The increased popularity of blockchain, the technology behind cryptocurrency, has resulted in new jobs in the tech industry. Research from employment search engine Indeed shows that the number of postings referencing blockchain, bitcoin, and cryptocurrency has increased by a staggering 621% since 2015. The site also reports an even higher increase of 1,065% more searches mentioning these terms. (Forbes) As companies continue to embrace this new technology, there is an increase in demand for candidates who have experience working with it or the desire to learn.

Beyond Bitcoin: The Rise of Blockchain Technology

Though blockchain is most commonly associated with cryptocurrency, there are various uses for the technology. Blockchain’s ability to store all the changes made to its data makes it difficult to hack, which could prove to be an asset for different areas of business. According to Derek Martin, a Cloud Solutions Architect at Microsoft, the four industries that he believes could best employ the use of blockchain technology are finance, retail and manufacturing, healthcare, and government.

Dominic Tancredi, Co-Founder of product agency Dom & Tom, says that his company plans to support the professional growth of team members that are sharing their research and experiments in the field of Blockchain. “I could see us having a dedicated team in 2-3 years as the technology stack grows in adoption and requires specialists,” he says.

Daniel Mason, VP of Business Development at Springcoin agrees, “I expect this explosion in demand to continue to grow throughout 2018 as blockchain continues to shift from its niche positioning to a mainstream technology trend that many startups and larger companies will be pursuing.”

Increase in Technical Roles Using Blockchain

According to Velas Commerce founder Hannah Rosenberg, blockchain is a candidate’s market. “What I have seen is that there is currently much more demand for blockchain and smart contract developers than there is supply,” she says. “An experienced developer with even a little blockchain exposure can get picked up quite quickly to work on very interesting projects.”

Mason, can also attest to the high demand. “Engineers with relevant blockchain experience are extremely hard to find, as the technology is relatively new but has exploded in popularity over the past year,” he states.

The good news is that expert knowledge of Blockchain is not always a requirement. Companies are looking for candidates who are genuinely interested in the technology and willing to learn it as well as candidates who can contribute right from the start.

Tech Jobs in Blockchain Beyond Cryptocurrency

Looking to get involved in blockchain? You’ll need strong back-end skills, knowledge of the fundamentals of cryptography—the computerized encoding and decoding of information— and a genuine interest in blockchain technology.

According to Gavin Pacini, Senior Consultant in Deloitte's EMEA Blockchain Lab, agility and the ability to adapt are also required when working with a new technology such as blockchain. “It’s not an established platform so it’s a real learning curve. We’ve had cases where we’ve had to dig through the source code of open source projects which normally isn’t required when using existing technologies but with blockchain, we don’t have a choice,” he says.

Due to blockchain’s growth in popularity, a variety of online courses and certifications are now available courtesy of IBM, Blockchain Council, and Udemy, to name a few. Many of these courses are offered at little to no cost. Another great way to build your understanding of the technology? Local Meetups! Tech in Motion has a variety of upcoming blockchain events coming down the pipeline.

Click here to see upcoming Tech in Motion events on emerging technologies like this.

Once you have built out your understanding and required skills, be sure to look out for available blockchain jobs. Here are a few examples of available jobs:

• Blockchain Engineer
• Blockchain Developer
• Mining Technician
• Full-Stack Developer
• Bitcoin Front-End Developer
• Blockchain Project Manager
• Data Scientist

The rising popularity of blockchain has created many new opportunities for professionals, startups, and enterprise companies alike. As this technology proves to be useful for more than cryptocurrency, individuals with experience and a passion for blockchain will continuously be in high demand.