Announcing the fourth cohort of the Interchain Developer Academy

A self-paced, expert-guided online training program that covers the core aspects of the Interchain Stack

The Interchain Developer Academy is back for 2023! The Interchain Foundation is funding a fourth cohort of its comprehensive training program, aimed at experienced web2 devs who want to begin a career in blockchain or web3 devs who want to reinforce their professional presence — and demand for places is so high that this cohort will be bigger than ever.

“The support of instructors and fellow students in the Academy helped deepen my understanding of blockchain concepts, and motivated me not to give up on pursuing a real-world job in the Interchain Ecosystem. I’ve already been offered a role working on a Cosmos SDK-based blockchain project, and I couldn’t be more thrilled!”

— Stefano Magini | Cohort 3 graduate

550 developers have been through the program so far, and to date participants have reported a 97% approval rate for the Academy as a whole, with particular praise expressed for the practical training aspects and the guidance provided by our team of expert tutors. Cohort four is gearing up to add 300 more devs this time!

About the Interchain Developer Academy

The Academy is a seven-week online program providing more than 70 hours of content developed and delivered by blockchain experts from our education partner, B9Lab. Each participant’s self-paced journey benefits from hands-on guidance from our skilled support team, not to mention the collective knowledge and experiences shared within each cohort’s community platform.

You’ll learn the foundational principles of blockchain technology and get a comprehensive overview of the Interchain Stack and Ecosystem, elaborating on similarities and differences with other platforms as well as working with ATOM, wallets, and staking. The program centrally features an extended practical coding aspect to help embed new knowledge and techniques, preparing you for life-after-training when you put your skills into effect.

After completing the Academy, you’ll have a solid understanding of:

• Blockchain technology and cryptography
• Developing with the Cosmos SDK & Ignite CLI
• Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) Protocol
• Building front- and backends with CosmJS
• Integrating wallets such as Keplr
• Relaying in the Interchain
• Moving from code to MVP to production and migration

Participants who pass the final exam receive official certification from the Interchain Foundation, and join our growing alumni community where you can discuss the technology, your own projects, and open roles such as those listed on the B9Lab jobs board.

“Thanks for the legendary experience! You get a lot of useful information to continue growing there.”

— Ilia Lapukhin | Cohort 3 graduate

Join 300 devs on an Interchain journey

Applications are now open to join the fourth cohort of the Academy. This process begins with a screening test to evaluate your knowledge of software development concepts and problem-solving skills. There are no blockchain-related questions in this test — you’ll learn all about that in the Academy.

The deadline for taking the screening test is on May 8th and the program will run from May 18th to August 4th, including the four week examination period.

Although there are 300 seats on the program for cohort 4, last time we received four applicants for every available seat, so be sure to take the screening test seriously for the best chance of scoring highly and making the final selection!

Visit academy.interchain.io to find out more about the application and screening process.

“Rewarding, and exactly what I needed to connect the dots between web2 and web3.”

— Oleg Nykolyn | Cohort 3 graduate

Why learn the Interchain stack?

The Interchain Ecosystem is populated by independent, interconnected, application-specific blockchains, built using developer-friendly, modular components from the Cosmos SDK, and connected with the ground-breaking Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol (IBC).

Using the Interchain stack, developers build entirely autonomous, sovereign dApps that can easily interconnect with both traditional software and other blockchains. They can also rely on a well-maintained, continuously updated product stack, plus a large, active, and supportive community.

All this has enormous implications for blockchain technology, and means the demand for developers in the Interchain will continue to rise. There are currently more than 50 appchains built with the Interchain stack, all interconnected with one another, and with hundreds of dApps and services built on them.

“It was great, I loved the content and the instructors. This was the most useful and informative free online web3 course I’ve seen.”

— Serdar Turkmenafsar | Cohort 3 graduate

Is the Academy right for you?

You don’t need to know anything about coding blockchain to apply, but you do need at least three years of professional programming experience and be willing and able to commit to the recommended 10 hours of work per week to complete the seven-week program. You can follow the planned structure or approach the material however best suits you.

The Interchain Developer Academy is aimed at devs who are passionate about blockchain technology and serious about starting (or leveling up) their blockchain career, whether that means proving themselves to employers or building their own projects with the Interchain stack. If that sounds like you, then apply now and get ready to prove yourself!

What our graduates have to say

“I spent a lot of time in 2021 and 2022 learning about Cosmos and the tech, but personally I like going through a more structured training program to make sure all my bases are covered properly. The Interchain Developer Academy was a great way to both learn more details of the Interchain stack and to really practice my skills. I found the Academy a great in-depth experience on the Interchain tech stack.”

— Gjermund Garaba, CTO & co-founder Empower.eco | Cohort 2 graduate

“Thank you guys! Really surprised to see such a detailed and well done educational program.”

— Sergey Ratiashvili | Cohort 3 graduate

“Good experience, a lot of material, I’m very grateful for the time and resources the academy puts into discord support. Thank you for this learning opportunity.”

— Tobias Leinss | Cohort 3 graduate

“Instructive. Thank you for the quality of the learning content and its structure, as well as the online support provided.”

— Simon Renault | Cohort 3 graduate

“I found the Academy to be very thorough, exhaustive and helpful. I feel confident I now have the tools and network to start building my own Cosmos-based app chain.”

— Max Heilman | Cohort 2 graduate

“Thank you for giving the chance to learn about Interchain. This course is great, and helpful for me to get deep knowledge.”

— Trọng Vũ Nguyễn | Cohort 3 graduate

“Great experience, good material, and I learnt a lot.”

— Ezequiel Moldaver | Cohort 3 graduate

“The team brings really good content. Thank you for having me join a really exciting course.”

— Quang Hiệp Mai | Cohort 3 graduate

“The most valuable thing about the Academy is by far the amount of support that you get from both the instructors AND the community. I now have a much better understanding of CosmosSDK and what it takes to develop an application-specific blockchain. If you’re interested in becoming a Cosmos SDK developer, joining the Academy is a no-brainer.”

— Basel Hashish, Support & Solutions Engineer | Cohort 1 graduate

About B9Lab

B9Lab have trained over 17,000 people in more than 160 countries about multiple blockchain protocols, and have been tasked by the Interchain Foundation to run the Interchain Developer Academy. They are passionate about technology adoption, getting new developers into web3, and helping blockchain ecosystems to thrive.