Learn Web3
To learn Web3, start from what you can already do. Cannot code yet? Take CS50 or freeCodeCamp, then The Python Tutorial. Can code? Write a contract in your browser with CryptoZombies, then work through Solidity by Example. Not interested in coding? About two thirds of open listings are non-technical Web3 jobs, and ethereum.org's What is Web3? explainer covers the vocabulary.
Check what employers ask for before you pick a stack. The skills needed for Web3 jobs are mostly mainstream: Python, Go, Java, Kubernetes and TypeScript appear on the most open listings, Solidity on about 1%. Compare the open Python jobs, Rust jobs and Solidity jobs before you commit to one.
Then let the jobs choose your next resource. Read three descriptions on a skill's job page, note what you lack, and pick the resource that closes the gap. Solana programs are usually written in Rust, so Solana jobs call for The Rust Programming Language and the Anchor docs first.
Jobs by background
Topics
Levels and formats
62 resources
CryptoZombies
CryptoZombies · Beginner · Tutorials
Free, in-browser lessons that teach Solidity by building a zombie game; nothing to install.
Ethereum Developer Docs
ethereum.org · Beginner · Articles
How Ethereum works for developers: accounts, transactions, blocks, gas and the EVM, explained before you write a contract.
What is Web3?
ethereum.org · Beginner · Articles
A plain-language explainer of what Web3 means and how it differs from the web you use today.
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)
ethereum.org · Beginner · Articles
What an NFT is, how NFTs work on Ethereum, the token standards behind them and uses beyond collectibles.
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs)
ethereum.org · Beginner · Articles
What a DAO is, how proposals and voting work on-chain, and the tools teams use to run one.
Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
ethereum.org · Beginner · Articles
How lending, exchanges and yield products work on Ethereum without a central intermediary.
Decentralized Applications (dapps)
ethereum.org · Beginner · Articles
What makes a dapp different from a normal web app, and the front-end and on-chain parts it is made of.
ERC-20 Token Standard
ethereum.org · Intermediate · Articles
The ERC-20 token interface function by function: balances, transfers and approvals.
Ethereum Whitepaper
ethereum.org · Advanced · Whitepapers
Vitalik Buterin's original proposal for a blockchain that runs programs, the starting point for smart contracts and the EVM.
Solidity Documentation
soliditylang.org · Intermediate · Articles
The language reference: syntax, types, contract structure and compiler behavior.
Solidity by Example
solidity-by-example.org · Beginner · Tutorials
Short, runnable Solidity examples, from Hello World and mappings to re-entrancy and ERC-20.
OpenZeppelin Contracts
OpenZeppelin · Intermediate · Articles
Docs for OpenZeppelin Contracts, the audited Solidity library of ERC-20, ERC-721, access-control and upgradeable building blocks that teams reuse instead of rewriting.
Ethernaut
OpenZeppelin · Intermediate · Challenges
OpenZeppelin's wargame: each level is a deliberately vulnerable contract you exploit, which teaches how attacks such as re-entrancy work.
Damn Vulnerable DeFi
Damn Vulnerable DeFi · Advanced · Challenges
Hands-on challenges that have you drain deliberately vulnerable DeFi contracts: flash loans, price oracles, governance and upgradeable proxies.
Smart Contract Best Practices
Consensys · Intermediate · Articles
Consensys Diligence's guide to common smart-contract attacks, such as re-entrancy and front-running, and the coding patterns that prevent them. No longer actively maintained.
The Ultimate Solidity Course
RareSkills · Intermediate · Courses
A free Solidity course for people who already program: storage, ERC-20 and ERC-721, re-entrancy, proxies, gas optimization and walkthroughs of Uniswap V2 and Compound V3.
Hardhat Documentation
Hardhat · Intermediate · Articles
How to set up Hardhat, then write tests, debug and deploy Solidity contracts; tests can be in TypeScript or Solidity.
The Foundry Book
Foundry · Intermediate · Books
The Foundry manual: Forge to build and test contracts in Solidity, Cast to call chains from the terminal and Anvil to run a local node.
Remix IDE Documentation
Remix · Beginner · Articles
How to write, compile, deploy and debug a Solidity contract in your browser with Remix, with nothing to install.
Solana Documentation
Solana · Beginner · Articles
Solana's own docs: accounts, transactions and programs, and how to write and deploy your first on-chain program.
Anchor Framework Docs
Anchor · Intermediate · Articles
Docs for Anchor, the Rust framework for writing Solana programs, which handles account validation and generates the IDL that clients use.
Solana Whitepaper
Solana · Advanced · Whitepapers
The original Solana paper by Anatoly Yakovenko: proof of history, a verifiable clock that lets validators order transactions without waiting to agree on time.
Solana Foundation on GitHub
GitHub · Intermediate · Open source
The Solana Foundation's public repositories, a place to read Rust code and open a first pull request.
The Rust Programming Language
Rust · Beginner · Books
The official Rust book: ownership, borrowing, types and traits, from the first program on. Rust is the language Solana programs are usually written in.
Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System
bitcoin.org · Advanced · Whitepapers
Satoshi Nakamoto's 2008 paper, nine pages on proof of work, the peer-to-peer network and the chain of blocks.
Bitcoin Developer Guide
developer.bitcoin.org · Intermediate · Articles
Developer documentation on how Bitcoin works: blocks, transactions, Script, the peer-to-peer network, mining and wallets.
Mastering Bitcoin (free edition)
GitHub · Advanced · Books
Andreas Antonopoulos's technical book on how Bitcoin works inside: keys, transactions, Script and mining. Free and open source on GitHub.
Mastering Ethereum (free edition)
GitHub · Advanced · Books
The Ethereum companion by Andreas Antonopoulos and Gavin Wood: the EVM, Solidity and Vyper contracts, tokens, oracles and dapps. Free on GitHub.
ZK Learning: Foundations of Zero Knowledge
zk-learning.org · Advanced · Courses
A lecture course on zero-knowledge proofs from Berkeley RDI, covering SNARKs and the proof systems behind blockchain privacy and scaling.
Chainlink Documentation
Chainlink · Intermediate · Articles
Docs for Chainlink, the oracle network that brings price feeds and other off-chain data to smart contracts, with integration guides in Solidity.
Polygon Developer Docs
Polygon · Intermediate · Articles
Polygon's developer docs: the Polygon PoS chain, the Chain Development Kit (CDK) for launching a chain, and the Agglayer that connects chains.
Tezos Documentation
Tezos · Intermediate · Articles
How Tezos works, including governance by token holders, and how to write and deploy smart contracts in languages such as SmartPy and LIGO.
web3.py Documentation
web3.py · Intermediate · Articles
Reference for web3.py, the Python library for reading from Ethereum, sending transactions and calling contracts.
Discord Developer Documentation
Discord · Intermediate · Articles
Discord's docs for building bots and apps: slash commands, roles, permissions and webhooks.
Next.js Documentation
Next.js · Beginner · Articles
The official Next.js docs: routing, data fetching and rendering for React apps, for building a dapp front end.
react.dev
React · Beginner · Articles
The React team's guide to components, state and hooks, with exercises.
The TypeScript Handbook
TypeScript · Beginner · Articles
Microsoft's official TypeScript handbook: types, interfaces, generics and modules, the typed layer on top of JavaScript.
Node.js Documentation
Node.js · Beginner · Articles
The official Node.js docs: API reference and guides for the runtime behind JavaScript scripts, servers, indexers and bots.
CSS on MDN
MDN Web Docs · Beginner · Articles
MDN's CSS reference and tutorials: selectors, flexbox and grid layout, and responsive design.
The Python Tutorial
Python · Beginner · Articles
The official Python tutorial: syntax, data structures, modules and error handling.
The Java Tutorials
Oracle · Beginner · Articles
Oracle's official Java tutorials: language basics, classes, collections and concurrency, for anyone aiming at backend engineering.
PHP Manual
PHP · Beginner · Articles
The official PHP manual: language syntax, functions and extensions, for people who build or maintain PHP backends.
Ruby Documentation
ruby-lang.org · Beginner · Articles
The Ruby project's documentation hub: language reference, guides and core library docs.
SQLBolt
SQLBolt · Beginner · Tutorials
Interactive SQL lessons with exercises in the browser, from SELECT queries to joins and aggregates; useful for analyst and data roles.
Getting Started with Clojure
Clojure · Beginner · Articles
Clojure's official setup and language guide: installing the tools, the REPL and the core syntax of a functional Lisp that runs on the JVM.
CS50: Introduction to Computer Science
Harvard CS50 · Beginner · Courses
Harvard's introduction to computer science: C, Python, SQL, algorithms and data structures, with weekly problem sets. Free to take online.
OpenAI Platform Documentation
OpenAI · Intermediate · Articles
OpenAI's API documentation: calling GPT models, prompting, function calling and building chat features.
Prompt Engineering Guide
promptingguide.ai · Beginner · Articles
A guide from DAIR.AI to prompting large language models: few-shot and chain-of-thought prompts, retrieval-augmented generation and tool use.
DeepLearning.AI Short Courses
DeepLearning.AI · Beginner · Courses
DeepLearning.AI's short, hands-on courses, from about 30 minutes to a few hours, on prompt engineering, AI agents, retrieval and other LLM tooling.
Machine Learning Specialization
Coursera · Intermediate · Courses
Andrew Ng's Machine Learning Specialization: regression, classification, neural networks and decision trees, taught in Python.
a16z crypto
a16z crypto · Intermediate · Articles
Essays, research and reports from a16z's crypto team on protocols, markets and policy.
Cryptocurrency Explained
Investopedia · Beginner · Articles
Investopedia's plain-language hub on how cryptocurrency works and how it fits into traditional finance.
CoinDesk
CoinDesk · Beginner · News
Daily crypto news and market coverage, useful for context rather than as a study plan.
freeCodeCamp.org (YouTube)
freeCodeCamp · Beginner · Videos
Free full-length programming courses on video, including multi-hour blockchain and Solidity walkthroughs.
Finematics (YouTube)
Finematics · Intermediate · Videos
A YouTube channel that explains DeFi protocols, such as lending and liquidity pools, with diagrams.
Whiteboard Crypto (YouTube)
Whiteboard Crypto · Beginner · Videos
Whiteboard-style videos that build up blockchain and crypto concepts from first principles.
freeCodeCamp
freeCodeCamp · Beginner · Courses
Free, project-based lessons in HTML, CSS, JavaScript and Python that you complete in the browser. A base for anyone who cannot code yet.
LearnWeb3
LearnWeb3 · Beginner · Courses
A step-by-step Web3 curriculum of short courses, from blockchain fundamentals to smart contracts, DeFi and NFTs.
Alchemy University
Alchemy · Beginner · Courses
Alchemy's free courses with in-browser coding: Introduction to Blockchain, Learn Solidity, Learn JavaScript and an Ethereum Bootcamp.
OpenZeppelin on GitHub
GitHub · Intermediate · Open source
OpenZeppelin's public repositories, including the audited Contracts library, where you can read the code and open issues.
Ethereum on GitHub
GitHub · Intermediate · Open source
The ethereum organization on GitHub: the Solidity compiler, go-ethereum, the EIP and ERC proposals and the protocol specifications.
Guides
Questions
Should I learn JavaScript before Solidity?
It helps, but you can skip it. Solidity borrows part of its syntax from JavaScript, and dapp front ends run on JavaScript or TypeScript, so you will need one of them for anything beyond the contract. If you only want to write and test contracts, Foundry does both in Solidity, and The Foundry Book is in the list above.
Do I need to learn Solidity to work in Web3?
No. Only smart contract roles on Ethereum-compatible chains need Solidity, and Solana programs are usually written in Rust. Most engineering listings ask for mainstream skills instead, and non-technical roles need neither. Compare the open Solidity jobs, Rust jobs and Python jobs before you commit to a language.
How long does it take to get a first Web3 job?
There is no fixed time, and Jobs Web3 does not track hires, but the board shows how narrow the entry route is. Our guide on Web3 jobs with no experience found that about 6% of open listings in October 2026 were junior or intern roles, mostly outside engineering. Developer roles rarely take beginners, which is why the roadmap to becoming a blockchain developer starts with a mainstream language and a first job in a neighboring role, such as backend or security.
Do I need to own crypto to work in Web3?
No, but you need to understand it. Most entry-level job descriptions mention crypto, blockchain, Web3 or DeFi, so be ready to explain wallets, custody and on-chain risk in your own words. ethereum.org's What is Web3? and Investopedia's Cryptocurrency Explained, both in the list above, cover the basics.
Is a bootcamp worth it?
Only if you need a fixed schedule and a cohort to keep going. Alchemy University and The Ultimate Solidity Course from RareSkills are both free and in the list above, so try one for a week before you pay for a program.
Where do I apply once I am ready?
On the job page: press Apply and sign in with a free account. You need a complete profile to apply: name, target role, country, work arrangement and a PDF CV. For most jobs, Apply then takes you to the page or email address the employer chose.