Demand for Blockchain Job Skills Up 6,000% in First Quarter of 2018

Demand for blockchain skills is soaring.

Ambiguity, limited supervision, new team – these are some of the unusual terms being sprinkled across descriptions for blockchain talent job listings. Ripple, Gem, Kraken, Korbit and Purse are just a few of the big names posting on AngelList. From Singapore to California, the website currently lists 2,488 companies with 1,848 openings for blockchain jobs around the globe.

In the first quarter of 2018, Upwork.com saw a 6,000% increase in blockchain job growth over last year, making it the fastest-growing skill out of more than 5,000 skills on Upwork, according to its Skills Index.

The top 10 fastest-growing skills 

1. Blockchain
2. Tensorflow
3. Amazon DynamoDB
4. Voice over
5. Subtitling
6. Art direction
7. Content strategy
8. Computer vision
9. Microsoft Power BI
10. Augmented reality

Developers with a command of Solidity, the main language for programming Ethereum smart contracts, and Hyperledger Composer, an open development toolset and framework that makes blockchain applications easier to build, are in high demand.

A full-time blockchain engineering position in Los Angeles shows how new the industry is. The salary is anywhere from 75,000 to 150,000 for the seasoned pro who can “build a decentralized network to be shared in a peer to peer like network.” The environment requires someone who can work independently.

“As this is a new team being put together, you’ll need to be comfortable with ambiguity and able to work independently with limited supervision.” –  IndieStorm

In addition to startups and established companies looking for blockchain talent, government initiatives are building up blockchain teams in research and development efforts to stay ahead of the technological trend.

With blockchain demand increasing more than 800% in New York since 2015, the city launched its first blockchain initiatives in May. Two hundred million dollars in funding will fuel the NYC Blockchain Resource Center, a physical hub to help build public awareness and support for educators, businesses, entrepreneurs, mentors and advisory services in the blockchain space. The city will also launch a blockchain competition later in the year.

“There’s no city in the world that’s better positioned to lead the way in blockchain,” said NYCEDC President and CEO James Patchett. “We’re a global leader in finance, real estate, media, and tech – all industries seeing incredible innovation from this new technology.

New York isn’t the only place that plans to dominate the space. Similar initiatives have spread across Ireland, Estonia, Malta, Canada and elsewhere.

For aspiring blockchain experts in the Toronto area, the Blockchainhub is hosting a recruitment event on June 28. It will be held at the Bergeron Center for Engineering at York University.