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If I had to start over as a smart contract dev today, here’s exactly what I’d do:
0. Learn to code
If you don’t know how to code, start with Python. Automate The Boring Stuff and Realpython are good, and make sure to do projects, not just guided work!
1. Do a @PatrickAlphaC Solidity course
Patrick’s courses are by far the best currently available. There are three, each will teach you Solidity and Web3 using a different framework language.
If you’re still a novice developer who really only knows Python, you can stick to the Python-based course.
If you are more comfortable, the JavaScript (Hardhat) or Foundry based courses will provide a better base. These frameworks are used much more often in production Solidity environments.
2. Do a REAL portfolio project
Do a project that you came up with yourself, with no handholding. It doesn’t have to be world changing - and it probably shouldn’t be. Just something reasonable that you can complete thoroughly and diligently.
3. Security research
You can get down a bad rabbit hole of just reading about hacks and smart contract security patterns without actually doing anything. You must avoid this pitfall while reading.
That said, you do have to do some homework. A good place to start is reading the Rekt News leaderboard hack analyses. If you can understand all of those, you’re in good shape to move on.
4. Competitive audits
Wait, aren’t we trying to be a smart contract dev, not an auditor?
The two are closer than you might think.
You have to be able to write secure code in the first place. No auditor, not even with unlimited security budget, can out-audit a bad dev. Something will slip through and it will be bad.
Go do a few audits on @code4rena or @sherlockdefi. You might win a few bucks, you might not, but it’s okay. The point is to get blooded and start thinking about smart contract security.
5. Get your foot in the door
Now is the time to really start angling for a real project. Something, almost anything, to get you off zero and doing real work.
Just like meatspace, people look at you differently when you have some real work experience vs. pure classroom environments.
Notice that this entire roadmap is DOING things. At no point do I tell you to sit around and grind leetcode or read random things until you can rattle off definitions of functions. This is an active, guns blazing path to breaking in.
My own path was very similar to this, but with the benefit of hindsight I would have done things slightly differently. What I did do right was focus on projects. Making working programs will develop your code sense very rapidly, and you can begin to understand why things were done the way they were.
Good luck, anon!
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