Since its introduction in 2009, the moving force behind every cryptocurrency – the blockchain, evolved from its origin to become a leading new technology. As the technology matures, so does the job sector, associated with it – companies are starting to seek professionals rather than enthusiasts.
The companies providing blockchain-related job openings, however, have decreased their workforce expectations. The reason – decreased interest in job seekers. Indeed, one of the most popular employment websites did research, stating that although companies provide more and more blockchain-related job openings, the crypto enthusiasts with the required experience do not want to apply.
“Blockchain-related jobs increased by over 26 percent. However, we see a 53 percent decrease of job searches over the past 12 months”, the report states.
The interest decrease in 2019 made it the first year with a negative search in the blockchain sector, according to Indeed. In 2018, for example, there was a 214% growth in job openings from 2017, with a 14% increase in corresponding job searches. 2017 remains the best year in terms of blockchain job acquisition, with a 204% growth in job openings from 2016 and with a 326% increase in blockchain-related job searches.
Bitcoin paved the way for further blockchain developments and new types of digital assets. Coins and tokens are scaling up from their initial purpose of payment methods. The number of crypto-related companies expanded, as well as the need for an increase of workforce behind every blockchain project. Indeed reports 1,457 percent growth in job offerings between September 2015 and September 2019. The job searches, however, gained “only” 469 percent.
The main reason behind the explosion of crypto job offerings is the ICO boom in 2017, which created a large number of projects, aiming to raise funds in a new way. The increase, however, was followed by a massive drop, wiping 85% of the total market capitalization of the crypto sector. Over 1,000 crypto projects shut operations in 2018, according to TechCrunch. Regulators also managed to bring the trust in the crypto sector down, driving away potential workers, due to regulatory uncertainty, which drowned numerous projects.
Despite the rough year for the entire crypto sector, some projects continued to grow and generate job opportunities. Binance, Coinbase, Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, and Wallmart are just some of the examples.
Companies are mostly hiring full-stack developers, software engineers, front-enders, and software architects. Media and management comes second. Due to the high demand for specialists, there is not much of a supply.