates not just financial characteristics, but also identity and reputation. You'll need to know how to access and interact with the user's wallet as a developer. You could seek access to a user's wallet at the most basic level. To do so, open the user's wallet in a web browser or use a third-party application like Solana’s Wallet Adapter.

• Oracles- Oracles gives smart contract authors the ability to read real-world data and interact with external systems. Oracles are especially crucial in DeFi, since most financial applications require knowledge of real-world data and events that occur off-chain. Chain Link is a blockchain-based Oracle that allows users to access real-world data and do off-chain computations while maintaining the security and reliability that blockchain technology provides.

WAY FORWARD

The future regarding developer integration into the Web3 scenario is going to pace, because of the untapped potential that the market possesses. It is the best time to jump in.