The blockchain industry continues to see vast expansion all over the world, and this phenomenon has resulted in concurrent growth in the blockchain job market. Vocations ranging from coding to business development, UX to project management, capital allocation and creative roles continue on an upwards trajectory as the industry shows its resilience and moves into the next phase of development.While in the past, the blockchain space was driven by startups and token launches, now much larger enterprises have stepped into the fray, infrastructural projects abound, and many of yesteryear’s plucky startups have grown into formidable businesses in their own right with growing hiring needs.To accommodate the developing interest, Consensys has introduced the
. It has everything a technologist needs to get involved in the blockchain space, including knowledge checklists, learning hubs, and links where you can begin your job search.But what actually constitutes the blockchain job market? This poly venn diagram by Unchained Capital conceptualizes blockchain as operating at the nexus of Distributed Systems, Cryptography, Politics, and Economics:
While this visualization is surely helpful, it’s important to recognize that it conceptualizes the industry in a flat way. Any one of the entries above could be extrapolated out into myriad roles and relate back to more traditional processes in “the real world.” It’s not all cryptography and distributed systems, there’s a need for thousands of non-technical roles ranging from publicists to content creators, community managers and admin positions.That said, much of the blockchain jobs market expansion is focused on developers, and this continues to be the area of most demand. In fact,
LinkedIn’s 2018 U.S Emerging Jobs Report
shows that blockchain developer as topping the list for job roles with the highest growth, having grown 33 times over the previous year—that’s not 33%, that’s 33x!
Companies hiring ranges from small remote teams to VC-funded startups to industry leaders and tech giants. A report by TheNextWeb’s Hard Fork indicates that behemoth companies like IBM, Ernst & Young, and Oracle are aggressively pursuing hiring for blockchain-related roles, while blockchain-centric companies like Consensys, Ripple, and Axiom Zen are competing with the big players in attracting the best talent.
Advertised blockchain developer salaries — using aggregated data from CNBC, Janco Associates, and Burning Glass — range from $125,000 — $175,000.According to AngelList, salaries for technical jobs in the blockchain industry outweigh equivalent roles in non-blockchain organization, highlighting the high demand for practical blockchain knowledge already. Concurrently, non-technical jobs in the blockchain industry also outrank similar roles in non-blockchain companies.
Post Median Salary for Jobs at Cryptocurrency and Non-Cryptocurrency Companies, USD
The Hard Fork report in March stated that the United States leads globally for blockchain jobs: “
is currently advertising a total of 5,711 blockchain jobs globally. Currently, US employers account for around half of those, with 2,616 vacancies on offer. The UK is the runner-up with 1,015 blockchain-related job ads, followed by India with 257 vacancies.”Within the United States, available jobs are in Silicon Valley and San Francisco, followed by “New York City, Newark, New Jersey, and Jersey City, which collectively hold the third position…Rounding out the top ten geographies posting jobs including the words “blockchain,” “cryptocurrency,” or “bitcoin” are Austin, Texas, Seattle, Denver, Washington, D.C., Boston, and Los Angeles,”
.However, such locational studies may matter less than they once did, as the blockchain industry shows a strong preference towards remote work as compared to traditional companies, as shown in the following study by AngelList:
Percent of Jobs Tagged Remote Friendly on AngelList
Further, an analysis by U*Today released in 2019 indicated the Top 9 most sought after roles in the blockchain industry, four of which are purely technical roles, three of which are in business management, one legal, and one community.
Software Engineer: $90,000-$145,000 // Chronicled (San Francisco), Axuall (Cleveland), Blockstack (New York)
Tech Architect: $100,000-$160,000 // Amazon/AWS (Seattle and Los Angeles), Bank of America (Charlotte, North Carolina), State of Colorado (Denver)
Product Manager: $85,000-$130,000 // Mediaocean (New York), JP Morgan Chase (New York), Cynet Corp. (Springdale, Arkansas)
Risk Analyst: $85,000-$105,000 // Veem (Ottawa), Bank of America (Jacksonville, Florida), Electric Power Research Institute (Knoxville, Tennessee)
Analyst Relations Manager: $50,000-$125,000 // IBM (New York), Accenture (Atlanta, Chicago, Washington, D.C.), R3 (San Francisco)
Front End Engineer: $70,000-$125,000 // Gem (Los Angeles), Binance (Austin, Texas), Ford Motor Co. (Dearborn, Michigan)
Legal Counsel: $100,000-$190,000 // Consensys (New York), BitGo (Palo Alto, California), Figure (San Francisco)
Business Analyst: $80,000-$105,000 // IBM (Research Triangle Park, North Carolina), NuArca (Woburn, Massachusetts), Bittrex (Washington, D.C.)
Crypto Community Manager: $35,000-$95,000 // Dolare (South Bend, Indiana), Zeus Protocol (San Francisco), Crowdcreate (Los Angeles)
UX/UI Blockchain Designer: $80,000-$140,000
A corroborating study by
found largely similar results, with Blockchain Engineer, Developer, Designer and Marketing Specialist receiving a 9/10 in terms of market demand, with Legal Consultant and Project Manager falling just shortly behind:
So it may be clear that blockchain jobs are growing rapidly, how does it line up with larger blockchain operations at the companies hiring? A recent study by PriceWaterhouseCooper suggests that 77% of companies surveyed are well on their way towards shipping solutions and products, while only 14% currently have no plans to integrate blockchain.
How Far Along Are Companies With Blockchain? Survey of 600 Global Execs
Fittingly, opinions on blockchain, distributed networks, and Web3 are rapidly changing amongst software developers building on Web2. A recent report by Deloitte that surveyed developers around the world found that 67.6% of those surveyed maintained a positive opinion on blockchain tech.
Developer Opinions on Blockchain Technology (60,165 responses)
So now that we’ve established the landscape of blockchain jobs, attention turns to learning the skills required for success. Consensys’
is an excellent resource to get started, as is getting involved with Consensys Academy.If you’re ready to start looking for jobs in blockchain, here are some of the basic sources to get started:
AngelList: AngelList has thousands of jobs from startups of all sizes. The platform is easy to navigate and one of the best places to find jobs within the crypto and blockchain industry.
LinkedIn: Linkedin will show you various blockchain jobs and is helpful for finding positions at larger companies. Spruce up your Linkedin profile to make sure you're putting your best foot forward.
Crypto Jobs List: Specifically targeted at crypto and blockchain jobs Crypto Jobs List shows opportunities for any role, technical or non-technical. Coinbase, Kraken, Protocol Labs, and Status are all currently hiring!
Blocktribe: Blocktribe provides a list of over 350 blockchain jobs ranging from BNY Mellon to Coinbase.
Indeed.com: An easy to use website that shows jobs based on salary, location, industry and more!
Gitcoin.co: Gitcoin provides bounties and freelance opportunities for developers. Find work or join an open source project to get paid as you build your skills.
Bounties Network: A platform that shows freelance opportunities for both technical and non-technical job seekers. The future of work is here!
Consensys Careers: Ready to help Consensys change the world? We’re hiring!
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