Developer survey: Over 40% of blockchain "novices" think Web3 is the future of the Internet | 9% think it's a scam

In 1998, the inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, first proposed the concept of Web3. Today, Web3 has been redefined—that is, the decentralized Internet running on blockchain technology. Since last year, the popularity of Web3 has been popular all over the world, and it is even regarded by the industry as "the future of the Internet".

Recently, the StackOverFlow website conducted a survey on topics related to "Web3, blockchain, encryption" for community developers, and wanted to know whether the above concepts are fashion, hype or the real future of the Internet.

Of the 595 developers surveyed, quite a few didn't know what it was: 36% answered "what's Web3?" Of those who did, 25% believed that Web3 was the future of the Internet, 15% said Think it's hype, 14% think it's important for crypto and related applications, and 9% think it's a scam.

Blockchain experience is built outside of work: 85% of developers are not developing with blockchain

Since Web3 is a "decentralized Internet running on top of blockchain technology", if you want to understand Web3-related data, you must first understand blockchain practitioners.

According to the survey, the vast majority (85%) of developers currently do not use the blockchain for development, or have not even used the blockchain more or less. Among these people, we see that most of the blockchain development is carried out as a side project or as a hobby.

And of those who use blockchain development at work, 31% are most likely to work for a software company (72%), and more than half (55%) also use it as a side project or a hobby. This hobby coding also seems to work, as we see 60% of the blockchain applications developed at work go into production.

Blockchain Newbie: Over 40% Think Web3 Could Be the Future

For developers who know what Web3 is but have no blockchain experience, 40% think Web3 could be the future, 25% think it's just hype, 20% think it's important to crypto, 15% think it's just hype, the survey shows It's all a scam.

And among those with blockchain experience, similar sentiments were felt – 41% thought it was the future, 29% thought it was important to crypto, 19% thought it was all hype, and 10% thought it was a scam.

In addition to what blockchain newbies believe, the survey also found that 20-30% of blockchain-related questions are asked by new Stack Overflow users. These new users may be in the early stages of their coding career due to their interest in blockchain. For starters, this is backed up by most of the blockchain questions related to the two most common programming languages (JavaScript and Python).

Blockchain Related Tags: JavaScript Continues to Dominate

By researching the most common non-blockchain tags among blockchain tags, the survey found that there can be up to five different tags on Stack Overflow.

Of these, JavaScript and Python continue to top the list of the “What non-blockchain tags are used on blockchain-related issues”, which is not surprising given that they have been among the most common programming languages for many years ( JavaScript has topped the list for nine years in a row, and Python has just taken third place in 2021).

In response to the results, Stack Overflow developer advocate Matt Kiernander said: "JavaScript is critical to Web3, but Web3 is not the foundation of the JavaScript ecosystem." “Whether you believe in blockchain and Web3 persistence, it’s clear that JavaScript and Python are here to stay. They both evolved over the course of Web2, and it remains to be seen whether they continue to adapt to the needs of Web3.”

In conclusion, both languages are important to blockchain, and of course some subtle differences are seen in relation to the issues they are flagged. For example, the tags for python are more commonly used when asking questions about cryptographic APIs and transaction encryption. On the other hand, javascript comes up in more questions about building decentralized applications and thus has associations with solidity, web3 and smartcontracts tags.

Overview

It can be said that the answer given by industry insiders is still "uncertain" as to whether blockchain and Web3 are the future of the Internet. Most developers build blockchain experiences in their free time, or have no experience with blockchain at all. As developers learn and build, they turn to the languages they use most: JavaScript and Python.

Furthermore, regardless of the hype or not, the heat and trend of the hype, for those inexperienced blockchain developers, they still believe that Web3 is the future of the Internet. The popularity of blockchain and Web3 is undeniable, the question is will these stand the test of time?

According to Forbes, the total crypto market capitalization in 2021 has surpassed $3 trillion. Over the past year, crypto startups have raised $30 billion in venture capital, with 50 raising more than $100 million and 40 entering unicorn status.

Despite the massive investment, what does this really mean for the future of tech? Are blockchain and Web3 the future or just a fad? After reading this survey, I believe that everyone will have their own answers to the above questions.

Reference link: https://stackoverflow.blog/2022/04/20/new-data-developers-web3/