After crypto crash, is the market for blockchain jobs still strong?

With the recent crypto crash, and its subsequent impact on tech companies like Coinbase, it’s worth asking whether pursuing a career in crypto-related technologies can still prove lucrative, especially those involving the blockchain.

It’s a difficult question to answer, mostly because no one seems quite sure how crypto and its related technologies and industries – including blockchain and “web3” – will play out. Some technologists are betting their careers that the internet will evolve into a decentralized form dependent on blockchain, crypto and token-based ownership. But others dismiss many of these concepts as buzzwords or outright scams.

Perhaps it’s useful to take a step back and crunch some data via Lightcast (formerly Emsi Burning Glass), which collects and analyzes data from millions of job postings across the country. According to Lightcast, some 38,251 job postings in the past 12 months have asked for blockchain skills, and the platform predicts that employer appetite for these skills will grow by 24.6 percent over the next two years.

Although there is not as much employer activity as, say, software development or network administration, it is still quite robust. Blockchain-related skills also pay a median salary of $99,000, which can quickly rise into the six-figure range with the right combination of experience and specialization. It’s also pretty good, especially compared to other technical jobs; according to the latest Dice Tech salary report, the average technologist earns $104,566 per year (a 6.9 percent increase between 2020 and 2021).

Of course, blockchain is not synonymous with crypto; There are a lot of technologists out there trying to build blockchain platforms for tracking shipments or creating smart contracts, and they don’t really care about minting a new coin or figuring out how to build a better crypto wallet. But whatever the goal of the technologists working on these technologies, the concepts surrounding blockchain are likely to remain key—making tracking blockchain-related employment and wage data a good way to keep an eye on the segment’s overall health.

Going forward, we will see if the salary figures and job advertisements for blockchain start to drop. If that happens, it’s likely that the industry – and the technology that underpins it – will be in serious trouble achieving its dreams of dominance. But if jobs and salaries for blockchain-related jobs continue to grow, it could mean bright skies ahead.