Let’s Get Together to Discuss Web3 Talent Trends
As graduation season approaches in June, many fresh graduates are considering the Web3 industry as a career option. With the increasing popularity and standardization of the industry, it has also attracted professionals from various fields who see Web3 as a new exploration direction.
For those who want to enter the Web3 industry, how should they prepare themselves? How can Web3 teams find suitable talents to help their teams grow? And how can companies embrace innovative technologies to build their own Web3 teams? The May event of BlockTempo Gatherings focused on three main areas: talent market trends, company strategies, and talent cultivation, inviting individuals to become key talents in the Web3 era.
Further reading:
【BlockTempo Gatherings】Why is blockchain so powerful, but still not the solution for electronic voting or concert ticketing?
Which job positions are in high demand in the Web3 job market?
Li Yu-Hsuan, a recruitment consultant at JobMenta by Yourator, first shared her insights on the trends in the Web3 job market.
According to Li, there are three main types of job positions that are in high demand in the current Web3 job market. The first is Compliance officers, which is also a position that most people would expect. Over the past year, regulations have become stricter, and Web3 companies can hardly operate without this role. Therefore, many Web3 companies actively seek help from headhunters to find suitable talents for this role. However, Li pointed out that compliance talents are not easy to find because they are usually risk-averse individuals who are more conservative and unwilling to join rapidly changing industries. Furthermore, Web3 companies want to recruit talents from the traditional finance industry, but talents in the finance industry tend to seek stable career paths and have a lower tolerance for 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 the Web3 and Web2 software technology fields. Li also observed that when Web3 companies recruit app engineers, they no longer emphasize the distinction between iOS and Android, but prefer talents with skills in Flutter or React Native.
The third type of job position is roles 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 in recent times.
Web3 talents need to have certain essential qualities
Li pointed out that the ideal candidates for Web3 positions are those with relevant industry backgrounds, especially those with previous experience in the Web3 or blockchain field. However, candidates with financial technology 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 quality is language proficiency. Since Web3 companies usually operate in international markets and have multinational teams, good language skills are important. In addition, Web3 companies often need to absorb a large amount of international documents and information to stay in sync with the global market, so language proficiency is absolutely necessary. Of course, the specific language requirements vary depending on the position, but overall, this is a basic expectation for candidates in Web3 companies.
What challenges do Web3 companies face in talent recruitment?
Chen Ming-Hui, COO of MaiCoin Group, shared her insights on talent management and strategies in the Web3 industry from a corporate perspective.
Chen stated that the virtual currency industry has a high demand for talent, but unfortunately, this demand has not been fully met. In order to solve this problem, MaiCoin Group actively collaborates with various universities. For example, the company has partnered with National Taiwan University to hold a job fair, where they showcase MaiCoin’s job openings, requirements, and brand to students.
In addition to expanding business and partnership relationships, it is also important to recruit talents. Apart from seeking professionals with rich experience in the industry, academia is also a good source of talents. 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 passionate about the virtual currency industry through collaborations with schools.
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 the industry, making potential job seekers hesitant to enter the blockchain field.
Second, due to unfamiliarity with virtual currencies, job seekers face many challenges when entering the industry, both from themselves, their families, friends, and the overall industry environment. Job seekers need to understand and accept the nature of their work in the virtual currency industry and confidently introduce their roles when questioned by others.
However, due to the short history of the virtual currency industry, with Bitcoin being around for only 16 years, there is still no unified standard or regulation for the industry’s development 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. The virtual currency industry has not yet established comprehensive regulations in terms of anti-money laundering and cybersecurity, which creates doubts and concerns among many people. In addition, there are many fraudulent activities carried out under the guise of companies 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 highlighted an interesting phenomenon: many people believe that joining the virtual currency industry can quickly make them rich and earn huge profits through speculation. However, she emphasized that the industry requires individuals with a deep understanding of technology and the market, rather than mere speculators.
Web2 talents are also applicable to Web3
Li Yue, Department Head of Digital Applications II at China Trust Bank’s Digital Technology Department, shared her views on Web3 talents from the perspective of transitioning from traditional finance to the blockchain field.
In Web3, the infrastructure is decentralized, which means that even if a platform’s servers crash, as long as the data exists on a blockchain like Ethereum, 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 Web2 networks, especially in terms of data analysis, such as conversion rates, to improve 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 is a need for skilled technical talents who are familiar with blockchain and decentralized technologies. However, these technical experts are often financially independent and difficult to attract to companies. The second type of talent comes from Web2 experts, such as e-commerce and digital marketing professionals, because skills from the retail or other fields are equally applicable to Web3.
Similarly, in the financial field, Li believes that many Web3 finance experts are also outstanding in traditional finance, so the strengths of Web3 talents are not limited to the Web3 field but are based on their deep experience and professional knowledge in finance or their original field.
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 characteristic of innovative fields is rapid market changes, so talents need to have the ability to quickly adapt and adjust.
Web3 requires diverse talents
Peng Shao-Fu, Chairman of the 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 are not comprehensive because Web3 has a characteristic where many jobs are not officially 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 a company, they form an entity, and some refer to themselves as Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO).
In addition, there are many temporary project teams in the Web3 field. These teams may consist of smart contract experts, frontend and backend developers, and talents for external communication. They accept cryptocurrency payments such as USDT for projects, which are not captured by traditional statistical methods. Therefore, although exchanges play an important role 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 being the majority, while talents from the humanities and social sciences had relatively fewer opportunities to enter this field. However, Peng believes that this situation has been changing over time as talents from the humanities find their place in the Web3 field.
Overall, the work environment in Web3 is like a startup company, requiring diverse types of talents. From technical experts to marketing professionals and legal advisors, various types of professionals are needed to support operations. Therefore, it is not only talents with financial and technological backgrounds who have opportunities, but experts from other fields can also find suitable roles in Web3.
