Let’s Explore the Web3 Talent Trend at BlockTempo Meetup
As June approaches, many fresh graduates are considering the Web3 industry as a career option. With the increasing popularity and standardization of the industry, professionals from various fields are also switching to Web3 as a new direction for exploration.
If you want to enter the Web3 industry, how should you prepare yourself? How can Web3 teams find suitable talents to help their teams grow? How can companies embrace innovative technologies and build their own Web3 teams? These were the main topics discussed at the BlockTempo Meetup event in May, which focused on talent market trends, corporate strategies, and talent cultivation in the Web3 era.
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What are the hottest job positions in the Web3 job market?
Yu-Hsuan Lee, an advisor at JobMenta by Yourator, shared insights into the job market trends in the Web3 industry.
In the current Web3 job market, Lee observed three major types of job positions that are in high demand. The first is Compliance officers, which is a position that most people would expect. In the past year, regulations have become stricter, and Web3 companies can hardly operate without this role. Therefore, many Web3 companies actively seek the help of headhunters to find suitable talents for compliance positions. However, Lee pointed out that compliance talents are not easy to find because these professionals are usually risk-averse and conservative, and they are not willing to join an industry that evolves rapidly. Moreover, Web3 companies hope to recruit talents from the traditional finance industry, but finance professionals tend to seek stable career paths and have a lower acceptance of risks, so they are generally not willing to switch to the Web3 industry.
The second type of job position is software engineers or developers, which are highly in demand in both Web3 and Web2 software technology fields. Lee also observed that when Web3 companies recruit app engineers, they no longer emphasize the distinction between iOS and Android but prefer talents with Flutter or React Native skills.
The third type of job position is related to market expansion, such as marketing and community managers. However, compared to the first two types of positions, the demand for these roles is relatively low recently.
Hard skills that Web3 talents need to have
Lee highlighted that the ideal candidates would have relevant industry backgrounds, especially those with previous experience in the Web3 or blockchain field. However, candidates with fintech or finance industry experience are also highly valued by Web3 companies because of their deep understanding of financial knowledge and operational logic.
The second important skill is foreign language proficiency. Since Web3 companies usually operate in international markets and have multinational teams, good language skills are crucial. In addition, Web3 companies often need to absorb a large amount of international documents and information to stay synchronized with the global market, so language ability is absolutely necessary. Of course, the specific language requirements vary for different positions, but overall, this is the basic expectation of Web3 companies for job candidates.
Challenges faced by Web3 companies in talent recruitment
Ming-Hui Chen, the Chief Operating Officer of MaiCoin Group, shared insights into talent management and strategies in the Web3 industry from a corporate perspective.
Chen stated that the virtual currency industry has an urgent need for talents, but unfortunately, this demand has not been fully met. To solve this problem, MaiCoin Group actively collaborates with multiple universities. For example, the company has organized a recruitment fair in collaboration with National Taiwan University to showcase MaiCoin’s job vacancies, requirements, and brand to students.
In addition to expanding business and partnership relationships, it is also important to recruit talents. In addition to finding professionals with rich experience in the workplace, the academic community is also a good source of talent. After all, many universities now have blockchain and virtual currency-related clubs, which MaiCoin actively engages with. Chen hopes to discover and cultivate more young talents who are passionate about the virtual currency industry through cooperation with schools.
Three challenges in talent recruitment for Web3 companies
Chen also pointed out three major challenges in the recruitment process.
First, the virtual currency industry is highly technical, and the negative news surrounding it has led many people to have misconceptions about this industry, making potential job seekers hesitant to join the blockchain field.
Second, due to unfamiliarity with virtual currencies, job seekers face many challenges when entering this industry, which can come from themselves, their families, friends, and the overall industry environment. Job seekers need to understand and accept the nature of the work they are getting into and confidently introduce their roles in the virtual currency industry when facing inquiries from others. However, due to the short development history of the virtual currency industry, with Bitcoin being only 16 years old, there is still no unified standard or regulation globally. Therefore, job seekers need to face self-doubt and various challenges in team collaboration after entering this field.
The third challenge is external communication. In terms of anti-money laundering regulations and cybersecurity, the virtual currency industry has not yet established complete norms, which leads to doubts and concerns from many people about this industry. In addition, there are many fraudulent activities carried out under the guise of company names in the market, so it is necessary to learn how to communicate with the outside world, clarify misunderstandings, and defend one’s own and the company’s reputation.
Chen also mentioned an interesting phenomenon where many people believe that joining the virtual currency industry can quickly make them wealthy by speculating and making huge profits. However, she emphasized that this industry requires people with in-depth understanding of technology and the market, rather than mere speculators.
Web2 talents are also applicable to Web3
Yueh Li, the Deputy Head of the Digital Application Department at CTBC Bank’s Digital Technology Division, shared her views on Web3 talents from the perspective of crossing over from traditional finance to blockchain.
In Web3, the infrastructure is decentralized, which means that even if the servers of a platform crash, as long as the data exists on the blockchain, the data and interactions can be restored.
In contrast, Web2 primarily operates through centralized platforms, such as e-commerce websites. E-commerce adjusts traditional retail through the interactive features of the Web2 network, especially in terms of data analysis, such as conversion rates, which improves efficiency. Although traditional retail also has the concept of conversion rates, e-commerce utilizes online data for centralized marketing and operations, resulting in better results than before.
Li pointed out that talents from both of these areas can contribute to Web3. Firstly, there are important technical talents who are familiar with blockchain and decentralized technologies. However, these technical experts are often financially independent and difficult to attract to the corporate sector. The second type of talent comes from Web2 experts, such as e-commerce and online marketing professionals, as the skills in retail or other fields are equally applicable to Web3.
Similarly, in the financial field, Li believes that many Web3 financial experts are also outstanding in traditional finance, so the strengths of Web3 talents are not limited to the Web3 field but based on their deep experience and expertise in finance or other fields.
Li also emphasized that Web3 talents need to have diverse skills, similar to skill trees in games. These skill trees include keeping up with the latest digital financial news, participating in projects, and executing and learning professional knowledge in different fields. He stated that one major characteristic of innovative fields is rapid market changes, so talents need to have the ability to quickly adjust and adapt.
Web3 requires diverse talents
Chao-Fu Peng, the Chairman of Taiwan Blockchain University Alliance, used survey data to illustrate that in the development of the cryptocurrency industry, about one-third of job opportunities are concentrated in exchanges. However, these statistics do not provide a comprehensive picture as Web3 has a characteristic that many jobs are not formally counted.
For example, many people form teams with a few friends to engage in activities such as cryptocurrency trading. Although they do not register as companies, they form a physical entity, and some people refer to themselves as decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).
In addition, there are many temporary project teams in the Web3 field. These teams may consist of smart contract experts, front-end and back-end developers, and talents responsible for external communication. They accept cryptocurrency payments such as USDT for their projects, which are not captured by traditional statistical methods. Therefore, although exchanges occupy an important position in statistical data, many Web3 jobs are scattered in informal teams and projects.
Looking at LinkedIn data, blockchain-related skills were listed as one of the popular skills in 2020, with STEM-related positions dominating, while talents with humanities backgrounds were relatively less involved in this field. However, Peng believes that the situation has been changing over time as talents from humanities backgrounds are gradually finding their place in the Web3 field.
Overall, the working environment in Web3 is like a startup company, requiring diverse types of talents. From technical experts to marketeers, legal advisors, and various professionals, a wide range of talents is needed to support operations. Therefore, not only talents with finance and technology backgrounds have opportunities, but experts from other fields can also find suitable roles in Web3.