DEV Community: Bassey Godsave

Week 2: I Found the Best Free Blockchain Course on the Internet — Here's My Honest Review

Bassey Godsave — Sun, 19 Jul 2026 18:47:47 +0000

My Zero to Blockchain Engineer journey — Week 2 update

Last week I announced I was teaching myself blockchain engineering from zero.

This week I went deep into Cyfrin Updraft — and I have to be honest, it changed how I think about learning Web3.

Here's everything I covered, what surprised me, and why I think this platform is the best free resource for anyone serious about becoming a blockchain developer.

What I covered this week

I'm currently 45% through the Blockchain Basics course on Cyfrin Updraft. Here's exactly what the lessons covered:

Section 1 — What Is A Blockchain?

This section answered the question properly — not in a surface-level way, but by starting with the problem blockchain solves.

The lesson on centralized control hit differently. Think about it in a Nigerian context — banks freezing accounts, payment processors blocking transactions, elections where results can't be independently verified. These aren't hypothetical problems. They're things we live with.

Blockchain's answer: a shared ledger where truth is verified by math, not by a middleman.

That framing made everything click for me.

Key lessons I completed:

What Is A Blockchain — centralized problems vs decentralized solutions
History Of Blockchain — from the double-spend problem to Bitcoin to Ethereum
Benefits Of Blockchain — permissionless, immutable, credibly neutral
Use Cases — DeFi, cross-border payments, DAOs, digital ownership
Many Many Chains — L1s, L2s, Mainnets vs Testnets
The Oracle Problem — why smart contracts can't access real-world data alone
The Purpose Of Smart Contracts — math-based promises vs trust-based agreements
What Is The EVM — Ethereum's computation engine explained simply
Benefits Of Smart Contracts — decentralization, immutability, transparency

Section 2 — Sending Transactions

This is where things got hands-on — and where Cyfrin pulled ahead of every other platform I've tried.

Key lessons:

What Is A Wallet — your public address as a digital mailbox
Setting Up A Wallet — MetaMask from scratch, self-custody explained
MetaMask Wallet Walkthrough — multiple accounts, custom networks, testnets
Sending Your First Transaction — on a Tenderly virtual testnet
A Note On Testnets — public vs virtual testnets
Sending First Transaction On A Public Testnet — using Etherscan to track it
Introduction To Gas — why transactions cost ETH and how gas is calculated
What Are Smart Contracts — from Solidity code to deployed bytecode

The thing that genuinely surprised me: the faucet

If you've tried to learn blockchain development before, you know the pain of testnet faucets.

A faucet is a website that gives you free test ETH so you can practice sending transactions without spending real money. On most platforms — including LearnWeb3.io — you have to hunt for a working faucet, deal with rate limits, wait hours, sometimes get nothing.

Cyfrin Updraft uses Tenderly virtual testnets instead.

You spin up your own private blockchain in seconds. Infinite test ETH. No waiting. No faucet hunting. No frustration.

That one decision by the Cyfrin team removes one of the biggest friction points for blockchain beginners. I sent my first transaction in under 10 minutes. On other platforms that process took me an hour of troubleshooting.

Cyfrin Updraft vs LearnWeb3.io — my honest comparison

I've now used both platforms seriously. Here's my take:

Cyfrin Updraft is better for:

Depth of explanation — Patrick Collins doesn't skip anything
Hands-on practice — Tenderly integration is seamless
Career path — the course order takes you from zero to security auditor
Up to date content — courses updated as recently as late 2025

LearnWeb3.io is better for:

Gamification — XP, levels, and NFT certificates keep you motivated
Community feel — the platform has a social layer built in
Hackathon and bounty awareness — they actively point you toward earning opportunities

My verdict: Use Cyfrin Updraft as your primary learning platform. Use LearnWeb3.io for motivation, community, and to discover hackathons and bounties.

They complement each other well. You don't have to choose.

The concept that changed how I see blockchain

Before this week, I understood blockchain as a technology. After this week, I understand it as a philosophy.

The oracle problem lesson explained something I hadn't thought about — smart contracts are powerful but they're isolated. They live on the blockchain and can only see what's on the blockchain. They can't check the weather, the price of oil, or the result of a football match by themselves.

That's why Chainlink exists — decentralized oracle networks that feed real-world data into smart contracts securely.

This matters because almost every DeFi protocol I'll eventually build will need external data. Knowing why oracles exist makes the whole DeFi ecosystem make more sense.

Where I am on the roadmap
Phase Status
JavaScript fundamentals 🔄In progress daily
Blockchain Basics (Cyfrin) 🔄45% complete
Solidity Smart Contract Development ⏳Starts after JS done
Foundry Fundamentals ⏳Month 4
Smart Contract Security ⏳Month 6
First hackathon / bounty ⏳Month 7+

My honest reflection on Week 2

The learning is going well. But I want to be transparent about something.

I made a mistake early on — I rushed through LearnWeb3.io lessons by reading instead of coding. Got to the Solidity introduction without actually being ready for it. Had to go back to JavaScript basics.

That's a lesson in itself: passive learning feels like progress but isn't.

The rule I've set for myself now: if I can't close the lesson and explain it in my own words, I haven't learned it. I go back and re-read until I can.

Week 2 done. JavaScript and Blockchain Basics side by side every day.

See you next week with Week 3. 🚀

Follow the full journey:

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GitHub
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Previous article: I'm Teaching Myself Blockchain Engineering from Zero

I'm Teaching Myself Blockchain Engineering from Zero — Here's My Exact 12-Month Plan

Bassey Godsave — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 09:26:22 +0000

Day 1 of documenting my journey from complete beginner to Solidity developer

I made a decision today.

I'm going to teach myself blockchain engineering — from absolute zero. No computer science degree. No coding background. Just a laptop, 2 hours a day, and a plan I reverse-engineered from the job itself.

And I'm documenting every single step publicly.

This is Day 1.

Why blockchain engineering?

Blockchain isn't hype anymore — it's infrastructure. Smart contracts power billions of dollars in DeFi protocols. NFT marketplaces, DAOs, decentralized exchanges — all of it runs on code written by Solidity developers.

And the demand for those developers massively outpaces the supply.

The average Solidity developer earns between $70K and $150K+. Senior DeFi engineers at protocols like Uniswap, Aave, and Compound earn even more. Meanwhile, most people in tech haven't touched Web3 yet.

That gap is the opportunity.

Why I'm documenting this publicly

Three reasons:

Accountability. It's hard to quit when people are watching. By writing this publicly, I'm making a commitment I can't quietly walk away from.
To help the next person. When I searched for "how to become a blockchain developer from zero," I found a lot of vague advice. Not many people documenting the day-by-day reality. I want to be that resource for someone starting where I am.
Africa needs more Web3 builders. Nigeria has one of the most active crypto communities in the world. But we need more developers — people building protocols, writing contracts, shipping DApps — not just trading. I want to be part of that shift.

The approach: reverse engineering from the job

Most people learn randomly and hope it leads somewhere.

I did the opposite. I looked at actual Solidity developer job postings, studied what protocols hire for, and traced backwards to build the exact skill set employers want.

Here's what they consistently ask for:

Solidity and EVM knowledge
Smart contract security (reentrancy, access control, gas optimization)
Hardhat or Foundry for testing and deployment
Ethers.js or Web3.js for frontend integration
A GitHub portfolio with deployed contracts

So I built a roadmap that leads directly to those skills — nothing extra, nothing wasted.

The 12-month roadmap

Phase 1 · Months 1–2 · JavaScript Foundations

Before Solidity, I need programming fundamentals. JavaScript is the choice because it's used all the way through — Ethers.js, Hardhat scripts, React frontends. One language that compounds across every phase.

What I'll build: number guessing game → todo list → live crypto price fetcher → wallet balance checker

Phase 2 · Months 2–3 · Blockchain Fundamentals

How Bitcoin and Ethereum actually work under the hood. Wallets, private keys, transactions, gas, the EVM. Most beginners skip this and pay for it later with confusing bugs.

What I'll do: read the Ethereum docs, send testnet transactions, query the blockchain with Ethers.js

Phase 3 · Months 3–5 · Solidity + Smart Contracts

The core skill. Writing, testing, and deploying smart contracts on Ethereum. ERC-20 tokens, ERC-721 NFTs, security patterns, gas optimization.

What I'll build: custom ERC-20 token → NFT contract → staking system

Phase 4 · Months 5–7 · Full DApps

Connecting smart contracts to React frontends. This is where everything comes together — blockchain backend + JavaScript frontend.

What I'll build: token dashboard → NFT minting site → DAO voting DApp

Phase 5 · Months 7–10 · Portfolio Projects

One serious capstone project — a mini DEX, lending pool, or yield vault — deployed to mainnet. Plus open source contributions and a hackathon submission.

Phase 6 · Months 10–12 · Job Search

Applications, technical interview prep, community building, freelance on Gitcoin and Immunefi while applying for full-time roles.

What to expect from this series

Every week I'll publish an article here on Dev.to covering:

✅ What I learned — concepts explained in plain English as I understand them for the first time
🔥 What I built — with code, links to GitHub, and deployed contract addresses
❌ Where I got stuck — the honest moments, not just the wins
📌 Resources that actually helped — so you don't have to filter through everything I did

No polished hindsight. Just real-time documentation of the journey.

Starting today

Week 1, Day 1.

javascript
console.log("Hello, blockchain")

That's it. That's the whole win for today. But every expert was here once.

If you're on a similar journey — learning to code, trying to break into Web3, or just curious about blockchain development — follow along. I'd love to have people watching, learning alongside, or sharing resources.

See you next week with a Week 1 update.

Let's go. 🚀

Follow my journey across platforms:

X/Twitter: @BassGod001
GitHub: https://github.com/BassGod001
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bassey-godsave-764890419