Mukhtar Musa, a 17-year-old blockchain developer who goes by the name Blockchain Hashira. In this interview, we delve into his background, journey into blockchain development, and his thoughts on the industry.
Mukhtar Musa Muhammad also known as Blockchain Hashira, shared his unique background, growing up without a father and being a natural tech enthusiast. His fascination with technology started at a young age, and his path into blockchain development was not influenced by anyone, but rather, it just “came to him.”
“I have actually been tech-savvy since little, like fixing stuff around the house and also doing a lot of mini inventions even before I was able to access YouTube”, he added.
Mukhtar finding purpose as a blockchain developer
Mukhtar started his tech journey as a cybersecurity expert at age 13 using his Android phone. He later ventured into web development. His journey into blockchain development began in 2022.
According to the young developer, the revolutionary nature of blockchain technology is similar to the advent of the internet and this attracted him to the area of endeavour. He was captivated by the technology behind cryptocurrencies and NFTs and this drove his interest in its technical aspects.
He currently focuses on Solidity– a high-level programming language that defines the rules and logic of decentralized applications. This program is used to create smart contracts for blockchain platforms like Ethereum. He is also a versatile developer with experience in JavaScript and Python as he plans to explore Rust and resource-based languages like Cadence.
Describing his experience in blockchain development, Mukhtar says it is a continuous cycle of learning about new technologies being built on the blockchain. He emphasizes the opportunities for collaboration and meeting great minds in the web3 space.
Potential for NFTs still high
Despite the recent downturn in interest for NFTs, the blockchain developer has already created Testnet NFT projects and helped others build theirs. A TestNet NFT project is a development and testing environment for creating non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the blockchain without using real cryptocurrency. It allows developers to experiment and refine their NFTs before deploying them on the mainnet or main network.
In his words, “I have created some Testnet NFTs projects and also helped some projects in building theirs too. The potential in NFTs is very high and I will say the cause of the downturn in interest at the moment is the people are just there to make money and do not understand the technology itself.”
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According to Musa, he believes that the potential in NFTs remains high and attributes the decline in interest to individuals solely seeking monetary gains without understanding the underlying technology.
He talked about his startup- Noob Techies. “I am building a startup offering everyone, essentially teens, a free chance in the Web2-Web3 space. We will build, learn, and collaborate”, he mentioned in an interview with TechNext.
He has successfully balanced his academic pursuits with his tech endeavours, viewing school as an extra activity. He highlights that everyone’s journey is different, and his ability to excel in both domains reflects his unique approach.
His advice to upcoming developers, especially teens, includes mastering the basics, adopting a project-based learning approach, staying consistent and disciplined, and enjoying the learning process while documenting the journey.
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