Could blockchain be your next big career choice?
Despite the crypto crash of 2022, you might be surprised to know that blockchain is alive and well – outside of crypto.
Cryptocurrencies soared in early 2022, following a significant increase in popularity and adoption, especially with the growing interest in non-fiat digital assets. Bitcoin, the largest and first cryptocurrency, hit an all-time high of over $65,000, prompting a surge in institutional investment and public interest.
Other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum saw significant growth, with the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms built on the blockchain. The year also saw several high-profile companies and financial institutions invest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, at the time lending legitimacy to an industry that has often been dogged by security and regulatory concerns.
2022 may have started well, but things had gone awry in late spring, when crypto crashed back to earth with a bang. Cryptocurrencies Terra and Luna failed, as did trading platform Voyager.
Other failures included crypto hedge funds Three Arrows Capital, BlockFi and Celsius. In November, crypto giant FTX collapsed, and the shock of the failure deeply affected the volatile crypto market, which lost billions and fell below $1 trillion in value.
For those working in the crypto space, job losses hit hard. Around 23,600 employees lost their jobs in the crypto sector until December 2022, the industry’s highest number of layoffs ever recorded in one year. Coinbase lost around 1,160 workers, Kraken laid off 30% of its workforce and Bybit made 1,020 layoffs.
Given this environment, it can be easy to assume that a job in blockchain, the technology that enables the existence of cryptocurrency, is not a safe career path. It is true that cryptocurrencies are what brought the existence of the blockchain to widespread knowledge, there are actually many other industries that use it as well.
Blockchain technology is widely used in the wilder financial sphere for payments, money transfers, digital identity and wealth management. It has applications in manufacturing and supply chain management, offering better ways of doing traceability, transparency and accountability.
The healthcare sector has adopted blockchain’s ledger technology for the secure sharing of medical records and data processing, and global governments are using it for voting systems, land registries and identity management.
There are many other applications for the technology – in real estate, where it can be used for property listings, property transfers and mortgage processing – and in retail and gaming. Right now, potential applications are still being researched and developed, and the level of adoption and implementation of blockchain varies across different industries.
If this is an area that interests you, there are many open roles to discover. The three jobs below are in finance, digital change and professional services. In addition, you will find many more blockchain jobs on the VentureBeat Job Board.
Performance Engineer (Blockchain), Ripple, San Francisco
Ripple’s mission is to enable payments in every way, everywhere for everyone. It is looking for a Performance Engineer to join a growing team responsible for the performance, scalability and reliability of the XRPL network. You will work with teams across the organization to obtain performance requirements and load forecasting calculations and participate in the entire software release lifecycle, from software design and development to product deployment. You will also develop comprehensive load simulators and all necessary tools required for setup and testing, conduct iterative performance testing; bottleneck detection/removal; code profiling and comprehensive adjustments at all levels (OS, network, software and database). To apply, you need a bachelor’s degree or higher in software engineering, computer science or equivalent industry experience, and up to four years of work experience in software engineering. Apply for this position now.
Blockchain & Digital Assets Manager, Deloitte, Portland
Deloitte is expanding its Audit & Assurance Blockchain & Digital Assets practice and is seeking a Blockchain & Digital Assets Manager, who will oversee the day-to-day operations of the engagement teams. You will work closely with the team to tackle accounting and other issues while using Deloitte’s cutting edge technology. Additionally, you will lead teams in providing internal controls specific to blockchain and digital asset services. To apply, you will require a bachelor’s degree in accounting or a related field (or equivalent years of relevant experience) as well as five years of public accounting or equivalent experience, and two years of experience leading and supervising teams. Get all the information about the job here.
Blockchain Software Engineer, SAIC, Chantilly
SAIC is seeking a Blockchain Software Engineer to lead key blockchain initiatives, including end-to-end design and deployment of blockchain products and solutions, and to effectively communicate between developers, managers and end users. You will create a repository/library of blockchain technology capabilities, experiment with cloud-native, open source tools and advise on new tools to find optimal solutions. To be considered, you need a bachelor’s degree in engineering and nine years of related experience, as well as extensive experience as a computer programmer or application developer, and at least four years of experience working with cloud-based solutions, various open source code. based frameworks, analytical tools and recognize their weaknesses. See the full job description here.
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