Crypto Winter Is Cold; Is the Job Market Still Hot?

Aug 25, 2022

A little more than a month ago, many of us gathered in the Texas heat to discuss all things crypto, blockchain and Web3 at Consensus 2022. Of the many topics that popped up over the course of the festival, the discussion around talent, and more precisely how many companies are searching for great talent, kept being mentioned.

The conversation around the future of work is such an important theme in the evolution of blockchain that CoinDesk recently dedicated an entire edition of Layer 2 to the subject and at Consensus 2022, The Talent Hub was a central location for people to discuss careers, meet recruiting teams from some of the most active companies in the space, and hear perspectives from those working in the field on what it takes to succeed in crypto.

In sessions that covered topics that spanned from “Going From TradFi to DeFi” to “What Does a Community Manager Do and Why Does Everyone Need One?” the Talent Hub went deep into imparting the key skills that projects and companies are looking for in their new hires.

Here are five key takeaways from Consensus’ talent focus content track:

You don’t need to know crypto to get a job.

Kate Taylor, a creative director at Mythical Games, encouraged artistic types to consider working in the gaming sector, “If you’re a creative, no matter what field you work in there are transferable skills [to blockchain],” she said. Galaxy Digital’s David Wise echoed a similar sentiment in relation to developers. “We are looking for a glue developer, someone who has a little bit of experience in a whole lot of areas,” he said, implying you do not need to be a blockchain expert yet to work in the space.

Regardless of market Conditions, many are hiring.

The crypto industry has gone through some rough patches since Consensus 2022 but many around the industry are still actively adding to their teams. “I can’t hire fast enough!” Mike Herron, chief marketing officer of Chain, said during a marketing session at the Talent Hub. The same message was echoed by other HR professionals looking to hire in Web3 and crypto during Consensus. “We are in this for the long term and there is still a lot more to come,” noted Michelle OBrion, human resources lead for PayPal’s (PYPL) blockchain, crypto and digital currencies group.

Community is paramount.

Needing to nurture and develop communities across platforms is still a core practice in how companies and protocols are building out their audience, and the role of community manager is highly sought after. David Uhryniak from Tron advised attendees to “focus on quality on one platform, then you branch out to other platforms. … We are always trying to engage with the community more.

We are still very early, but that is what makes crypto so exciting.

Universally, speakers talked about how inspiring, and occasionally chaotic, it was to work in such a fast-moving industry. The audience and infrastructure are still developing but enthusiasm behind the blockchain movement is infectious and full of opportunity. Standing on the sidelines is a miss for those who like to be a part of a movement. “This is like standing in front of a wave and deciding do you try to hold your ground or turn and surf it,” said Jason Ward, Fidelity’s head of its blockchain incubator.

Web3 is coming to the job market.

Not only are creative tokenomics being used in decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible token (NFT) projects, platforms are focusing on tokenized reward systems for the workplace. Sterling Smith, who runs BlackFreelancer.com, mentioned his group built a rewards system on the Near protocol that gives additional financial benefit via token distributions to gig workers who complete milestones early or score 5 stars from companies that hire them.

Thank you to all of the sponsor companies that worked with CoinDesk on the Consensus 2022 Talent Hub. Please see below for links to their open Job Boards.