ConsenSys launches coding academy for Ethereum blockchain

ConsenSys wants you to teach you how to code on the blockchain — and then hire you.

The Bushwick-based blockchain startup just launched the ConsenSys Academy to that end. The nine-week program is totally free for those chosen, and the company is looking to hire some of the top performers.

“As the space is taking off, there is far more demand than supply of developers who are skilled with blockchains,” ConsenSys Chief Marketing Officer Amanda Gutterman explained in an email. “With the total market projected to boom, we believe demand will only increase more sharply.”

This seems like a really good opportunity for coders who want to get into the blockchain world. It’s still, as someone in their promotional video says, the wild west when it comes to the blockchain, and being an early engineer could be advantageous if the platform takes off.

Will it take off? The jury’s still out on that one. It certainly hasn’t yet, but the last several months have seen a number of advancements for Ethereum, not the least of which is that the price of the platform’s currency has absolutely skyrocketed in recent weeks. For much of 2016, Ethereum traded at around $10 per token. That changed in March of this year, when the price began to rise quickly, to $40, and as of today, to $354 per token.

But there have been other advancements, beyond price. ConsenSys’s Ethereal Summit last month in Brooklyn seems like a major moment, when blockchain experts from around the world came to talk about the technology. In popular culture, Season 4 of HBO’s Silicon Valley seems to be partly about Ethereum. And in the corporate world, banks are really starting to partner up for blockchain fintech solutions, with the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance.

ConsenSys expects the application process for its academy to be competitive. Applications are open only for the next 12 days, so get cracking.