Learn how to become a blockchain professional

1. Becoming a Blockchain
Professional
Portia Burton
Bits and Chains

2. Who Am I?
Full-stack developer (mostly Python/JS)
Blockchain educator
Creator of the website bits and chains

3. Question: What is bitcoin/blockchain?

4. What is Bitcoin?
Type of Cryptocurrency
Creation based on paper by Satoshi Nakamoto titled
“Bitcoin: Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”
Peer-to-peer which means transactions happen without
a third party. Alice can send money directly to Bob

6. Bitcoin Ledger

7. Ledger offers Transparency by Design!!!!!!!!

8. Question: What are some of the use cases of
bitcoin?

9. Bitcoin and Humanitarian Issues
1. Directly send money to disaster victims and decrease instances of charity
fraud. Hold nonprofits more accountable
1. Help the unbanked have access to managing and distributing capital
1. Remittances, less expensive and more efficient way to send money to
relatives and friends residing in developing nations

10. Bitcoin Microeconomics
Good for small businesses: Charges for transactions are usually well below 2%,
much lower than credit and debit cards
Efficient way of paying freelancers
Financial vehicle for people looking for yield. An alternative or complement to
401k or index fund

11. Bitcoin is not the only Cryptocurreny out there...

13. What is a Blockchain?
A blockchain is an immutable decentralized data store.

14. Blockchains and Smart Contracts
Stored on the blockchain and executed
by code
Many smart contracts are written in
Solidity
Powered by gas which can be
computationally mined or purchased in
an exchange

15. Example of Smart Contract
pragma solidity ^0.4.0;
contract SimpleStorage {
uint storedData;
function set(uint x) {
storedData = x;
}
function get() constant returns (uint) {
return storedData;
}
}

16. Question: What are Some Practical Use Cases for
Smart Contracts?

17. Democracy and Governance

18. Democracy as We Know It Can Change
Voting can occur on the blockchain
Some agreements will be controlled by code as opposed to legal
contracts
Alternative way to keep track of identity
Laws and bill can be kept on the blockchain which will create a
permanent immutable record

19. Less Sharing in the Sharing Economy

20. Blockchain Technology: Peer to Peer Profits
Distribution of creative digital assets
flows directly from artist to fan
Ability to rent out rooms and rides
without giving a portion of the profits to
Uber or AirBnB

21. Blockchain in the Nonprofit World

22. Blockchain: Solutions to Urgent Social Problems
Creating identity that is not based on Nation or State (like the initiative between
the World Bank and Accenture)
Provenance is using blockchain technology to create and analyze seafood supply
chain (guard against seafood acquired by forced labor)

23. Question: How does one become a blockchain
professional?

24. 1. Get a foundation in blockchain technologies
1. Make a list of cool “ah-ha” moments that you get while learning
more about blockchain
1. Make a list of your company’s pain points that blockchain
technology addresses
1. Make a pitch to your current or future boss the expertise you
bring to the table
Steps to Become a Blockchain Professional

25. Drive Your Professional Future:Take Initiative
1. Create a Career Roadmap
1. How to Create Your Own Job
1. How to Pitch a Big Idea to Your
Boss

26. But Where to Begin?

27. Places to Learn More About Blockchain
1. B9Lab
2. Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies
3. Udemy Blockchain 101
4. Coursera Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technology
5. Government Blockchain Course

29. Introduction to Ethereum
Ethereum is a programmable blockchain, every new blockchain spawned from
Ethereum has the same properties as Ethereum
Ethereum Virtual Machine is the low level machine language
Is Turing complete, unlike bitcoin which does not have looping capabilities
It also is aware of multiple states, unlike bitcoin which is only aware of two states
(spent and unspent)

30. Different Consensus Mechanisms
Proof of Work: Uses the Etash DAG algorithm. The Etash
DAG algorithm is based on Bitcoin’s the Dagger-Hashimoto
algorithm.
Proof of Stake: Proof of Stake is another way of validating. It
calculates the weight of the node, being proportional to its
computational resources. It’s less resource intensive than
Proof of Work.

32. Ethereum Blockchains
Public blockchain: It is the official Ethereum chain that everyone can read and interact
with
Testnet blockchain: The official test chain of Ethereum. Good way to test contracts
without wasting real ether

33. Private Chains*
Consortium Blockchain: Preselected Nodes are selected. Good example of this
would be R3
Private Blockchain: Only one organization is permissioned to use the
blockchain
*The difference between a private blockchain and a public blockchain is similar to the different
between the internet vs intranet. One network is outward facing, while the other network is specific to
a company or organization

34. Case for Public Blockchains
● More developers actively maintaining
the blockchain, which can make it
more secure
● Lower influence of lone bad actors

35. Case for Private Blockchains
Transactions are cheaper since there are less nodes
Easier to scale, and to experiment with new
technologies
“Know Your Node” Multiple ways to verify node
identities, which makes it more secure

36. Parity

38. What is Parity?
Rust client for ethereum
Includes a light client
Wallet which includes a robust dev environment for interacting with the
ethereum blockchain

39. How to Start Parity Chains
Parity --testnet
Parity --chains dev
127.0.0.1:8180

40. Configure Parity using the Toml file
Account
UI
Network

41. Must get Ether!!
http://faucet.ropsten.be:3001/

42. Or if you are not interested in this setup there is a
vagrant file…...

43. Demo Time!!!!

44. Goals
1. Create a new account
2. Send ether
3. Create a coin

45. Developers How to Get Started
1. Creating a Dapp in Parity/Ethereum
1. Introduction to Ethereum Smart Contract Development
1. Solidity by Example

46. Contribute to Open Source
1. 21.co
2. Go Ethereum
3. Hyperledger Project

47. Bibliography
1. https://augur.net/
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uXAbJQoZlE
3. What is Blockchain
4. Private Blockchains
5. Intro to Parity UI
6. Morden vs Ropsten Testnet
7. MakerDao
8. Mining

48. Bibliography
11. Solidity Docs
12. Accenture Identity Management
13. Parity
14. Parity Progress Report
15. Combating Slave Labor with the Blockchain

49. Portia Burton
https://twitter.com/pkafei
Creator of www.bitsandchains.com