Despite the dire state of crypto markets around the world, the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry is seeing a rain of jobs, thanks to venture capital funding.

Example: According to data from CB Insights, crypto, blockchain, and Web 3.0-based startups raised a record $9.2 billion globally in the first quarter of 2022. DeFi-based entities raised raised $2.1 billion and NFT startups with $2.4 billion in funding were particular winners.

LinkedIn data revealed that the search for crypto-related jobs in the United States increased by nearly 395% between 2020 and 2021, compared to a 98% increase for other tech jobs.

This, despite US exchanges like Coinbase slowing down plans to hire 2,000 people by the end of 2022. Notably, the company had reported lower-than-expected quarterly profits and losses worth $430. millions of dollars.

Closer to home, there are plenty of green shoots in crypto funding. Information from Venture Intelligence suggests that Indian crypto-based startups managed to raise over $890 million over a span of 28 deals between January and April 2022. April saw inflows worth $274 million dollars in this space.

SHORTAGE OF TALENT?

Praveen Kumar, founder and CEO of Belfrics Group, says it has been difficult to attract good talent. “There is a shortage of people who have both the skills and experience required. Currently, even those with four or more years of experience lack the necessary skills. This is one of the major challenges. There is also a severe shortage of technicians in the blockchain ecosystem in India,” he said.

Vikram Subburaj, CEO of Giottos Crypto Platform, agreed. “Getting quality tech developers is a tough job,” he said, adding that his platform has tripled the number of employees in the past eight months.

One of India’s most popular crypto platforms, CoinDCX, is expected to hit the 1,000 employee mark by the end of 2022. Its workforce has nearly quadrupled in the past year, officials say of the company.

Even in organizations where candidate compensation is unconventional and more passion-driven, talent issues persist. Take MahaDAO for example, which focuses on hiring members within their community. “Hiring at MahaDAO has already faced a shortage of candidates for Blockchain/Solidity related positions due to high demand for developers and UI designers. There is a shortage of talent, especially in Web3 space,” said founder Steven Enamakel.

SKILLS REQUIRED

Bidhuna Babu, Chief of Staff at UniFarm, said people with fundamental knowledge and skills in blockchain architecture, coding, web development, DeFi, smart contracts, and programming languages ​​like Solidity, Python, etc. . have an advantage over others.

“The most needed skill in a candidate today is knowledge of the crypto and web3 ecosystem. But unfortunately, most talent does not know the ecosystem,” said Sricharan C, HR Manager at WazirX.

Therefore, agility, adaptability, passion and willingness to adapt to dynamic changes on the ground are essential. Additionally, soft skills such as problem solving and the ability to distill complex ideas into easily digestible terms are also required.

In the non-tech crypto vertical, there is a particular surge in demand for growth hackers, community and content managers.

“India is becoming a development hub for Web3 platforms. Currently, we are seeing an increase in job opportunities for Blockchain Developers, Application Developers, UI/UX Designers, Front-end and Back-end Developers, Data Analytics Professionals, Writers content and business/partnership development in the web space 3”, Babu mentioned.

The skills that drive today’s Web 2.0 world are what will lay the foundation for Web 3.0 talent. Mudita Chauhan, Head of Human Resources at CoinDCX, said, “In terms of hiring, engineering, compliance, information security and operations are the top priority. But someone with a background in Python, Rust, java, C++, AWS, Discord, digital art can quickly become a web superstar talent.

From a gender perspective, there is a long way to go. The tech space has long been a male stronghold. And given how central this emerging technology is to the entire crypto and blockchain ecosystem, the gender ratio at most companies remains heavily skewed in favor of men. Women only make up around 25% of the workforce, even on major exchanges like CoinDCX.

REMOTE CONTROL IS THE NEW NORMAL

In terms of work preferences, Enamakel highlighted how remote work and freelance work is the norm for their company, whose employees work in countries including the US, Nigeria, UK and China.

“There are fewer employees and more freelancers in the blockchain space. Developers and marketing teams engage in multiple projects and there is a lack of commitment to a single employee due to the plethora of opportunities in the market. Candidates prefer to work on projects where they are paid on an hourly basis for milestones achieved,” he explained.

According to Babu, companies are increasingly open to bringing in international employees, especially from countries like Dubai, Singapore and Korea.

However, this does not mean that the value of Indian talent has diminished. “The average salary for someone with at least one year of experience in blockchain and related sectors is over Rs 45K. With experience and knowledge, the sky is the limit,” Babu said.

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