DMX University launches in Puerto Rico with $150K scholarship for blockchain training

DMX University is scheduled to go live on April 1, 2019 and is setting up a $150,000 scholarship fund to support the training of 100 blockchain developer resources in Puerto Rico.

“We believe Puerto Rico is one of the most unrecognized and overlooked resources for tech talent in America”

Should the DMX University succeed, Puerto Rico may become one of the highest concentrations of blockchain developer talent in the world today.

Dealer Market Exchange has officially launched the formation of DMX University and the new university will reportedly be the first company-created institution in Puerto Rico providing an affordable new technology training program to benefit both private and governmental sectors.

“We believe Puerto Rico is one of the most unrecognized and overlooked resources for tech talent in America,” said Jason Bennick, CEO and Co-Founder of DMX, University Chairman and Puerto Rico resident since 2016.

“Since Hurricane Maria, we’ve seen many highly qualified resources leave the island for greater opportunities. It is our goal to reverse this by providing a career path for qualified talent to remain here in Puerto Rico, increase their skills, and take advantage of our program to build a local, high-paying career as a blockchain developer,” he added in a statement.

Read More: Picking up where it left off: A look into Puerto Rico’s resilient, revitalized tech scene

DMX recently raised over $10,000 in donations to support local hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico, as well as volunteering its hands for help in the distribution of food, water and medical supplies across the island.

The new DMX University will be based out of Guaynabo, home to one of the island’s most successful startups, Abartys Health, whose co-Founder Lauren Cascio explained to The Sociable that apart from great tax incentives, Puerto Rico has a tremendous talent pool, and its business ecosystem is one that sees long-standing multinational corporations seeking out collaborations with young startups and their talent.

Read More: Abartys Health talks about starting-up in Puerto Rico after raising $1.45M in April

DMX University Program Director, Omar González, a native to Puerto Rico and a Hyperledger Certified Expert, said in a statement that the program will consist of four levels, with the ultimate goal of having a talented pool of candidates for potential by DMX at reportedly some of the most competitive pay rates found anywhere in the US.

“We want to see Puerto Rico stand tall once again. No matter what you do; everyone wants to pitch in. This program is just that, a way to pitch in and provide developers with new skill sets that can benefit developers, DMX and all of Puerto Rico,” said González.

“We have great talent here on the island. So if we can combine their creativity with our program, we believe the possibilities are endless,” he added.

Why Blockchain?

Vitalik Buterin, co-Founder of Ethereum and Bitcoin Magazine, describes blockchain as “a magic computer that anyone can upload programs to and leave the programs to self-execute, where the current and all previous states of every program are always publicly visible, and which carries a very strong crypto economically secured guarantee that programs running on the chain will continue to execute in exactly the way that the blockchain protocol specifies.”

Read More: Trust no one: the story of Blockchain and Bitcoin

In human words, blockchains are owned by nobody, but accessed only by peers that create the blocks and others they choose to share them with.

According to Dave Mejia, blockchain strategist and engineer at  Talos Digital, blockchain should only be used for “adding value and making things better,” while at the same time, “reducing inefficiencies and making things more transparent and robust.”

“With blockchains, you’d be able to see all the registered players and then… everyone can see who’s getting what, so it would be very difficult to scam. The tide goes out and you know who’s swimming naked,” Mejia told The Bogotá Post.

Talos Digital consists of a team of professional software developers that partners with agencies and other businesses to provide consulting and development on their software products. Its CEO Amyn Gillani was recently named Mentor at the Founder Institute.

According to a recent Forbes article, “There has been an unparalleled demand for blockchain developers as legacy enterprises and crypto-focused startups look to build upon on the early-stage technology.”

Now, the new training program at the DMX University in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico will accept novice and seasoned candidates alike. The University intends to award 100 qualified applicants with fully funded scholarships to become “Hyperledger Blockchain Certified” by DMX University.

Twenty graduates will be selected for an additional training opportunity; up to ten graduates of which are intended to be part of the pool of candidates that may be offered positions within DMX at the conclusion of their studies.

All program graduates will be invited to participate in the DMX University Partnership Program, where directional support will be provided for placement with DMX affiliates and partners seeking qualified graduates.

DMX is a member of Hyperledger, a Linux Foundation Project, and Silver Member of The Linux Foundation. DMX Foundry is researching and solving dealer and factory integration challenges using the Hyperledger Fabric framework for business and consumer transactions, financing and secure data management.

Trust, security, accessibility and the economics of time and cost continue growing as concerns while the future of technology rapidly develops.

DMX Foundry is innovating business blockchain protocols from corporate to end-user level that will effectively resolve these concerns, harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning, on a global scale.

Disclosure: This article includes a client of an Espacio portfolio company