All About NFTS

People from all walks of life love to collect unique or rare items. Old video games, baseball cards, jewelry, coins, and postage stamps are valuable collectibles. Collectibles were once considered physical items you could see, feel, and touch. NFTs have expanded the definition of collectible to include digital assets.

What are NFTs?

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are units of data that represent digital items. NFTs differ from fungible tokens like bitcoin and dogecoin. Fungible tokens are divisible and are not unique whereas, NFTs are not divisible and are unique. Both fungible tokens and NFTs use blockchain technology. A blockchain is a distributed database. Blockchains store the data as blocks which are linked or chained together by cryptography. NFTs are registered on a blockchain which ensures their uniqueness. An NFT contains unique metadata and identifiers that distinguishes it from other NFTs.

How to Create NFTs

Minting is the process used to create NFTs and is how the NFTs become part of blockchain technology. The steps for creating an NFT are:

• Select a unique digital item such as art, jpg, png, music, quotes, or videos where you are the owner of the intellectual rights.

• Select a blockchain technology to use for minting.

• Create and set up a digital wallet that uses cryptocurrency.

• Choose an NFT marketplace to mint your NFT.

• Mint the file by uploading it to the NFT marketplace.

Blockchains for Creating NFTs

Ethereum

Ethereum is the most popular blockchain for NFTs. Ethereum is appealing to NFT creators as it is a multipurpose blockchain that also supports cryptocurrency.

Solana

Solana is an alternative to Ethereum. The downside to using Solana is that it does not allow minting. However, Solana’s Ethereum Virtual Machine allows NFT owners to bring their Ethereum-built software on their platform.

Tezos

Tezos is an open-source, non-ERC20 blockchain platform. NFT owners can mint their NFTs directly on Tezos.

How to Become an NFT Developer

There are several ways to become an NFT developer. All development pathways require knowledge of blockchain and NFTs.

Smart Contract NFT Developer

A smart contract developer builds decentralized business applications that run on blockchain technology. Smart contract developers need knowledge of the following:

• Solidity

• Ethereum Virtual Machine

• DeFi

• Experience on NFT platforms

• JavaScript

• Nodejs

Blockchain Developer

A blockchain developer builds architecture and applications for blockchain systems. They can also develop smart contracts and web applications using blockchain technology. Blockchain developers need knowledge of the following:

• API libraries

• Solidity

• JSON

• JavaScript

• Nodejs

• C/C++, Java, Go, or Scala

• MySQL or SQL

Solidity Developer

A Solidity developer uses the Solidity language to build and deploy smart contracts on Ethereum-based applications and decentralized apps. Solidity developers need knowledge of the following:

• Solidity

• JavaScript

• Web 3.0

• DApp Ethereum

• DeFi

• Java, Go, Python or Nodejs

• MySQL or SQL

NFT UI Developer

An NFT UI developer designs and creates the user interface for NFT applications. NFT UI developers need knowledge of the following:

• HTML

• JavaScript

• CSS

• A front-end framework or libraries like Vue or Reactjs

How to become an NFT Quality Assurance Tester

Fortunately for Quality Assurance (QA) testers, the pathway to becoming an NFT QA tester is like other testing pathways. What distinguishes NFT QA testers from other QA testers is their knowledge of blockchain technology and NFTs. NFT QA testers need knowledge of the following:

• Knowledge of at least one programming language like JavaScript, Python, Java, or Ruby

• Selenium

• Knowledge of at least one automated testing framework like Cypress, Appium, or Robot Framework

• Blockchain technology

• NFTs

Future of NFTs

The market for collectible NFTs is steadily rising. Professional sports teams like the NBA sell video NFTs of players making rare plays or goals. Sports fans are paying thousands of dollars for these NFTs. This raises the issue of whether NFTs are a good, long-term investment. The value of an item depends on the purchaser and the reason for the purchase. Because of the popularity of NFTs, developers and QA testers are in high demand. Developers and QA testers who enjoy learning and want a lucrative salary should not hesitate to enter the NFT domain.

References

-, H. H., By, -, & Hunt, H. (2021, June 14). How nfts are monetising sports teams and athletes’ fanbases. Insider Sport. Retrieved December 11, 2021, from https://insidersport.com/2021/06/14/how-nfts-are-monetising-sports-teams-and-athletes-fanbases/.

Developers: Resources and information for building on Solana: Solana: Build crypto apps that scale. Scalable Blockchain Infrastructure: Billions of transactions & counting. (n.d.). Retrieved December 21, 2021, from https://solana.com/developers

Ethereum developer resources. ethereum.org. (n.d.). Retrieved December 11, 2021, from https://ethereum.org/en/developers/.

Mintable Pte Ltd hiring QA engineer (NFTS, crypto … (n.d.). Retrieved December 21, 2021, from https://sg.linkedin.com/jobs/view/qa-engineer-nfts-crypto-blockchain-at-mintable-pte-ltd-2794156637

Rich, O. J. (2021). NFTs For Beginners, Making Money with Non-Fungibles Tokens.
Welcome to the Tezos Developer Portal! Tezos Developer Portal. (n.d.). Retrieved December 21, 2021, from https://tezos.b9lab.com/