DeFi is the fastest growing sector in crypto, with billions of dollars in investment capital flowing into companies that show the most potential of becoming the next crypto unicorn.
The crypto staking industry is getting a significant cut of the investment pie, with VC firms and investors seeing the huge potential of capturing the staking market in decentralized financial future. Specifically, the most popular investments in recent months have been in the liquid staking and NFT staking spaces.
With such an inflow of funds, crypto staking jobs are becoming some of the best paid positions out there for people who are looking to kickstart a career in crypto.
As you may expect, we’re always on the lookout for candidates with technical knowledge, mainly Platform Engineers & Infra-Software Engineers. But today, there’s also a huge demand for people who can bridge the gap between the technical and non-technical so if you’re passionate about crypto, you’ll definitely find something out there for you.
In this article, we’ll go over some of the most in-demand jobs in the crypto staking space right now, and the skills you need in order to be able to apply for them.
Blockchain / Smart Contract Developer
Developers were, and still remain, the lifeblood of tech. No matter how to look at it, even if you have the best user experience, design and the best marketing team on the planet, unless you have a great dev team, you’re not going anywhere (well, maybe except in the NFT space).
The crypto staking & DeFi space is thirsty for experienced Smart Contract developers, and due to the increased demand, smaller projects are also accepting Junior developers as well. In fact, many are willing to accept developers fresh out of bootcamp, and don’t require any degrees. They aim to build fast and on the cheap, and then hope to catch any mistakes during the auditing process.
Smart Contract Developer Salary
Developers and Engineers in the crypto space, similarly to traditional tech, usually enjoy the highest salaries and benefits. The average base salary for a remote Blockchain / Smart contract developers is $145,000 per year, with a low base salary of $100,000 and a high base salary of $200,000. Get up-to-date and worldwide numbers here.
Smart Contract Developer Required Job Skills
The main language of blockchain smart contracts is Solidity, with Vyper being a competitor. Solidity was developed by Gavin Wood to solve the unique problems Ethereum faced in 2014, and it’s now the default language of all Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible chains.
This means that whether you are developing on Ethereum, Avalanche, Polygon, Binance Smart Chain (BSC), or any other EVM chain, you are going to need to know the ins and outs of Solidity. Solana is one example of a blockchain which does not use Solidity, but rather the pre-existing languages Rust and C/C++.
How To Learn dApp & Smart Contract Development
Learning how to become a developer sounds intimidating, but a smart contract developer? That sounds completely terrifying. Even for those with programming experience. But… Don’t throw in the towel just yet.
Yes, Web3 development is different than traditional programming, but in many aspects, it’s also the same. Many skills overlap, and those with programming fundamentals with be quite surprised at how fast they pick up smart contracts. It only sounds scary.
In addition, there are a lot of great tools for absolute beginners as well.
Our recommended way to get started is Solidity. A great website for beginners to start with is CryptoZombies.
CryptoZombies offers 100% free In-browser step-by-step lessons take you from the very basics of Solidity to creating your own fully-functional blockchain-based game. Even by the end of Lesson 1 (which can be completed in one sitting), you’ll know enough to officially call yourself a Blockchain developer!
Social Media Manager / Community Lead
Due to the rampant competition between staking companies, especially with the rise of liquid staking and yield farming – this position has caught fire. Community is everything in crypto.
If you have strong social media game and proven experience in building up hype and a solid following, getting a job in crypto staking and in DeFi would be more than a breeze. Not only that, you’d likely be able to negotiate a package that includes options/equity depending on how good you are.
If you’re an absolute beginner though, your journey will be longer, and you might want to work on building up your game before applying, if you want to get good offers.
Social Media Manager Salary
Despite not having high level tech and education requirements (like development positions), social media marketers enjoy high salaries, with significant growth opportunities. The average base salary for a remote blockchain community manager is $61,000 per year, with a low base salary of $40,000 and a high base salary of $100,000. Get up-to-date and worldwide numbers here
Social Media Manager Required Job Skills
Being a social media rockstar requires you to speak fluent crypto, be up to date with everything that’s going on in the space. Staking companies are heavily involved in social media – Crypto Twitter, Reddit, email, Telegram, Discord.
How To Learn Social Media Management
Focus on copywriting, working with designers, building connections and collaborations, and get your name out there. A great place to start is CopyBlogger. Also, start building a great Twitter profile.
UX/UI Designer
User experience is probably the most lacking part of crypto. And it makes sense. With the speed at which the industry innovates, it’s usually the first thing that gets overlooked in favour of shipping code and being first to market with a new app or feature.
But at the same time, it also created a huge opportunity for Web2 UX/UI designers to break into the crypto job market. Even junior level designers will find that they can significantly improve many of the dApps and services in the space, and get rewarded handsomely for their work at well-funded startups.
Senior designers with impressive portfolios can aim for jobs with the larger more established players, or opt-in to get experience at a DeFi startup that would also be open to offer options/equity stake.
UX/UI Designer Salary
The average base salary for a remote blockchain UI/UX designer is $75,000 per year, with a low base salary of $40,000 and a high base salary of $110,000.
UX/UI Designer Required Skills
These days, the requirement from most UX/UI designers is to be hybrids. That means that you are usually expected to also be a designer, and even a bit of a Product Manager. How many hats you end up wearing will depend on the size of the company you end up working with. The most ‘start-up’ it is, the more responsibilities you will end up having.
This is again one of those positions that can be achieved by going through some bootcamps rather than degrees, and expect to find work. Most companies today use Figma, Axure and Webflow. Surprisingly, Photoshop also continues to be popular, so if you have experience – it’s a big plus.
How To Learn UX/UI Design
This is again one of those positions that can be achieved by going through some bootcamps rather than degrees, and expect to find work. Most companies today use Figma, Axure and Webflow. Rather than recommending a specific course on Udemy or Coursera, the best thing you can do is find a high-level bootcamp on Google that would usually last serveral weeks or months. Aim for those who are at the very least 50 hours or more, so you can get some good fundamentals.
After that, sign up for Upwork and get some basic projects going in order to build a portfolio that you can later use to apply for the high-paid positions.
Final Thoughts On Getting A Job In Crypto Staking & DeFi
There are plenty of opportunities to get a job in crypto, whether its one of the ideas listed on this page, or some of the other in-demand positions, this space is thirsty for talent. Just look at some of these salaries!
Your main focus as always should be to demonstrate that you can provide value. Companies in the crypto space are mostly focused on talent that’s highly motivated, able to work fast and adjust themselves to the fast paced reality of the industry without getting overwhelmed. If you think that’s you – get on it! Also, getting paid in crypto is always cool.
