Blockchain technology has become a huge success in recent years especially in 2017. As per Google, Blockchain and Bitcoin are two of the most-searched keywords on Google. Blockchain is also one of the top 5 developer trends of 2018. The huge popularity of Cyrptocurrency, bitcoin and ICOs (Initial Coin Offering) also promoting the discussion on blockchain and making everyone aware about this technology. Now more and more organizations are looking to get advantage from blockchain’s extreme popularity. A study says about 58% of the large enterprises are interested in building some kind of blockchain application.
Whether we talk about mobile app developers or web application developers or software developers, they all can enter the world of blockchain technology easily. Actually it is a good news for any kind of software developer as Blockchain is all about software. Blockchain is all about how to store, share and maintain data transactions securely.

In this article, I will elaborate on how this popularity of blockchain is presenting a huge opportunity for software developers.

What is Blockchain?
The blockchain term was first used in 1991 as “a cryptographically secured chain of blocks” which means a chain of blocks which are linked and cryptographically secured. Each of the block is a combination of three items i.e. A hash pointer to the previous block, a timestamp and the transaction data. Therefore basically by design, blockchains are very secure and not easy to modify.
In Wikipedia, Blockchain is defined as below:-

“Blockchain is a technology to create and maintain cryptographically secure, shared, and distributed ledger (a database) for transactions. Blockchain brings trust, accountability, and transparency to digital transactions.”

All of the transactions which exist on a blockchain are shared and distributed among a network of peer to peer computers. All of the transactions on blockchain are encrypted and decrypted using private and public keys with implementation of highly secured encryption algorithms.
If we leave the security part for the time being then most of the enterprise systems do not want to be public, transparent or distributed. Also a system built on blockchain takes a longer time to process transactions and it also requires lots of resources like processing power, electricity and data transfer. If these things are applicable to you then you don’t really need blockchain. Blockchain is not for everyone as building blockchain applications are not easy and they are complicated, transparent, time consuming and costly also.
Applications of Blockchain Technology
Blockchain is useful in many types of industries. Blockchain is especially useful where you need to bring transparency and accountability to a system. Just look at most of these industries like banking, financial institutions, healthcare, insurance, investment firms, pharma and money transfer. These industries lack trust and they need more trust, transparency and security. Hence these industries can use blockchain to bring more trust to their system.

Blockchain Brings More Trust to a System
As we have said, banking, insurance, supply chain, payments, healthcare and security are few fields which have already started building blockchain based applications. As we have said earlier, according to a survey 58% of large enterprises are already considering some kind of blockchain adoption. Therefore it will lead to more jobs and opportunities for the developers.
One other reason why Blockchain has become so popular in last few years especially in 2017 is bitcoin cryptocurrencies and initial coin offering (ICO). Bitcoin worth has grown to $247 Billion from just $11 Billion within a year. Filecoin and Tezos, the two largest ICOs, raised $357 million and $232 million quickly.
Banking is one of the industries which is leading the blockchain innovation. Major banks and financial institutions are involved in blockchain. Also global logistics and shipping, healthcare, supply chain management, and even many governments are exploring options and ways to implement blockchain.

Opportunity for Developers

Blockchain offers huge opportunities for software developers and good thing is that it has just started and there is a long way to go. The prominent companies working and doing research in the field of blockchain technology are Microsoft, IBM, Ripple, Chain, Deloitte, AlphaPoint, Coinbase, Yuan Technology, Circle Internet and BitFury Holding. As 58% of large organizations are interested in blockchain therefore more jobs will be created in this particular space.
The market size of blockchain technology was about $340 million in 2017 which is expected to grow to $2.3 billion by 2021. As per a research report, almost 10% of GDP of world will be regulated by a blockchain by 2027.

Different Blockchain based Projects:-

Right now there are thousands of blockchain projects running and available in Github and each of these project has some specific purpose. Now I will tell you about the top blockchain projects along with their purpose. You can choose and start from anyone.

• TRON : It is a blockchain based decentralized protocol which aims to build a worldwide free content entertainment system using the blockchain and distributed storage technology. This protocol permits each user to freely, store, publish and own data. Also in the decentralized autonomous form, it decides the distribution, subscription and push of contents and enables content creators by releasing, circulating and dealing with digital assets thus forming a decentralized content entertainment ecosystem in the world.
• Ethereum: It is a decentralized platform which runs smart contracts means the applications which run exactly as programmed without any possibility of censorship, downtime, fraud or third party interference, very smoothly.
• RippleNet: It is an enterprise blockchain application to do global payments.
• IOTA: As the Internet of Things (IoT) is expanding very fast hence there is a need for interoperability and sharing of resources. IOTA enables the organizations to explore new business-to-business (B2B) models by making each of the technological resource a potential service which can be traded on an open market in real time and with no fees at all.

Conclusion
We have discussed what is blockchain technology, what are its various applications and how it is presenting an incredible opportunity for software developers. Actually there can’t be the better time to enter the blockchain world. Most of the people are still learning about this technology therefore the chance of making a difference is very high. The basic tools to develop software on blockchains are the same tools most programmers know and use today. There is availability of lots of knowledge and tutorials regarding blockchain on internet. Hence you can really become a good blockchain developer if you just wish it and do the efforts. Time is giving you a unique opportunity.