According to crypto-specialist recruiters, they have not seen a decline in job opportunities in crypto-related fields despite the many layoffs in other tech industries.
Despite high-profile cases of staff cuts and hiring freezes in big tech companies, the crypto job market is not slowing down.
Many tech companies announced in recent weeks that they would be cutting back their staff due to a decline in traditional markets and a lower demand for products that were popular during the pandemic. Recent hiring cuts were announced by Robinhood, Amazon, and Uber.
Netflix, the movie streaming service, terminated 150 U.S.-based employees on Tuesday amid a slowdown of revenue growth. After failing to reach its revenue targets, Meta, Facebook’s parent company, instituted a hiring freeze on most of its senior and mid-level positions.
However, the crypto industry is not immune to these challenges. After posting a $430million loss during Q1, Coinbase announced that it would be slowing down its hiring. In an internal memo, Coinbase’s chief operating officer Emelie Choi informed employees that plans to triple headcount by 2022 are on hold because of market conditions. The company must “slow down hiring and reassess the needs of our headcount against our highest priority business goals”.
Are we in the midst of a significant slowdown in hiring crypto industry professionals? Cointelegraph spoke with crypto recruiters who disagree.
“We haven’t seen a slowdown with crypto hiring. “We are as busy and as active as ever,” stated Neil Dundon, founder of Crypto Recruit.
Dundon’s company specializes exclusively in the recruitment sector of blockchain and cryptocurrency.
“We have a team that is based in the US, Asia/Pac, and Europe regions. The demand for our services is equal across all three countries.”
Cointelegraph spoke with Kevin Gibson, founder and CEO of proof Search to tell us that layoffs in tech have had minimal or no effect on his clients in crypto.
Gibson stated that he has only heard of two companies that let people go. Gibson said that although this may change over the next month, any gaps will be immediately filled by quality, well-funded projects. As a candidate, you won’t notice any differences… If you lose your job, you will get multiple offers very quickly.
VC funding runways
Gibson stated that the majority of crypto projects are still at the start-up stage and in the early stages of their lives cycle and still rely on venture capital (VC), funding they received last year.
“The vast majority (of high quality) projects were funded last fiscal year, so they will continue to build and hire. It was so difficult to find the right talent for each role, that any pullback from projects already funded will not be noticed.”
CB Insights’ Q1 22 report reported that venture funding reached an all-time high during the quarter. Venture funding raised $9.2 Billion, beating the previous quarter of $400 M in Q4 2021. It was the seventh consecutive quarter with record-breaking blockchain funding.
Dundon stated that he has witnessed more traditional tech companies and employees venture into crypto, enriching the crypto job marketplace.
“At minimum, most forward-thinking tech companies allocate some budget […] to look at how blockchain might be integrated into their existing models […] More companies are venturing into this area and more candidates are flocking to this space as traditional tech companies downsize.”
An study by Linkedin was released in January. It found that the number of crypto-related job openings jumped 395 per cent in the U.S. between 2020 and 2021, compared with only a 98 per cent increase in the tech sector during the same time period. The most popular job titles were those of blockchain developers and engineers.
Glassdoor estimates that the average annual salary for a blockchain developer is US$109 766. The average annual salary for a blockchain engineer is US$105,180.
Dundon was asked if the crypto bear market could lead to more layoffs at crypto companies. He said that he didn’t think so.
“Crypto hiring has in the past tended to slow down when Bitcoin prices tumble.” Dundon explained that it was almost directly related to the price.
“This time, it’s different because crypto companies now manage their Treasury in a more responsible manner […] This all leads to a more stable hiring market.”
