[涡流]Polkadot 区块链学院：满足构建者和创始人的需求

如果您要在 Web3 技术的前沿推出一个伟大的概念，那么有两件事对于成功至关重要。

首先也是最重要的，您需要拥有最优质的工程人才：有能力和雄心帮助您最大限度地发挥项目潜力的个人。

乐于亲自参与采煤工作面、编写出色代码并挖掘区块链新可能性的开发人员确实是一种有价值的商品。

其次，同样重要的是，您想要发展自己对区块链以及推动区块链发展的人们的理解。

您需要深入了解密码学如何驱动去中心化世界，以及一些出色的网络渠道来帮助您与业内最优秀的人合作。

Polkadot 区块链学院

（

PBA）自 2022 年 8 月成立以来取得了如此迅速的进展，现在可以自信地满足这两个关键目标。

现在分为两个独立的课程 - 一个是为核心开发人员设计的，另一个是专门为创始人量身定制的 - PBA 培养的人才能够随时准备好将 Web3 的下一个伟大想法付诸测试。

早期的创始团队需要有远见的人和企业家，但需要他们对工程师到底在构建什么有一个概念性的理解 - 并且还需要这些工程师来构建基础。

之前发生了什么：区块链在教育中的应用

2017 年公众对加密货币的兴趣首次激增之后，知名大学开始考虑在常规学位课程之外提供以区块链为中心的课程的可能性。

麻省理工学院、康奈尔大学、哥伦比亚大学、牛津大学和剑桥大学等地的此类课程相当全面。

但它们在很大程度上也是理论性的，为各种区块链协议的机制、它们相对于传统技术基础设施的优势、以及安全和隐私原则、去中心化等提供了基础。

这些基础课程主要是为了激发好奇心——它们没有深入的实际应用。

其他计划则有所不同，它们提供加速职业培训，以满足具有一定密码学和数字资产知识的个人的需求。

这些课程具有更精细和技术性的教育。

但即使是这些还不够。

您无法从其中一门课程中脱颖而出并开始为已建立的 Web3 技术堆栈的下一个迭代进行编码，甚至无法作为初级开发人员加入工程师团队。

PBA 专注于提供相关课程

That’s obviously where PBA comes in - because it is designed to be both theoretical and also applied to what is current within Polkadot. This mean it is producing highly skilled developers who will be ready to hit the ground running, and after three completed waves of PBA, the evidence suggests that’s exactly what’s happening.

Among the success metrics, the following stand out:

• Of 160 graduates from the first three waves, 46% have found full or part-time roles in Polkadot within three months of leaving PBA
• 57 were hired directly by Polkadot ecosystem projects, including Parity Technologies and Web3 Foundation
• Others have chosen to start up their own Web3 projects, of which 20 are already up and running
• Six graduates are known to have joined the Fellowship, which is a relatively new initiative to create an expert body of developers that is an integral component in Polkadot’s pioneering decentralized governance structure

As Derek Yoo, the founder of Moonbeam↗, explains: “The critical ingredient for building Web3 protocols is talented software engineers. But finding engineers with the right knowledge is very challenging. PBA consistently produces excellent candidates with the right skills for us to hire.”

Branimir Rakic, the founder of OriginTrail↗, identified a particular engineer, Nikola, to send to PBA. Afterwards, he reported: “Nikola has emerged as a key figure, armed with the knowledge acquired from the Academy, propelling us forward and playing a pivotal role in the successful launch of our parachain."

Stats show many new devs lack skills

In the wider world of Web3 at large, the impact of PBA has not yet been felt, however. There is, it seems, a global skills gap hampering recruiting efforts: if teams need to grow or even just replace existing talent, the new people coming in are not best equipped to keep the fires burning.

A leading Web3 data analysis provider, Electric Capital↗, reported that 52% of developers classified as “newcomers” - that is those who had worked in crypto for less than a year - had lost their jobs during the course of 2023.

By contrast “emerging” developers, those who had worked in crypto for between one and two years were growing by 44%, while the numbers of the most experienced developers were slightly up.

While there may be other factors at play, the Electric Capital findings were a worrying indicator that the quality of education received by novice developers who have not had the benefit of a PBA education, is simply not good enough to guarantee a sustained career.

PBA graduates, on the other hand, can have better expectations of success.

Alex Theissen, Smart Contracts Execution Lead at Parity Technologies↗, a leading technical contributor to Polkadot, says: “We've made some strong hires from the PBA. I feel PBA gives us access to some developers that a normal recruiting process would not; it seems to motivate really strong developers to come to work at Parity or on Polkadot. PBA also makes onboarding a lot quicker and easier. In most instances, we get to productivity fast.”

A focus on founders: PBA’s newest track

So if it’s accepted that the great software engineers of Web3 need better education (and that PBA is actively addressing that necessity), then what about the founders, the entrepreneurs, the ones with the big ideas, those hunting that all-important VC investment that will drive future waves of adoption in the space?

Until Wave 3 of PBA got under way in Berkeley, California in the summer of 2023, this was a group whose needs had largely been ignored. It was in Berkeley, however, that PBA first offered its Founders Track↗, and the course proved so successful that it is now integral to PBA’s future.

The Founders Track aims to help its students understand fundamental concepts of cryptography, e