Hire Blockchain Developers: Everything You Need to Know

What is a Blockchain Developer?

A blockchain developer is a highly skilled software developer who programs, develops and tests the software, protocols, security models and systems of blockchain technology. The cost to hire a dedicated blockchain developer depends on many factors: the depth of knowledge, experience, expertise, and others. An experienced blockchain engineer understands blockchain architecture, cryptography, consensus protocols and the tools required to combine all the individual blockchain components into a single unified system.

What is the Role of Blockchain Developer?

The blockchain developer is responsible for network operation, design, maintenance, frontend, and backend. During blockchain development, programmers will also need the following knowledge: security, architecture, complex analysis and debugging of software for service lines of business and hardware.

Types of Blockchain Developers

1. Core Blockchain Developer.

Core blockchain developers design and build blockchain, design protocols, security models, maintain existing blockchains, work with security agreements, and are responsible for other high-level blockchain solutions and developments. A certified blockchain developer oversees the entire network and makes most of the vital decisions.

2. Blockchain Software Developer

Blockchain software developers are responsible for creating an application based on the blockchain architecture and protocol. The tasks of these programmers include frontend, backend, maintenance, design, architecture and protocol usage, to create decentralized applications. Blockchain software engineers must know the programming languages needed to develop mobile or web applications.

What Education is Needed to Develop Blockchain?

If you are interested in how to become a blockchain developer, we are ready to share with you all the necessary information needed to be successful in this line of work. To become a blockchain developer, you need at least a bachelor's degree in computer science, software development, information security, engineering, or any other related discipline. In addition to having a degree, you should know at least one programming language. If you are proficient in more than one programming language, it will only increase your chances of getting hired.

What Types of Products Should You Hire Blockchain Developers For?

Blockchain technology has become the basis for many cryptocurrencies and is now spreading across many industries. You can hire blockchain developers who can apply blockchain to many industries. The options for using blockchain technology, which is transparent, secure, flexible and requires no centralized control, are numerous 😉. Below we've compiled the most innovative industries in which, right now, many large companies are leveraging blockchain technology.

Banking Apps

Blockchain is an important technology for banking and the macroeconomy as a whole. In the banking ecosystem, Blockchain provides increased accuracy, security, tamper protection and information sharing. Consequently, the development of a blockchain-based banking application will facilitate cross-border payments, conduct fast and secure share exchanges, allow users to send payments cheaply and reduce transfer processing time. Moreover, blockchain eliminates the need for third-party verification and generally eliminates the intermediation of banks in key services.

Insurance Apps

Blockchain applications in the insurance industry are designed to improve operational efficiency, increase speed to market, reduce costs and achieve a better user experience, reduce processing time and reduce costs for insurance companies. Using the immutability of blockchain technology, companies can better assess risks, automate processes, handle cross-border transactions and pay claims faster.

Payment Apps

Payment Apps facilitate real-time transactions for business customers. Blockchain eliminates third-party intermediation of key payment system services. Thanks to blockchain and decentralized infrastructure, sending payments becomes completely secure and inexpensive, and the time required for transactions is reduced. Authenticated, immutable records can be used to resolve disputes, and all transactions are instantly recorded in a private blockchain system.

Trading and Investing Apps

With the use of blockchain, companies can automate and secure the trading process, a technology that is much more effective than solutions of the past. By integrating cryptographically secured distributed ledgers, it will reduce the time and cost of equity trades, increase process transparency and shorten settlement times. With blockchain, decentralized investment applications use encrypted data sets, making the investment process secure. Investors can see in real time how the money they invest is being spent, and the entire process is transparent and convenient.

Cryptocurrency Apps and Platforms

Cryptocurrency applications and blockchain-based platforms allow users to track and control the flow of cryptocurrency funds, exchange fiat funds for cryptocurrency and vice versa. Cryptocurrency applications and platforms are in demand because they have numerous advantages. Such applications are decentralized and free cryptocurrency from the control of authorities. All transactions are fast and unlimited in quantity. Transaction fees are very low, unlike banks with their significant commissions. And, of course, it is worth mentioning the transparency and anonymity of transactions. To take full advantage of crypto applications, you need to hire an experienced crypto developer.

Important Things to Check when Hiring Blockchain Developers

• Work experience

Experience is significant, look at the number of projects the developer has completed, the companies he has worked for and what technologies he uses in practice.

• Technical knowledge

A blockchain engineer must know at least one programming language, understand blockchain architecture, data structures, smart contracts, be able to use various libraries and frameworks. Blockchain engineers need to know the process of smart contract development.

• Critical thinking skills

Blockchain developers face various problems all the time, the ability to critically analyze problems and solve them quickly is a key skill for such work.

• Adaptation skills

Blockchain programmers must regularly learn new skills to be able to use the latest tools. Developers who take the time to grow professionally adapt faster than others.

What Skills Does a Blockchain Developer Need?

Blockchain is a disruptive technology, and if you want to take your company into the world of the future, you need to find a team that understands blockchain and how it works. In this section, we will analyze what blockchain developer skills you should check to bring your company a successful result. We will give you tips and advice on what skills professional blockchain developers should have.

Basic Programming Ability

A blockchain programmer must be proficient in at least one programming language, as well as understand the principles of object-oriented programming. The most common programming languages used for blockchain are Python, C++, Java and JavaScript.

Encryption and Security Knowledge

Knowledge of Encryption is essential to providing a secure blockchain environment. Blockchain developers must understand cryptography, know how to use public key cryptography, and have an understanding of security tools.

Data Structures

A blockchain software developer must understand data structures, know their types, work with them regularly, and understand how they interact with the network. Blockchain consists of data structures, so having this knowledge is essential.

Linked List

A data structure in which multiple values are stored linearly. Each value contains its node value and also contains data along with a link to the next node in the list.

Singly Linked List

A unidirectional type of linked list. A Singly Linked List can only be traversed in one direction, each node has only one pointer to another node.

Hash Table

A special data structure for storing pairs of keys and their values, in which the relationship between an element value and its position is defined by a hash function.

Acyclic Graph

A memory-efficient and speedy word retrieval data structure that is often used in situations where you need a fast, compact collection, and in natural language processing.

Blockchain Fundamentals

Blockchain technology developers must have fundamental knowledge of blockchain, understand concepts such as cryptography, tokens, dApps, consensus, smart contracts, hash functions and have an understanding of the inner workings of blockchain.

Distributed Ledgers

An electronic database system distributed among several network nodes or devices. Thus, it is distinguished by the absence of a single supervisory authority.

Consensus Mechanisms

A mechanism that verifies the correctness of certain rules, that is, it verifies that the transaction is correct. With it, programs can coordinate their actions in a distributed network.

Smart Contracts

An algorithm of certain actions integrated into the blockchain code. If the established agreements that are spelled out in it are followed, the sequence is automatically triggered.

dApps

Blockchain-based applications. They are open source and attack-resistant. They are not tied to financial transactions and can use blockchain for any purpose. A good blockchain specialist must have experience in dApp development.

Immutability

Blockchain data cannot be changed once it is created. Blockchain developers need to be aware of the importance of data immutability because it is of the utmost importance.

Permissioned vs. Public Blockchains

Public blockchains can be accessed by anyone at any time. Permissioned blockchains differ from public blockchains in that they can only be accessed with specific permission of the admins.

Sharding

Sharding is needed to divide the blockchain network into smaller parts, shards. Each shard consists of its own data, it is independent and distinctive from other shards.

Tokens

The tokens are accounted for using blockchain technology, and are accessed by special software using a digital signature. This ensures maximum protection of ownership rights.

Blockchain Development Tools

A blockchain developer who wants to excel in their career must have knowledge of various development tools. Given the shortage of experts who understand Blockchain Development Tools, the demand for such specialists is high right now. There are many tools for blockchain programmer and each of them is used for different purposes, the more tools a developer can use, the better.

Where to Find Blockchain Developers?

Blockchain developers can be found at hackathons and themed events, as well as in special chat rooms and forums, and on various job and employee search websites 😏. If you want to find blockchain developers, you can get personally acquainted with blockchain developers at events, online and get them interested in your project.

Blockchain Job sites

Blockchain Job sites have different pros and cons, and there are different types of sites. Many recruiters use job sites as a recruiting tool and do everything they can to interest and attract candidates to the company.

Pros

• Recruiters can create company job postings that candidates can see.
• Qualified professionals will be able to send you their resumes.
• Recruiters have many tools and opportunities to advertise so that as many professionals as possible will find out about your job position.
• New blockchain developers are constantly appearing on job sites, so posting your job on a job board is not a bad solution that can attract many professionals.

Cons

• You will receive many applications, the problem is that applicants come from all over the world, and many of them, unfortunately, are not eligible to work in your country.
• You will have to spend a lot of time reviewing and verifying applications, of which at least 90% will be rejected for various reasons.
• Furthermore, many unscrupulous or inattentive candidates apply for positions for which they are not qualified in terms of experience and knowledge.

When to Hire a Blockchain Developer on Job Sites?

The competition in the job market in the blockchain industry is constantly growing, so your time and money should be spent on quality ways to find blockchain solution developers for hire. If you have no idea where to look for the right specialists, and you want to use the most popular option with which you are guaranteed to find the appropriate worker, job sites are very helpful. Job sites are one of the most effective ways to attract the proper candidates. By using niche job sites, you will only get high-quality applications. So, using job sites will always be helpful, but it will be better if you use niche job sites to get only quality applications from candidates.

Recruiting Agencies

To make an intelligent decision about whether to use a staffing agency to find and hire the right candidates, you should carefully consider both the advantages and disadvantages of using one. Below, we've listed all the pros and cons to help you decide whether you need to use a staffing agency to find employees.

Advantages

• Using a recruiting agency will save you a lot of time because you won't have to review many resumes from various unsuitable candidates, or communicate with disinterested professionals, the agency will do it all instead for you.
• The agency will save you a lot of time on recruitment, agency workers will check all references, qualifications, make a list of potential employees and conduct many other checks.
• On your own you can search for suitable candidates for months, but thanks to the agency, and their large network of talent, the process of finding suitable candidates will accelerate significantly.

Disadvantages

• Not all recruiting agencies can provide quick and effective training for temporary workers. Recruiting agency workers may not have enough time to provide quality, thorough training for all candidates.
• Another problem is the short-term introduction of regular employees and new hires to each other, which makes the team less cohesive. Interpersonal interactions and relationships develop poorly.
• The staffing agency doesn't have a complete representation of your company culture, which can have a negative impact on your brand satisfaction.

When to Hire a Blockchain Developer With Recruiting Agencies?

You should use a staffing agency if you've tried to find a blockchain developer yourself, but it didn't produce results. Furthermore, the agency will be very helpful if there are so many vacancies that it is impossible to close them by yourself, or when you do not understand what kind of expert you need and where to find him. In all other cases, you do not need the services of a recruitment agency, and you can easily manage on your own with minimal competence in staff recruitment.

Outsourcing Companies

Outsourcing is a practical and cost-effective solution when you require blockchain developers. Blockchain developers with in-depth technical knowledge and extensive experience are scarce, so finding a qualified blockchain specialist is hard enough these days. This is where outsourcing comes in. A solid outsourced blockchain company has many reliable programmers on its team, with a number of key skills and knowledge, to work on your projects.

Advantages

• Outsourced developers have core competencies, blockchain technology is new, specialized, and contains many aspects that would be very difficult for a regular software engineer to learn in a short period of time. Therefore, it is better to hire outsourced blockchain developers with all the necessary knowledge than to retrain in-house specialists.
• By outsourcing, you can get a full team at once: programmers, managers, business analysts, cryptographers, and designers.
• Furthermore, the outsourced development team has already established the processes of working and maintaining the product, which means it will be more effective than a young team without experience.

Disadvantages

• When working with an outsourcing firm, you should worry about cybersecurity and intellectual property so that your ideas are not stolen, you need to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
• Another disadvantage of outsourcing is that the expertise is outside your company. It is better to provide the key components of development to the employees of your company, and the minor tasks are entrusted to the outsourcing company.
• You will not have the opportunity to communicate directly with members of the outsourcing team, which will lead to miscommunication and less transparency.

When to hire a blockchain developer at outsourcing companies?

Hiring a blockchain developer from an outsourcing company makes sense if you want to launch a startup and have a limited budget. Or, if you need to develop an advanced solution in the shortest possible time and do not have time to find programmers. If your company would like to integrate blockchain into an existing system to improve its business model, an outsourcing company is also a good solution.

Freelancers

Self-employed blockchain developers can be found on freelancing sites, they specialize in blockchain development as much as any other specialist, they just work independently. Experienced freelance blockchain engineers are flexible, can work remotely, work on multiple projects at once, and have a wide range of knowledge. Blockchain freelancers' hourly rate varies greatly depending on their knowledge and experience. Have a look at the pros and cons of hiring freelancers for blockchain development below.

Pros of hiring a blockchain freelancer

• Blockchain freelance developers choose their working hours. They are flexible, and if you have a project with an urgent deadline, a freelancer will complete it faster than professionals working only during business hours.
• Freelance developers are available for contact all day long because they work from home, and they respond to your messages and calls as needed.
• You don't need to provide an office for freelancers because they work from home remotely. Freeing up space reduces costs and simplifies the work environment for the team.
• There are many blockchain engineers on freelance sites with a wide variety of skills, so if you lack a certain skill set to develop a project, find a freelancer who can close that knowledge gap and help you.

Cons of hiring a blockchain freelancer

• Hiring blockchain freelancers has certain risks. A freelancer can disappear at any time and stop responding, even if payment is made after the project is completed.
• Freelancers have less responsibility and obligations, they care less about the project than the agency, especially if they are one-time projects because they do not count on a long-term relationship.
• There is no support for the product after the development is completed because freelancers are no longer bound by the contract, and if there are bugs, errors and defects, you will be left alone with them.

When to hire a freelance blockchain developer?

If you have a certain task, but your team members don't have the necessary knowledge to complete it, it makes sense to hire a freelancer who will successfully complete the task. Hire freelancers when your needs are short-term because freelancers usually work on quick projects, and are constantly moving on to the next project. When you want to launch a startup, you have a low budget, you don't need to rent an office and assemble a whole team of developers, then hiring freelancers is also a good solution.

Talent Platforms

There are many qualified, experienced and pre-vetted blockchain developers seeking employment in the talent markets. Blockchain professionals in the talent markets have all the necessary knowledge and experience, and are sure to meet your job requirements. With the use of talent marketplaces, you will save a lot of time and money and find quality and verified candidates as soon as possible.

Employ in-house blockchain developers

Before assembling an in-house blockchain development team, you need to understand the pros and cons of this idea. You must understand that you will have to invest a lot of money, as well as spend a lot of time to assemble a fully qualified team of blockchain developers. Since good blockchain developers are in high demand right now, you will have to try hard. However, if you manage to build a team, you will have good control over your staff and high efficiency in achieving your goals.

Pros of hiring in-house blockchain developers:

• You will have high control over the development process because all the workflow takes place within your company, you have full access to any team member, just like they have between themselves.
• In-house specialists deal with the same range of tasks and problems.
• Developers strengthen their skills every day, becoming highly skilled professionals, the quality of their work increases, and the development process accelerates.

Cons of hiring in-house blockchain developers

• To create an effective in-house development team requires a significant investment of money and time. You need to pay for premises, equipment, insurance, social packages, and taxes.
• After your company has invested a lot of money in finding and training in-house specialists, they can always leave for competitors, you will be forced to look again for new team members and spend even more money.
• Finding blockchain developers is a difficult task, and given that you have to assemble an entire team, it can take many years, which is critical and unacceptable if you want to achieve your goals.

When to employ an in-house blockchain developer?

It makes sense to assemble an in-house blockchain development team if your goal is to develop a full-fledged, feature-rich and large-scale product. Indeed, for the development of a complex, multiplexed and scalable solution that will need constant maintenance by a considerable team upon release, the best solution is to assemble an in-house blockchain development team.

Hire a dedicated blockchain development team

Your company may not have blockchain specialists, or they are available but do not have the right competence for a particular project, in which case a dedicated development team can help you. To understand whether you require a dedicated remote blockchain development team from another company, with its own structure and management, to take care of your project, you need to be aware of the pros and cons of such a model.

Advantages of cooperating with a dedicated blockchain development team

• The dedicated blockchain developer salary is lower than the salary of full-time professionals. You will also save time and money required for staffing.
• Thanks to dedicated team model, you will get a professional team many times faster than if you were to assemble it yourself.
• Dedicated professionals will focus exclusively on your company's tasks, as if they were your employees.
• The good thing about the Dedicated Team approach is that you are always controlling your team, setting priorities, can see what each developer is doing, and have the ability to assign different tasks.

Disadvantages of cooperating with a dedicated blockchain development team

• In the case of developing small and short-term projects, the dedicated team model is not suitable and will not be effective. Typically, dedicated teams will not work with you for less than six months. If you have a short-term project, it is better to choose another option for finding employees.
• Furthermore, you must be involved in the process of selecting programmers, otherwise, in the process of development, you will find that the efficiency is not consoling 🙄.
• Moreover, time zones can be a problem, so when selecting dedicated employees, you should pay attention to their location.

When to hire a dedicated blockchain development team

A dedicated team is right for you if your project will be developing long-term and needs constant attention. If the developers of your team do not have the necessary competencies and skills to implement the entire project, or parts of it, and they are not going to pass blockchain developer courses, then a dedicated team is a good solution. If you have a limited budget, then a dedicated team is a good solution for you because it costs a lot of money to find, interview and train the missing experts.

Communities

You can find web3 and blockchain developers in online communities of blockchain specialists, you can contact potential candidates directly and offer them a job at your company.

Conferences

Many blockchain developers attend various conferences, you can take advantage of that. There are numerous blockchain conferences nowadays, and there are many blockchain experts there, you can talk to them and invite them to work for your company.

GitHub

GitHub is an online code storage and synchronization service for programmers and application programmers. GitHub has over 83 million registered members. Blockchain developers regularly visit it. Of course, among the active users of GitHub, there are likely to be many blockchain developers that you can invite to work for your company. Thanks to public repositories, you will be able to analyze the code of potential employees and study their work history to make sure of their professionalism.

Best Sites to Hire Blockchain Developers

1. Crypto Jobs List

Crypto Jobs List is the internet's largest cryptocurrency and blockchain job search and posting site, it will help you find the best blockchain engineers. You can post your jobs for free, choose from one-time programmers as well as long-term developers.

2. Hired

On Hired you will find qualified blockchain programmers who you can hire full-time, remotely or on contract, depending on your needs. You can easily find suitable candidates who have been pre-vetted and send them a request for an interview invitation.

3. Toptal

Toptal, a large network of top blockchain developers, helps you find the best professionals who pass rigorous knowledge and skill tests. The best companies in the world are looking for specialists on Toptal to develop their projects.

4. We Work Remotely

On We Work Remotely, the world's largest community of remote workers, you can find blockchain engineers working remotely. You can easily post your jobs, but you have to pay a monthly fee to keep them at the top.

5. X-Team

If you're looking for dedicated blockchain developers, X-Team is what you require. With this service, you'll find flexible, flexible blockchain development teams, with disciplined, high-performing employees ready to get any project done.

How to Hire Blockchain Developers?

Hiring the best blockchain developer with the skills you need is quite a challenge. Below, you will find some useful materials before you start hiring blockchain programmers for your company.

Interview Questions to Ask a Blockchain Developer before Hiring

In the hiring process, one of the most difficult tasks is to ask the right questions to the candidate because that is the only way to check their level of knowledge and skills and understand what they are capable of. It is important to know the ins and outs of blockchain technology to make sure that the answers are correct. Our experienced and highly qualified blockchain developers have compiled a list of quality interview questions which can be used to fully evaluate a candidate's level of knowledge.

1. What blockchain platforms on the market do you know?
2. What components of the blockchain ecosystem do you know?
3. Do you know what the role of using encryption in blockchain technology is?
4. What is a smart contract, and what is it for?
5. What industries are changing under the influence of blockchain technology?
6. Can you provide some examples of the use of blockchain in real life?
7. What are the main benefits and features of blockchain technology that you know of?
8. What types of blockchain do you know, and what are their differences?
9. Do you know what a trapdoor is and what it is used for?
10. Is it possible to change the data in a block?

Why to Hire Blockchain Developers at ARTJOKER?

• Deep Expertise in Blockchain

Using deep expertise and years of experience, our team successfully develops solutions using various blockchain platforms. Our best blockchain developers in the USA develop infrastructure, nodes, blockchain core and other elements. Blockchain developers working in our company have experience and solid knowledge to create scalable, secure, and affordable solutions.

• Experienced Quality Control team

Our QA team joins the design process as early as the analysis phase, and then tests the product in parallel with its development. QA specialists test each implemented feature, and strive to ensure that your application runs smoothly, eliminating any vulnerabilities and bugs.

• Agile Development

The blockchain team of our studio follows agile methodology in product development. We provide customers with high-quality blockchain solutions always on time. Our blockchain development process is based on quality, our programmers use the best technological tools, and the percentage of errors in the projects is reduced to zero.

• Code Transparency

Our studio programmers write transparent and understandable code, which helps you quickly update and maintain your application at any time. Blockchain developers in our studio follow industry coding standards when writing code, to create high-quality and reliable products.