Blockchain has recently been a buzzword among businesses looking to use the technology to tackle challenging problems. Some of that enchantment appears to be rubbing off on the industry’s job prospects. Interest in Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies has soared since the massive bull market of December 2017. Since blockchain is a new technology, there are not enough competent Blockchain developers to go around. Blockchain as a skill set combines existing programming tools and concepts, such as object-oriented programming and ledger economics, with a working knowledge of encryption. As a result, the desire for other professions in the business, such as product managers and requirements experts, is increasing. High wages drive the growing demand and short supply for workers in the blockchain.
According to a new survey, software engineers with blockchain expertise are in higher demand than ever, with the number of open opportunities having increased by more than fivefold in the last year. The request for software engineers with blockchain skills and the number of cryptocurrency jobs has increased by 517 percent in the last year. In its first-ever review of purely software engineering positions, Hired discovered blockchain development abilities scored in the top three job opportunities in almost every global area. Security engineers and embedded engineers came in second and third, with 132 percent and 76 percent year-over-year growth, respectively. According to Mehul Patel, CEO of Hired, the interest in blockchain talents has gone “through the roof” and outpaces anything he’s ever seen.
Hired, based in San Francisco, gathered its information from the resumes of over 100,000 job searchers and job advertising from over 10,000 organisations that utilise the site.
According to the survey, software professionals with blockchain abilities and working for cryptocurrency startup jobs might earn up to $157,000 in the United States. Salary drops dramatically outside of the United States, which is expected given that aggregate pay for software engineers is lesser in other locations.
2017 was a bad year for data breaches, from Equifax to Wannacry, so it’s not surprising that firms are amping up their security teams. According to statistics, demand for security experts has grown by 132 percent in the last year, trailing only blockchain engineers in growth.
Perfect Storm
A perfect storm of technological advancements has resulted in the necessity for security. As digital organizations collect and keep more customer data, data storage and security approaches have had to develop, sometimes exposing loopholes for cybercriminals who can exploit flaws and get access to sensitive information. But it’s not just a matter of plugging the holes: cybercriminals keep moving as fast as the corporates they attack, so protection is and will continue to be a priority for any business hoping to remain relevant and obtain their customers’ trust—and people expect security engineers to be in the growing market for the near future.
LinkedIn released its list of the top five emerging jobs in December, with blockchain developers topping the list. As per LinkedIn’s 2018 U.S. Emerging Jobs Report, job ads for those who can design blockchain ledgers have increased 33-fold in a year. Machine learning engineers came in second, with a 12-fold growth in employment during the same period.
Even though blockchain engineering is the most in-demand skill on Hired, only 12% of survey respondents said it is the top technology they want to study. Python was one of the most popular languages by 51% of survey respondents, whereas Javascript was named by 49%. With 19% of the vote, PHP was voted the least popular.
Another issue contributing to the mismatch between the demand for blockchain developers and the supply of accessible professionals is the difficulty in locating training facilities. Nearly two-thirds of Hired’s software engineering jobs didn’t have blockchain in the headline, but it was listed as a talent.
Blockchain training programs have started to appear and are now being taught by some of the country’s top colleges, including Princeton, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and MIT. Learning on your own or attending programs provided by blockchain vendors and industry groups such as Consensys, Blockapps, the Ethereum Foundation, and Hyperledger are probably the quickest and fastest ways to become skilled.
Conclusion
While blockchain is still a relatively young technology in terms of enterprise deployments, it is clear that interest will remain high for years to come as companies execute their numerous use cases. Digital identification, smart contracts, labour management, and remote data storage are among those applications.
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