Crypto is hiring developers. Interested?

Estimated reading time: 24 minutes

The cryptocurrency industry is having a moment.

Bolstered by rising token prices and endorsements from the Trump administration, hiring is booming at a time when other technology firms are pulling back.

Of the 170,000 technology employees who have been laid off since the start of 2024, only 0.5% of those layoffs occurred within the crypto industry, according to data from layoffs.fyi.

“We’re making double the placements that we were making in 2024,” said Emily Landon, CEO and founder of recruitment firm The Crypto Recruiters, which has placed over 370 people in crypto jobs since 2020. “Granted it’s only two months in, but if it’s a strong signal in January and February, that usually means it’s going to be a strong year.”

The back-end of 2023 was a “bloodbath” for the crypto industry following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, creating a tough hiring environment, said Web3 recruiter Owen Healy. Hiring started to pick up in 2024 and as soon as the US election was called. Crypto projects became more ambitious with hiring in the lead up to Christmas, he said.

There’s been a 42% increase in crypto job openings since the industry entered its hiring lull following FTX’s collapse, according to tech job tracker TrueUp. 

Several recruiters describe the market as “candidate short.” Yet of the five laid-off technologists LeadDev spoke to, only one had interviewed with crypto firms. Many hadn’t even considered it as an option.

When gameplay programmer Charles George lost his job after the studio he worked for abruptly shuttered in 2023, he started to look for new jobs in the gaming industry. 

“I was not actively seeking out crypto, but I didn’t say no right away [to opportunities],” said George, who started expanding his search beyond gaming after a few months of unemployment. “I was also a lot more skeptical of crypto companies because when I look at what crypto is doing I see a lot of scams and I’m like, ‘Okay I’m going to be wary here.’”

The ideal Web3 candidate?

The ideal candidate for a Web3 role isn’t wary, according to Landon. “If you’re on the fence, I would say stay away from it,” Landon said. “I wouldn’t ever bother, it’s too difficult of an industry to get into to be wishy-washy about. If you’re all in on crypto, it’s much easier.”

Web3 refers to a decentralized vision for the internet, underpinned by blockchain tools, decentralized applications (or dapps), and cryptocurrencies. It is an evolution of Web 2.0, where static web pages largely gave way to more widely accessible, user-friendly applications.

This requirement for passion might be why few Web 2.0 developers are hearing about opportunities. Kevin, a software developer from Seattle with over 20 years of experience who has been unemployed for over nine months, has noticed a shift. The number of recruiters reaching out about opportunities generally is a lot lower and he’s had no LinkedIn outreach about crypto roles since 2022.

“I don’t have a resume that includes any crypto related stuff, so they might be skipping me,” Kevin said. “A couple years ago there were more people looking for managers.”

For every job that Landon is posting she’s getting around 500 applicants and around a fifth  have crypto experience. She admits that for developers who want to transition into crypto, recruiters, like her, might not be their best bet. “That perfect person 9.9 times out of 10 has crypto experience,” Landon said.

How to break into crypto

A lot of developers think it’s just about the code, said Aaron Hayhurst, a Web3 business manager at Savant Recruitment Experts. But being able to show passion for crypto through activity on Github, Discord, or social media is going to far outweigh a couple of years of experience, he added.

Having a prestigious former employer doesn’t hold as much weight in Web3. Some projects will be reluctant to give candidates from large tech and enterprise firms a chance for fears they will be too “corporate” or move too slowly, especially if they can’t show that passion, Landon said. 

“Take the word ‘strategy’ and ‘strategic’ off your resume because it makes people feel like you just want to point around and tell people what to do rather than actually doing the hands-on work,” she said. “It’s important for a technology leader to also be able to code.”

A challenge for developers transitioning to Web3 will be the skills gap, Hayhurst said, such as knowledge of smart contracts, building decentralized applications, and using explorers to analyze blockchain transactions. Some of the larger and more established firms, such as exchanges, will be willing to upskill strong developers who know technologies such as Node.js, Rust, and Python whereas startups will be less willing to do so, he said.

“They need people that can come in and hit the ground running,” Hayhurst said. “But, often or not, those are where, in my opinion, a lot of the times the best opportunities can be.”

Most crypto projects still haven’t found product-market fit, said Ignacio Palomera, CEO and co-founder of Web3 recruitment platform Bondex. The industry needs more commercially-minded technologists, he added, such as those who have experience in building good user experiences or products for mass adoption. Yet these types of candidates aren’t necessarily interested or aware of these roles. 

Megan, a 38-year-old from Colorado who describes herself as a “baby dev” after making a career pivot into tech, has been looking for a new front-end development role since last summer. Despite expanding her search, she’d never considered crypto. While Seattle-based Kevin – who focuses on building products rather than solving complex computer science problems – has not applied to any crypto or blockchain roles because he struggles to see the value in most crypto projects.

The reputation risk 

Anderson, a 44-year-old full-stack developer from Nebraska who has been unemployed for just over a year, hadn’t thought about experimenting with crypto, but did start to experiment with AI and LLMs after struggling to secure a role within his areas of expertise.

“Data, blockchain, and AI were in that arena in my awareness, but I think I felt a barrier to crypto,” Anderson said. “I felt it’s a little bit deeper than I might have the energy for considering different situations.”

AI is attracting a lot of talent from crypto, especially as the industry deals with reputational issues, Palomera said, but he thinks it’s worth hedging and learning blockchain skills because data will likely need to be verified on chain in the AI era.

Anderson described any prior interactions with the industry as always having a “scammy” element to it. It’s one of the reasons George was hesitant about any jobs in the industry. He expects the “friendly” regulatory environment to exacerbate these concerns.

“It’s going to be a lot less stable, it’s going to be a lot scammier, so it would make me much more hesitant to look at any crypto company,” said George, who has since returned to full-time work.

Bondex’s Palomera is tired of the “casino” mentality that has formed in the industry and says it distracts from the real things being built. It also distracts from the benefits these jobs can bring, which recruiters cite as a remote-first culture, salaries being a touch higher than Web 2.0 and an opportunity to continually learn.

“The best thing about the [crypto] industry is that you don’t need permission to start,” said Hayhurst.

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