With Sarawak pushing its digital economy agenda, youths especially are encouraged to equip themselves with various digital skills.
Along with programming, design and social media, lately, among the most in-demand skills that make the cut within the IT industry are knowledge and abilities related to ‘blockchain’.
In fact, it was way back in 2017 that blockchain was highlighted in a big way in Sarawak, via the inaugural IDECS and the keynote speaker that year, who happened to be the co-founder and executive chairman of the Blockchain Research Institute, Don Tapscott.
As the name suggests, blockchain refers to multiple blocks chained together. It’s defined as a distributed online database of transactions that multiple parties share, and that everyone can trust.
Once considered a niche skillset, abilities in blockchain tech have become more mainstream, as individuals and organisations have started to adopt blockchain due to its many benefits.
Globally, blockchain is still relatively new, but there is an increasing demand for blockchain professionals and Sarawak is no exception.
In fact, it was recently reported that University College of Technology Sarawak (UCTS) is collaborating with a consortium of companies to develop the country’s first blockchain-driven solar micro-grid energy exchange and trading system.
Before, blockchain was mainly associated with “cryptocurrency” and especially Bitcoin.
However, now many have realised that blockchain can be used in many other fields including retail, administration, warehousing, transportation and education.
Thus, this is opening a whole new avenue for youths in terms of job opportunities. In addition to blockchain developers, demand is high for entrepreneurs, designers, researchers, engineers, consultants and also legal specialists for this new tech.
Apart from providing job opportunities, blockchain is viewed as a solution with a “disruptive” nature for many industries.
For instance, hackers are always looking to breach information or steal data from various sources. However, it’s almost impossible to hack a blockchain due to the nature of the technology.
In addition, blockchain embraces a decentralized system where the entire database is transparent to many users.
And since there’s no central authority in a blockchain network – as it’s a shared and immutable ledger –information is open for anyone and everyone to see.
For businesses, blockchain operates as an open ledger; thus, it will be easier to detect fraud since every transaction is recorded.
Apart from being transparent, blockchain is inexpensive, requires less transaction time (unlike traditional banking) and also more efficient.
Blockchain is a growing sector and there are plenty of opportunities waiting for you in the industry, so if you think you have the right skillsets and interest to work in an industry that uses this tech, in 2019 you’d still be considered one of the pioneers, especially here in Sarawak.
This is a weekly column by SarawakYES! – an initiative driven by Faradale Media-M Sdn Bhd and supported by Angkatan Zaman Mansang (AZAM) Sarawak – to provide advice and stories on the topics of education and careers to support Sarawakians seeking to achieve their dreams. Join us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
This article first appeared on The Borneo Post, published in the print version on Saturday, July 27, 2019.
Image Source: Davidstankiewicz
