This article will speak about developers or programmers who would like to up-skill to Cardano and be part of the Cardano Developer community. Having seen the Cardano road-map, the community activities and the opportunities, the queries related to up-skilling to Cardano are on the rise.
If you are not into blockchain but a developer keen to get into Cardano ecosystem, the following guidelines may help you to a major extent. If you have an entry level to intermediate knowledge in any one of the programming languages, you’ll find it much easier to start your journey here. This article will guide you on how to become a Cardano developer and what programming language Cardano uses.
How to Become a Cardano Developer?
It is recommended to take up your learning in 4 stages. Stages are progressive in order and need time space between the stages to look for practical – implementation – case study led skills.
Stage 1: Understanding the Blockchain Technology
While you can easily mention that it’s yet another database with added advantages, it’s important for you to understand the structure and design of this technology. Do start with the following to head start your up-skill journey.
• Blockchain design principles & Architecture
• This will help you to understand the significance and how this technology is differing from the rest
• Cryptography – Consensus – Tokens & Oracles – DApp – DAO – Smart Contracts Intro
• Helps you to get the hang of the security part of blockchain and how it works in the decentralized world
• Bitcoin – ETHereum – Hyperledger – the scaling up and transformational approach
• Cardano Basics – PoS & PoW – the 3rd generation enhancement
• Will get a hang of how Cardano is significantly different from the rest
• Compliance & Regulation
• It's important for you to get the global picture
• The last but not the least
• Do study enough case studies – blockchain solutions implemented in various industries – various projects started by the Cardano Community
By the time you complete the above, you’ll have a fair idea about the blockchain technology, why Cardano is different & how significant is smart contracts and the role developers can play. For learning the above, there are plenty of online resources available.
Stage 2: Understanding Haskell
While you are going to write your code in Plutus, it’s important to get the hang of Haskell. It’s a functional language and basis for Plutus, which is the native smart contract language for Cardano. A word of caution would be that Haskell will need more time to understand and comprehensive practice is required to acquire the skills
To get into Plutus, the following critical aspects of Haskell are required:
• Data types – Recursive Patterns & Polymorphism – Higher order functions – Type classes
• Laziness – Monoids – IO – Functors – Applicative – Monads – FInale
Only a portion of Haskell is stated, which is required for you to move to Plutus.
For learning Haskell, apart from materials available online, there are many open-source projects available. For example: git-annex, Pandoc, Cardano SL and hledger. Every one of these gives you extremely valuable insights and yet only a few are named. You may do your homework and pick up your list. It's important for you to go thru this process which will help you to have smooth ride in Plutus
Stage 3: Learning Plutus
For a better learning experience – you may go with the following order.
• Cardano Toolchain & Binaries setup – Developer Tools
• Transaction structure – Transaction Metadata – Native Tokens
• Plutus Build Tools & various Forms
• Plutus smart contracts – Plutus PAF, PAB, DApp connector
• KEVM – Milkomeda Sidechain – Glow – IELE – K Framework
As we all know, coding requires consistent practice. You may refer to resources in Cardano Foundation repositories or Emurgo’s resources.
Stage 4: What Next After Learning?
Before you head out your career path, it is advised to create a small project or prototype or case study which will help you to gain confidence, put your skills into action and of course, your potential employer or investor will have a better way to evaluate.
Across the globe, Cardano communities are very active in supporting each other and will likely help new entrants keen on how to become a Cardano developer in any way they can. You may connect with anyone in the community of your interest/choice. Good luck & happy journeying into the Cardano ecosystem!
