Interesting

Blockchain is the fastest-growing skill among freelancers in the United States in the second quarter of 2018, according to global freelancing website Upwork.

The report - Q2 2018 Skills Index - shows Blockchain topped the list by beating over 5,000 other skills available on the freelancing platform. It ranked first in the Q1 as well.

See also: Ethereum Classic [ETC] sees 14% jump after Coinbase’s big announcement

A programming language by Google, Go, also figured among the top 20 skills. Go is also used to create blockchains. Blockchain-related skills have been witnessing a high demand. Since 2017, the need for the people with the skills of distributed ledger technology has seen a fourfold increase.


“Its year-over-year growth has exceeded 2,000 percent for the past four quarters, and it experienced more than 3,500 percent year-over-year growth in Q2,” Upwork stated.

See also: KICKICO announces grand competition, winners to get 2.5 million KICK

Some of the Blockchain-related jobs available on Upwork website are -- distribution system engineers and developers of various languages like Solidity (programming language for writing Ethereum smart contracts) and Node.js. Also, C++ programmers (also used for coding Bitcoin's most commonly used client Bitcoin core) are in huge demand.

Telegram community managers and white paper writers are some of the other common skills organizations are looking for.

According to a report by 'Big Four' auditing firm KPMG, Blockchain investment in the US is booming rapidly when compared to last year.

“Blockchain continued to draw a significant amount of attention from investors in Q1 and Q2’18, although investments typically focused on more experienced companies and consortia looking to obtain additional rounds of funding rather than on new market entrants … The US was particularly active on the blockchain front, with total investment in the first half of the year already exceeding the total seen in 2017,” the report read.

Upwork Skills Index Q2 2018: Check the top 20 skills for freelancers

• Blockchain
• Google Cloud Platform
• Volusion
• Risk management
• Product photography
• Rapid prototyping
• Google App Engine API
• SCORM
• GitLab
• Go development
• Apple UIKit
• Enterprise architecture
• Tensorflow
• Atlassian Confluence
• Apple Xcode
• eLearning
• Customer retention
• Articulate storyline
• Node.js
• Scala development

Image via Shutterstock

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Information Age's guide on how to introduce blockchain to your enterprise in the face of the digital skills crisis. Looking at everything, from upskilling schemes and outsourcing to how CTOs can impact change in relation to how universities shape their degrees



With the proliferation of blockchain initiatives comes a unique need for a diverse range of skills, including engineering, app development, cyber security, and decentralised governance, to name just a few. All this makes for a criterion that is hard to meet.

Beyond all the marketing and sales hype, blockchain has managed to establish itself as a realistic disrupter in the tech space, particularly for its potential ability to transform traditional business channels, supply chains and communications.Industry titans like Mastercard, IBM, British Airways and Samsung are just some of the organisations currently spearheading blockchain initiatives, and at the same time, blockchain-based start-ups are increasing at an agile rate.

Between them, what they each hope to get out of their blockchain projects differs significantly. However, whatever their end-goal may be, they will all face similar roadblocks along the way.In this guide, I’m going to talk about some of the ways CTOs can overcome some of these hurdles.

However, instead of focusing on the limitations of the technology itself, I want to focus on one of the less talked about challenges facing CTOs and their utilisation of blockchain: finding the talent to use it.

The talent shortage in blockchain

The skills shortage relating to blockchain has become a real pain for IT leaders who desperately want to experiment with it.Of course, the lack of talent is not exclusive to blockchain, CTOs looking to incorporate things like; AI, machine learning or big data, I’m sure, know this only too well.

>See also: Closing the skills gap: Developing the next generation of STEM talent

However, with the proliferation of blockchain initiatives comes a unique need for a diverse range of skills, including engineering, app development, cyber security and decentralised governance, to name just a few. All this makes for a criterion that is hard to meet.

Overall, the estimated global revenue for enterprise blockchain applications is expected to rise to $19.9 billion by 2025 from $2.5 billion last year.

>See also: Key employer challenges for 2018 amid the digital skills crisis

According to a study by Burning Glass Technologies, blockchain-related job postings increased more than 100% between 2016 and 2017.However, the harsh reality is that organisations can’t find the talent they need, this is why CTOs need to think outside the box to make their blockchain projects succeed. 




Figure 1 – Blockchain Adoption, Worldwide. Source: Gartner (May 2018)

Blockchain-as-a-service

If something is hard to obtain in-house, one logical option is to look for external help.In the last few years, a number of blockchain based consultancies and outsourcing services have popped up.

>See also: Business process as a service can deliver improved performance too

It looks like a booming market, and it’s an option that a lot of organisations are vying for. As such, there is a lot to choose from, with major organisations like Amazon, Oracle and Baidu all offering blockchain services.

For CTOs trying to weigh the pros and cons of each of these providers – and if the wisdom of the crowd means anything – a recent study by the consultancy firm, Juniper Research, may be worth looking at. They surveyed close to 400 company founders, executives, managers and IT leaders, and identified IBM, Microsoft and Accenture as clear leaders in blockchain solutions.

In 2017, the consultancy also found that 60% of tech executives and leaders named IBM as the market leader.

>See also: SaaS, Paas, XaaS, and more: looking behind the acronyms

Of course, these consultancies are all different and depending on your organisation; some may be better suited to your needs.Here is a list of some popular blockchain-as-service (BaaS) providers to have a look at:

• IBM Blockchain Platform

• Microsoft Azure Blockchain

• Amazon’s Blockchain Templates – AWS Blockchain Templates aims to help organisations and individuals quickly create and deploy blockchain networks on AWS using different blockchain frameworks.
• Oracle Blockchain Cloud Service

• Baidu Blockchain Open Platform Chinese web search giant Baidu’s open platform sets out to provide the most “user-friendly” blockchain service.

Blockchain-related freelance network

Another option is to tap into the freelance market. Although, in this market, there is a lot of demand.Upwork, the freelance jobs site, recently stated that they had more than 1,200 blockchain openings, half of which were technical positions.

>See also: Why we will soon be paying our freelancers in cryptocurrencies

According to their report, the second most desired skill among employers in the third quarter of 2017 was blockchain development. With such demand, it can also be an expensive choice as, naturally, their salaries will be inflated.

>See also: Rise of the IT freelancerAccording to CNBC, the hourly pay rate ranges from $50 to more than $200 in the US. However, high hourly pay rates may be worth it, especially when you take into account how quickly the technology is becoming a valuable part of tech.If you are interested in learning more about how to access the freelance market, I’ve put together a list of some of some popular blockchain-related freelance hiring platforms.

• Upwork 

• Toptal

• Dream – This is a marketplace for high-end blockchain talent and has already handled thousands of projects collectively worth over $8m.
• Codementor.io

New-collar workers

Given how blockchain is an emerging technology, it is somewhat self-evident why relevant skills are hard to source. However, despite the complexity of blockchain, depending on what an organisation wants from this type of technology, you may not necessarily need people with degrees from the top universities.

Sometimes all that is required is a little bit of training.

>See also: Prioritising skills in the digital age

Jobs of this sort of often referred to as “new-collar careers”. A new-collar worker is an employee who develops the core soft skills required to fulfil a role through means outside of traditional education.

The term was coined by IBM’s CEO, Ginni Rometty, in relation to “middle-skill” occupations in technology, such as cyber security analysts, application developers and cloud computing specialists.

According to Rometty, speaking on CNBC: “For the future, there are many jobs that can be done without a four-year degree. In some of our centres in the United States around a third of our folks don’t have four-year degrees.”

>See also: Should IT recruit attitude rather than skills?

I think this sounds like an interesting option for very evident reasons, in that as the IT industry continues to evolve, it is critical to bring in young and diverse talent.

However, if you are going to open your company to “new-collar workers”, it is vital that you put in place a structure that will help them upskill and give them opportunities to contribute in fields like blockchain.

In-house training schemes

Some companies, like IBM, have taken this into account with their blockchain projects, and perhaps their strategies can be an example for all CTOs.IBM, who is recognised as a leading blockchain vendor, have used an in-house training scheme to attract and retain talent.

The company also has an internal blockchain community boasting more than 5,000 active members.

>See also: Breaking down training barriers with technology

An interesting part of this initiative is how it offers certificates, so employees can then display their skills on their resumes or LinkedIn profiles.I think this is an important feature which not only encourages participation by way of offering recognition; it also helps IBM understand the type of skills they have.

>See also: 5 benefits of using webinars to train new employees

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, UK employers are spending less on training than other major EU economies.

Although this statistic doesn’t relate solely to blockchain, it does point to a basic attitude problem when we think about the skills gap.CTOs should look into how they can upskill their existing staff. This means they should consider educational platforms that can help, and they should remember that education doesn’t end in the classroom.

Make blockchain open

While universities across the world create thousands of courses, fustratingly, graduates still struggle to link their degrees to careers. For example, in the UK 11.7% of computer science graduates spend six months unemployed after completing their degrees, despite the huge demand for them. I think this points to a good reason for why CTOs and recruiters need to rethink how they currently engage with educational institutes.

Hope may be on the horizon with the recent launch of the Institute of Coding. With funding from the UK Government’s Higher Education Funding Council for England and elsewhere, the IoC, led by the University of Bath, aims to bring together a consortium of more than 60 universities, national and international corporations, SMEs, industry groups and experts in non-traditional learning professional bodies to bridge the divide.Information Age recently spoke with their director, Dr Rachid Hourizi, who explained how CTO’s can work with them to develop the type of teams they need. 

He said: “We are keen to develop new courses, so if you’re a CTO of a company and you just can’t get the kind of educated staff you need, or there are soft skills that are not being developed, we are enthusiastic to hear about how we can help.”

>See also: Interview with Dr Rachid Hourizi, Director of the Institute of CodingIn relation to blockchain, I also spoke with Professor John Domingue, Director of the Knowledge Media Institute at the Open University, who is currently working with IoC to better link blockchain education to the needs of industries.

He said: “With the IoC, we are developing courses that can bridge the demand from the workplace. We will introduce new blockchain courses in an agile and flexible manner, that means having people being able to learn while at work.”

>See also: Open University unveils FutureLearn MOOC platform“With the IoC we are also designing a new accreditation framework in-line with industry, this will be a way of mapping skills in a fine grain manner in key areas of blockchain, and other channels, like AI and cyber security. We then take this framework and we map it so students will have a life-long accredited learning record.

One can then link this record with jobs that may be available.”“Connected to that, some of our partners at the IoC and IBM are developing an automated career coach which we want to help link a students course to a career.”

“We at the Open University have been speaking with Reed and I think it signals to a future where learning will be more linked to the workplace.”

NEWS

Nikhilesh De   


Technology giant IBM is hiring nearly 2,000 people in France - and many of them will be focusing on blockchain technology, chief executive Virginia Rometty said Wednesday.In an interview with French news organization Le Monde, Rometty said IBM was hiring researchers for blockchain projects, among other focuses.

While she did not elaborate on what projects the researchers may be working on, she did note that the company currently works with Crédit Mutuel, Orange Bank, Generali, France's national railway system and Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (LVMH).During the interview, she said:

"In the next two years, we will hire 1,800 people in France at IBM. In January, we announced a project to recruit 400 people for research. These jobs will include AI, blockchain ... and the Internet of Things."

The move is just the latest in IBM's push to expand its blockchain research. Last week at CoinDesk's Consensus 2018 conference, the company announced it was partnering with environmental technology startup Veridium Labs to create a carbon credit token on the Stellar network.

Stepping back, the company has recently announced efforts to tackle advertising, humanitarian aid, business registries and even insurance, as previously reported by CoinDesk.

Note: Statements in this article have been translated from French.

IBM image via Shutterstock

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

Lightning Labs co-founder and CEO Elizabeth Stark has announced a scholarship for female blockchain developers.In a post on Twitter, Stark said that she and Bitcoin developer Jimmy Song have secured several scholarship packages for the upcoming Programming Blockchain seminar, which is scheduled to take place on May 17 and 18 in New York City.

The scholarships will cover the admission fees for the full two-day course, which usually costs $4,000. One thing to keep in mind is that scholarship recipients will be responsible for any travel expenses “to and from the venue.”

elizabeth stark@starknessHey female developers ,

Want to build the future of bitcoin and cryptocurrency? @jimmysong and I organized scholarships for women for his awesome Programming Blockchain seminar, May 17-18 in NYC.





Apply here and spread the word:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeLq83-NNjFBHDRdAmUoRhz9KUehH_LW-f13wbz5gHXz5obUw/viewform …6:17 PM - Apr 24, 2018

New York City Programming Blockchain Scholarship Application http://programmingblockchain.com/

Should you be selected, you will be given a free admission (value: $4000 USD) to the Programming Blockchain Seminar on May 17-18, 2018 in New York City. You will still be responsible for travel to...docs.google.com

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Women developers can apply for the scholarship by filling out the form here. The form is rather simple other than a  programming challenge that the aspirants are required to solve.

As Stark has already suggested, those interested in attending the seminar can learn more about the curriculum here.There is a significant gender gap in the blockchain and cryptocurrency world (though the precise extent of the gap is still a point of contention).

Indeed, the Lightning Labs chief herself has previously suggested that the gender gap in blockchain might not be as severe as it’s made out to be.Still, efforts such as these are appreciable to help narrow this gap and get more women into the field.

TNW is a leader in technology publishing. Discover even more here: https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2018/04/25/ethereum-smart-contract-integer-overflow

Top-ranked business schools have hopped on the bitcoin bandwagon by expanding their course offerings on cryptocurrencies and blockchain.The move to offer more crypto-related MBA classes was fueled by growing demand from students, as well as from corporate recruiters, especially those in venture capital.

Kevin Werbach, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, will teach a class in the fall of 2018 called “Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, and Distributed Ledger Technology.

”“We’re at the point where there’s a critical mass to teach this domain,” Werbach told CNBC.

“There will be a real phenomenon in business for the foreseeable future. And five years down the road, there won’t be too many major business schools that don’t offer similar classes.”




Top MBA programs have expanded their offerings of cryptocurrency classes. (Image: Pixabay)Stanford Business School is offering a class called “Cryptocurrency” in May 2018. Itamar Orr, a second-year MBA student at Stanford, applauded the expanded course offerings, saying it will help students once they go out into the workforce.

“Many of us will have to discuss blockchain at our jobs. It makes sense to teach it,” Orr said. “It gets you a competitive advantage; it’s an extra hammer in your toolbox.

”Venture-capital investment in blockchain startups ballooned to $911 million in 2017, up 88% from 2016, according to Pitchbook. Many recruiters from VC firms are actively seeking candidates who are knowledgeable about crypto technology and trends.

Bitcoin Price Escalations Fueled Interest

Susan Athey, a professor at Stanford Business School who’s on the board of Ripple, said the skyrocketing interest in cryptocurrency classes was largely fueled by bitcoin’s soaring prices in 2017.

“The fluctuations in the prices have everyone mesmerized: Just how did this happen? Many people have gone boom or bust. A that’s, of course, exciting, attracts a lot of interest, and motivates people to understand what’s going on.”

John Jacobs, a former Nasdaq executive who’s now the executive director of Georgetown Business School, said recruiters from Wall Street want job applicants who are well-versed in crypto. He said he “constantly” gets calls from recruiters asking, “We need people to understand how to apply blockchain technology.

”Even though bitcoin bulls like billionaire Mark Cuban think cryptocurrencies are useless, Jacobs said top MBA programs should prepare students for the growing demand in the market.

“Any world-class program is going to have to equip students in this field to compete,” Jacobs told CNBC. “It’s everywhere we turn around.

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Blockchain is approaching major buzzword status, joining the ranks of technologies like artificial intelligence that promise to change the world. That’s because blockchain underpins cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin—it's distributed ledger software used to transfer information securely and quickly.

Every day, it seems that a different company announces a new blockchain initiative. But for anyone interested in getting a job in the space, what cities hold the most promise? 

Boston-based analytics firm Burning Glass scoured the web to find the top cities for blockchain-related jobs. It scanned millions of job postings from 2017 and searched for words like blockchain, distributed ledger and bitcoin, applying natural language processing algorithms to interpret the listings and create the ranking. 

New York ranks first, with 1,316 blockchain job openings. Stephen Robinson, founder of blockchain-focused IT consulting firm East Rock Software and website cryptocurrencyjobs.com, wasn’t surprised by this result. “New York is the financial hub of the world, and it’s very aware of the needs of this technology,” he says.

“Blockchain is a potential way to streamline many financial processes.” According to Burning Glass, most of the open blockchain jobs in America are technical, such as software developer, product manager and security engineer.San Francisco has the second most blockchain job openings, with 651. Boston, Chicago and Palo Alto make up the rest of the top five, with about 100 to 200 openings apiece.

To see the full list of cities in the top 15 and the number of open jobs, view the end of this article. Burning Glass’ software only tracks English-language job postings, so it doesn’t capture other crypto-hub countries like Switzerland or South Korea. But outside the U.S., London has 423 openings and Singapore has 357, followed by Toronto and Sydney, with 149 and 97.

Many of the open blockchain jobs fall under the “enterprise” category—they’re at big companies using blockchain technology to improve their own efficiency or better serve their customers. Large consulting firms like Accenture, IBM and Deloitte are hiring for these roles.

The positions may involve working with public blockchains like Bitcoin—Microsoft recently announced such an effort—or building private blockchains only accessible to certain people.For anyone interested in working with Ethereum, the second-largest public blockchain by market value, Stephen Robinson suggests learning the programming language Solidity.

It allows developers to build applications that run on top of Ethereum, in the same way iPhone app developers would do for an iPhone. Robinson thinks many job opportunities will pop up in this segment. “Core development” is another category of blockchain job. Core developers work on the cryptocurrency platforms themselves, like Bitcoin, Ethereum and EOS.IO.

There will be fewer opportunities in this niche, Robinson says. Many experts expect the crypto industry to consolidate to a small number of platforms in the long run, so the demand for developers who can build applications on top of core platforms will likely be far greater than the need for people who can build the platforms themselves. Full List: The Top 15 Cities for Blockchain Jobs in America

• New York: 1,316
• San Francisco: 651
• Boston: 211
• Chicago: 148
• Palo Alto: 132
• Austin: 116
• San Jose: 97
• Atlanta: 82
• Raleigh: 81
• Los Angeles: 72
• Seattle: 68
• Denver: 65
• Washington, D.C.: 56
• Houston: 55
• Charlotte: 50

Follow me on Twitter @JeffKauflin or email me at jkauflin[at]forbes[dot]com.

Discover more cryptocurrency reports and blockchain articles from Forbes a leading publisher here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkauflin/2018/02/26/the-top-15-cities-for-blockchain-technology-jobs...