14 universities have added related majors. Why is it so difficult to find talents in the blockchain industry?

After the first "Blockchain Engineering" major in the country began to enroll students at Chengdu University of Information Technology last year, blockchain majors have begun to flourish this year.

Recently, the reporter noticed from the "2020 Registration and Approval Results of Undergraduate Majors of Ordinary Higher Education Institutions" released on the official website of the Ministry of Education that 14 universities have added the "Blockchain Engineering" undergraduate major in the list of newly registered undergraduate majors, including Dalian Minzu University, Hebei Finance University, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Anhui University of Science and Technology, Zhejiang Wanli University, Fuzhou Technology and Business University, Chongqing City University of Science and Technology, etc.

Public information shows that the "Blockchain Engineering" major of Fuzhou University of Technology is the first blockchain major in Fujian and will officially begin recruiting students in 2021.

In recent years, blockchain, as the underlying technology of digital assets, has gradually entered the public eye, and its technical logic can reconstruct the trust of future society, and it has been dubbed the "new technology of the fourth industrial revolution." In April 2020, blockchain, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, etc. were included in the new infrastructure.

"Enriching the subjects of professional talent training is an urgent task." Founded in 2013, OKLink Group is one of the earliest blockchain companies in China. Vice President Hu Chao told reporters that the large-scale addition of blockchain majors shows that the education system has begun to attach importance to the training of professional talents in blockchain, a strategic emerging technology, from the source.

It is reported that the shortage of talents is becoming a key constraint on the development of the blockchain industry. Xu Mingxing, founder of OKLink Group, said that talent training is one of the problems that needs to be solved urgently. In the critical period of the new round of scientific and technological revolution, China needs to seize the technological high ground and master the core technology. The premise for achieving this goal is to cultivate a large number of talents in the blockchain industry. Only with talents can we master the right to speak and the initiative in the blockchain field.

However, the problem faced by the entire industry is that, since the industry is relatively new and blockchain itself is a high-threshold cognitive discipline that integrates multiple disciplines such as computer science, big data, and finance, there are not many blockchain professionals who truly have blockchain technology architecture thinking. Gartner, an internationally renowned consulting firm, predicts that China's blockchain talent gap will reach more than 750,000 in the next five years.

Industry insiders said that the construction of blockchain talent team requires the joint efforts of all sectors. "The disconnect between talent training and employment has been around for a long time. When facing an emerging profession, we should find a way to solve this problem from the root." Hu Chao said that a new discipline or new profession is a huge systematic project from research, creation to practice and maturity. This process is relatively long, but the development of emerging industries never waits for anyone. "Our years of practical experience in the integration of production, education, research and application has proved that it is an effective way for the government, professional institutions and enterprises to jointly build an industrial talent training base. We call on more industry enterprises to join in."

It is reported that OKLink Group launched the "Kunpeng Plan" for blockchain industry talent training in May 2020, and strengthened the construction of the industry talent team through three major initiatives: "talent expansion, talent training, and Bole Plan". On January 18, 2021, OKLink Group once again upgraded the "Kunpeng Plan" and further launched a large-scale professional skills improvement project. By improving the internal training system and mentoring mechanism, it will improve the job suitability and professional level of newly recruited blockchain talents, and help talents to achieve stable employment and long-term growth.

Image source: Ministry of Education