Where can an experienced dev with little knowledge on Web3 go to learn?

Question

Hi there.I am a fairly experienced developer and technical managers who is currently working in a mid-sized software agency, and we're seeing a lot of our incoming work start to relate to Web3. I have a cursory knowledge of Web3, particularly cryptocurrency, but I'd like to spend the next few months getting smart on this topic (for personal and professional reasons).I am not interested in switching careers or learning how to trade cryptocurrency, which is what I tend to find when I Google around. I'm more looking for in-depth readings about what Web3 enthusiasts believe will happen with the internet, and what the short and medium-term implications of those beliefs are.I tend to prefer long-form articles and books, but that may be unrealistic for a field that is changing so quickly. Every time I ask this question to friends and colleagues, the answer is "Twitter" but I am not a avid Twitter user, so advice on who to follow and what that looks like would be helpful too.Outside of that - can HN recommend any resources for someone in my position? Happy to answer any more questions in the comments.

smt88 · Accepted Answer

As far as I can tell, "Web3" is a meaningless, nebulous buzzword used by the crypto community to pump their assets. You will have to tell us what you think it means.
Decentralized, cryptographically-verified data exchange on the web has existed for decades. If you want to learn about applications for it, read about BitTorrent, HTTP over TLS (which you used to access this website), LetsEncrypt, Mastodon, and IRC.
The part of Twitter discussing "Web3" and crypto is, at best, a deep well of gullible people who don't know anything about the existing web. At worst, it's a bottomless ocean of fake accounts, shills, and VC nonsense. I would be very surprised if you could learn anything useful there.

mindcrime · Answer

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GoldenMonkey · Answer

Curated list of blockchain and general cryptocurrency resources:https://github.com/Xel/Blockchain-stuffcrypto canon:https://a16z.com/2018/02/10/crypto-readings-resources/

larrykubin · Answer

Go through the intro Solidity / Ethereum project on buildspace, it's free. They do a live kickoff on Twitch and then the rest can be done at your own pace in a day. I think it is worthwhile to try it out for yourself - make a simple React UI, use ethers.js to connect a wallet, and interact with a smart contract. Deploy to a test network.

gregjor · Answer

Neuromancer by William Gibson.

yuppie_scum · Answer

Nobody has knowledge of web3.