By Sobechi Evans-Ibe
Introduction
How was the feeling when you decided to go into crypto? How did you cope with all those charts, those never-ending analyses? You probably saw how much you can lose if the market goes against you and wondered if you would be able to cope. Did you download a crypto trading app, open it, and wonder what all those figures and signs were doing there?
You are probably asking yourself, can I make a career out of crypto? If yes! Then this article is for you. This article is intended for beginners in crypto who are seeking career opportunities in blockchain technology. After reading this article, you will learn the following:
- entry level cryptocurrency jobs that do not require crypto trading and intensive market analysis
- skills required for various roles in the crypto market
- steps to start a career in crypto
- how to land a job in crypto
- crypto jobs salaries
- where to find on-site and Remote crypto jobs available for beginners
The article focuses on 4 growing in-demand roles in crypto and does not exhaust all available entry-level crypto jobs.
Alternative Career Paths in Crypto
Consider an Olympic village preparing for an Olympics games which has the following features:
1. The Olympic village itself where the structures are built
2. The structures — stadiums, tracks, fields, hotels, eateries, roads
3. The engineers who build these structures
4. Teams and athletes participating in the Olympic games
5. Managers/coaches of the Teams and Athletes
6. Media teams and journalists who cover the games
7. Public Relations Officers of the participating teams
Just as the Olympic village is made up of these roles, so is the crypto world made up of diverse roles which form a whole force that keeps the industry growing. These diverse roles are filled with individuals who possess different skill sets and experiences. Let’s relate the various components of the Olympic village to some of the career paths in crypto.
1. Blockchain/Web3 Development: Blockchain/web3 development is the most popular entry-level crypto job. While the blockchain industry is like the Olympic village, the blockchains (ethereum, flow, Solana, and others) upon which applications are built are likened to the stadiums, tracks, and other structures on which the game actions take place. Developers are like the engineers who build the structures. In this case, developers build applications such as Decentralized Applications (dApps), Decentralized Exchanges (DEX), crypto tokens, Metaverse platforms, NFT minting platforms, NFT marketplaces, and NFT Galleries on top of blockchain platforms.
Blockchain/web3 developers are highly sought. The average annual salary of blockchain/web3 developers is $100k/year
To become a blockchain developer, a candidate should have pre-requisite knowledge of working with object-oriented languages such as Python, Javascript, and Java. Interested candidates must also be able to work with high-level languages like solidity and be able to build applications with blockchain APIs and frameworks like truffle, Hardhat, and the nodes provided by Alchemy.
i. Duties of Blockchain/Web3 Developers
Blockchain/web3 developers are responsible for building and maintaining
- Smart contracts
- Decentralized applications such as Cryptokitties
- Decentralized exchanges such as pancakeswap
- Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO)
- NFT marketplaces like Opensea
- Metaverse projects like Chalau
ii. How to Build Blockchain Development Skills
Solidity and other blockchain languages are high-level languages. You have to learn web2 development first to navigate your way through blockchain development. Therefore, you should learn the following to become a blockchain Developer:
- learn HTML and CSS to understand web design
- learn JavaScript to understand data structures and how to interact with smart contracts
- learn a JavaScript framework like react to build the front-end part of your dApps and Dex
- learn Solidity for smart contracts
- learn Ether.JS/Web3.Js for the front-end of your dApps
- learn Truffle/Hardhat
- learn how to test your projects
iii. Where to Learn Web3 Development
There are a number of valuable channels to learn blockchain and web3 development. The channels that stand out include:
- Freecodecamp or Web3schools for HTML, CSS, and Javascript
- Solidity Docs — This houses the documentation of the solidity programming language. It should be a guide and reference point throughout your learning journey.
- Nader Dabit — follow him for simplified tutorials on web3 Development
- Learnweb3Dao — This is a comprehensive web3 academy that walks you from the basics through advanced web3 development.
- Cryptozombie — Learn smart contracts by building a fun zombie factory
- Speedrun Ethereum — Valuable resource for learning how to build on Ethereum
- Web3 University — Join the 10weeks-long self-paced road to web3 development.
iv. How to Land Blockchain Development Jobs
After learning the basics, you have to put in more effort to land a web3 developer job.
- network with web3 folks throughout your learning journey
- build projects to learn more and improve your web3 portfolio
- take interview preps
- reach out to recruiters via Twitter and LinkedIn
- apply for jobs
2. Project Management: The web3 companies, start-ups, and projects are like the teams participating in the Olympic Games. The staff of these start-ups and projects can be likened to the athletes participating in the games. These teams and athletes have managers/coaches who oversee tactics and performance. That is the role of project managers.
Project managers are responsible for drawing up the objectives of crypto projects as well as the roadmap to achieve these objectives. Project managers bridge the gap between developers and clients. In this sense, the project manager ensures clients’ satisfaction by advising the development team in line with the expectation of users. In other words, just as the name implies, project managers manage the project team.
According to cryptojobslist, Crypto project managers earn 105,000k/year on average
i. Duties of Crypto Project Managers
Project managers in crypto are responsible for the following functions:
- planning and developing the project idea
- setting goals and mapping out the roadmap to hit the goals
- monitoring the progress of projects and ensuring adherence to deadlines
- coordinating plans including launch and marketing plans
- measuring performance against key indicators
- coordinating the project team
ii. How to Develop Project Management Skills
Crypto project management requires a number of skills including good knowledge of crypto, the ability to see a project through its life cycle, familiarity with project management tools and software, and excellent analytical skills. To develop these abilities, you need to consider the following:
- Take a course on project management. Udemy, youtube, and Coursera provide great learning materials.
- Volunteer for a free internship with smaller start-ups to gain hands-on experience.
iii. Where to Learn Project Management
The following project management courses provide a headstart for your journey to project management in crypto
- This free Google Project Management Professional Certification Course on Coursera clears your path to a career in project management. In this program, you’ll learn in-demand skills that will have you job-ready in less than six months. No degree or experience is required.
- This Best selling Project Management Course: Beginner to Project Manager: The Complete Course for becoming a Successful Project Manager by 365careers on Udemy is highly recommended as well. The course is not free.
iv. How to land a Project Management Job in Crypto
To land a project management job in crypto, you will need to put in the effort including the following:
- network with web3 folks throughout your learning journey
- volunteer for crypto projects
- reach out to recruiters via Twitter and LinkedIn
- apply for jobs
3. Content and Technical Writing: The content and technical writers in crypto are like media outfits and journalists who cover the Olympic Games. Content and technical writers make up an important part of the marketing teams of crypto projects.
Content writers mainly write non-technical articles on general crypto subjects. On the other hand, technical writers focus on explaining or describing crypto technologies to readers.
The aim of content and technical writing is to educate the community and enthusiasts about the project and to drive greater adoption and success of the project. Content and technical writers earn around $25k/year on average
i. Duties of Crypto Content Writers
Content writers engage in the productions of the following:
- Blog articles
- Market analyses
- News update
- Social media posts
ii. Duties of Web3/Blockchain Technical writers
Technical writers produce the following:
- Documentations for applications
- In-depth tutorials
- How-to guides
- Conceptual guides
- Whitepapers.
iii. How to Become a Crypto Content/Technical Writer
To become a good content/technical writer,
- take a content/technical writing course
- enroll in a content/technical writing Bootcamp
- write at least 5 articles in your niche to improve your writing
- learn the principles of Search Engine Optimization
- keep writing because you get better by writing more content
- apply for jobs or submit proposals for writing gigs
iv. Where to Learn Content/Technical Writing
You can learn the basics of content/technical writing and content optimization on the following platforms:
- the Google technical writing course is a great resource that even established technical writers take to improve their writing
- take the Gitlab Technical writing Fundamentals course
- watch the entire hashnode technical writing Bootcamp on youtube
- Find an SEO course
- The One-Hour Guide to SEO course by Moz’s founder, Rand Fishkin, gives you a proper grasp of SEO basics and how to optimize your content for human readability and search engines as well. It is free.
v. How to Land a Crypto Content/Technical Writing Job
Just like other career paths already discussed, jobs may not come to look for you. You have to find a job. The following steps improve your chances of getting hired as a crypto technical/content writer:
- network with web3 folks throughout your learning journey
- create a personal blog on medium or hashnode
- write content and publish it on your blog to build your web3 portfolio
- become active on social media, especially on Twitter
- share your articles on social media and ask for feedback
- reach out to recruiters via Twitter and LinkedIn
- apply for jobs
4. Community Manager/Moderators (Discord and Telegram): As the public relations officers of Olympic teams oversee communication between the teams and the public including their supporters, so do community managers or moderators oversee the relationship and communication between the community members of a project and the project itself.
Community managers/moderators, who mainly work on telegram and discord, stay online for long hours responding to questions of community members. Community managers/moderators also get feedback from the community and channel the same to the project team. In the same manner, they channel response from the project team to the community. It is a two-way affair.
Community managers/moderators should have considerable knowledge of the project to be effective in the discharge of their duties. The salary for a community manager/moderator role is around $75k/per year on average
i. Duties of Community Managers/Moderators
Community managers/moderators perform the following functions:
- moderate interactions on social media channels like telegram and discord server
- share content related to the project on social media
- educate community members
- host Ask me anything (AMA) sessions
- suggest ideas to the project team based on feedback from the community
ii. How to Develop Community Management Skills
- gain considerable knowledge about the crypto world
- volunteer for smaller crypto projects and communities
iii. Where to Learn Community Management/Moderator skills
- The course — Introduction to Online Community Management created by ‘Standing on Giants’ on Udemy teaches the basics of Online Community Management and gives you a head-start on your new career. The course is not free.
- The article — Basics for Becoming a Crypto Community Manager — on Blockwiz provides a clear explanation of the emerging community management/moderator role.
iv. How to Land Community Manager/Moderator Jobs
- connect with web3 folks
- become active on social media, especially Twitter
- reach out to recruiters via Twitter and LinkedIn
- apply for jobs
Where to find crypto Jobs
There are currently several resources where you can find available on-site and remote crypto jobs. The following can help you:
- Search for crypto/web3 projects on conimarketcap, coingecko. Visit the projects’ websites, and check for vacancies under careers sections.
- Find web3 jobs on job boards like remote3.co, cryptojobslist.com, cryptocurrencyjobs.co, web3jobs.so, and useweb3.xyz.
- Search for career paths of your choice (web3 Developer, content/technical writer, project management, and community management).
- Apply for suitable vacancies.
Closing Thoughts
This article discussed four common entry-level crypto jobs that you can land if you build the relevant skills and take other necessary steps like networking, constant learning, applying for jobs, and volunteering, to gain relevant experience. Acquiring skills and starting a new career do not come easy. You have to work on yourself, with determination and consistency.
