As a web2 dev who wants to enter the space, where would you start your journey?

[binimal]

After getting the basics and after hodling for some time, and now willing to enter the space. I am a mobile/web developer (have been for the last 10 years) but I am having a hard time where would it be the best place to start.

On one hand I am attracted by the BTC ethos and ecosystem, on the other hand the ETH/Solidity space seems fun and more friendly for a standard fairly good web/mobile developer with expertise on Vuejs & Flutter techs (as an example).

I am afraid I would not be of much help in the BTC space…
Where would you start?
What are the pros, cons of each?

Consider optimizing for being and feeling the most useful and really contributing as at this moment I am not really optimizing for money or getting paid much as a web3/dev or anything alike.

Thanks for your help!

[jackg]

Sounds like you've already started?

Generally the best way to start is to learn, however is best for you (Videos, books, activities (/doing), podcasts or a mix of them).

I've not looked much at Web 3 but if you want to learn to program for it and chains like sol use the same language as ethereum then I'd start there (for the very cheap fees). You might also want to look into testnet versions of smart contract places so you can spend even less trying to learn how to do things - or fork the chain yourself and practicnoff that (I assume there are standalone sandboxes for almost every chain).

A lot of nft games at the moment seem to be built off eth and harmony one and harmony one if you want to go down that route too.

[mk4]

I am afraid I would not be of much help in the BTC space…

There's so much work to be done in the Bitcoin space. Outside of being hired to develop the core software, I'm pretty sure Bitcoin/crypto wallets today still aren't good enough for mass adoption. The UX in general still needs a lot of work.

[Crypt0Gore]

You are afraid because you have nothing needy to offer crypto space but you want to do something, it's normal, since you are a developer you need a lot of readings to do, there are few niches with flaws in crypto space today and crypto wallets are not 100% there yet, since this is your field I don't see why you shouldn't give your shot.

[binimal]

Thanks to you all for the encouraging responses and explanations. I have one last question.
So if I understood well as a web2 mobile/web developer who prefers to support Bitcoin instead of going to the (most dev friendly and effervescent web3 side) I would have a change to contributing to crypto wallets UI/UX.
That sounds great! Would love if you could share any Flutter crypto wallet out there.

Also thinking about Smart Contracts and sorry if it’s a silly question, but is there any project planning to handle Smart Contracts in BTC on a side-chain? Is that even possible?

Thanks again for the patience!

[mk4]

Also thinking about Smart Contracts and sorry if it’s a silly question, but is there any project planning to handle Smart Contracts in BTC on a side-chain? Is that even possible?

I really don't know the specifics or if they're "viable" or not, but try taking a look at Synonym[1], Liquid[2], Stacks[3], and Sovryn[4].

[1] https://synonym.to/
[2] https://blockstream.com/liquid/
[3] https://www.stacks.co/
[4] https://www.sovryn.app/

[348Judah]

Everything now needs upgrading and if you're the type operating under the web 2 version technology then it's high time to wake up and switch to web3 because the whole inventions now were focused onbthis aspect of development and how to get started is by building on the initial technical acquired potentials from web 2 and work rigorously to improve yourself with more research and get attached to those organizations already working on this aspect of web 3, one cannget hired, through that yiu begin to learn and develope more skills that can place you on a good edge.

[bitmover]

I am afraid I would not be of much help in the BTC space…
Where would you start?
What are the pros, cons of each?

Maybe you are useful for bitcoin too. You can think of solutions using bitcoin, not necessarily something using web3.js from ethereum ecosystem.

I believe there are still things to be created for bitcoin.  You should start with mastering bitcoin book, by Andreas antonopoulos.
Then you can look at some nice btc solutions like btcpayserver.org, mempool.space,  and so on.

You can run your own full node and put it in a server and try to make different solutions using your web2 skills, for example.

[binimal]

Got it. You all have provided a great place to star overall. Lot of work to do.
Really appreciate all the info provided.
Will report my progress back as i develop my skills.
Cheers to you all!

EDIT: Just for the sake of informing this finding, I asked for a wallet developed in Flutter to which i could collaborate in the future. There is (at least) one, a Lightning Wallet called Breeze, you can find the code in the Github repo called "breezmobile" (as i imagine I cannot paste links here yet). Cheers!