| | Toby Algya | I have wanted to learn how to develop for the ethereum blockchain since its inception. In reviewing online documentation, tutorials, medium articles, and attending meetups all focused on developing smart contracts on ethereum, I was always left a bit confused and frustrated. I could deploy a storage contract, but I really didn't understand what I was doing, or what was going on. And when I asked questions that probed a bit beneath the surface I would run into conflicting responses or unknown replies. It doesn't look like ethereum is going anywhere anytime soon, so I decided to take some time to focus on developing on that platform. I asked around for bootcamps in ethereum development and a well-respected friend suggested b9lab. The course was to have 9 weeks of material which culminated in a final for development certification. I started in December of 2017 and ended up taking all of the allotted time to finish the final, which terminated on May 1st of 2018. I was and am still amazed at how much information there is to know to develop and understand what is going on in creating and interacting with blockchains, specifically solidity and the EVM. In taking the course, the most valuable asset were the instructors. This was the time I could ask all the silly, stupid questions, or ask for clarifications to documentation, coursework, or online material. And I asked a lot of questions. My lead for the course Xavier was there to answer them. To his credit he would answer all of them. This course is structured in a collection of courseware sections that begin with a very general survey of blockchains and how they differ from databases and networks, and ends with a very general view of good industry practices as well as the many pitfalls. The middle of the courseware deals with all the nitty-gritty plumbing. The material covers successive development practices for deploying code to the network. This dealt with deploying contracts by hand, to using frameworks like truffle to help deploy code and manage projects. This course was the excuse, and opportunity I needed to develop code for ethereum. Before I took the course I was throwing darts at a board in the dark, with progressive success. After taking the course, the light switch got turned on, and the dart board is a lot easier to hit when you know what you're aiming at. The bottom line is that this course isn't easy, but if you want to learn how to deploy code you will be able to do it. I put in a lot of time and effort on this course with b9, and I ended up passing the certification requirement. It wasn't easy, but it was rewarding, and I learned a ton. I would recommend any of the offered courses to those who are serious about leveling up their dev game in this space. |
