By Jeffrey Scholz, Founder of RareSkills.io
Automation and AI might be taking over the world, but people remain the most valuable resource, especially in Web3. In this fast-paced industry defined by new technologies and novel solutions, a project is only as good as the team behind it, making assembling the right kind of talent a task of utmost importance for Web3 organizations.
But, the word on the street is that finding Web3 talent is challenging. The general consensus is that there is a shortage of developers and engineers in the space. Is that really the case, though? And if so, how can Web3 projects accomplish the crucial task of building the right teams?
Does Web3 have a massive shortage of developers?
In an industry buzzing with innovation, every organization wants to keep its talent pool ahead of its competitors. More often than not, projects hire looking to achieve that.
Efforts typically begin with a job posting on LinkedIn or one of the many Web3 job boards around. The posting will include job requirements and hopefully, enough benefits to attract the best candidate available. But the results aren’t always as desired.
Many hiring efforts are unsuccessful. More often than not, the process concludes without a worthy acquisition. With many projects experiencing this, the narrative that Web3 has a massive shortage of developers and engineers has arisen.
However, upon closer inspection, it seems that's not entirely accurate. For one, the average blockchain developer job posting attracts hundreds of applications. It's also not rare to come across self-described Web3 engineers across LinkedIn and Twitter.
So, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that Web3’s human resource shortage isn’t as problematic as some would suggest. There are tens of thousands of actual developers familiar with Web3 concepts and technologies.
What could be the problem then?
The blockchain space moves at a lightning pace. With new developments occurring every day, very few developers can keep up.
Take zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs for instance. The privacy solution has garnered a lot of traction, having proven its potential as a game changer. Thus, it is now a skill in demand. But how many engineers are actually skilled at ZK Proofs? Compared to the overall talent pool, not that many. Unfortunately, it's the same with many other new tools and techniques.
The fact is, out of the hundreds of applications for a position, few if any actually have the required skills. They might have a fair skill and knowledge level, but the expertise is missing.
Still, the Web3 landscape continues to evolve, marching forward and demanding more skill with each and every new iteration, oblivious to this huge problem.
To survive, Web3 projects need a different approach to bolstering their engineering talent. Otherwise, they will remain trapped in a vicious cycle of creating job postings, processing applications, and interviewing potential candidates with no net progress.
Charting a new course for Web3 talent success
Web3 doesn’t have a total lack of talent; otherwise, job ads wouldn’t attract hundreds of applicants. Skill gaps are its biggest problem. So, it is more appropriate that efforts towards raising talent levels reflect that. And that is where training, a tool often ignored in Web3, comes in.
Instead of repeatedly and unsuccessfully trying to bring in new hires, Web3 organizations might better solve their talent conundrum by filling in the skill gaps in existing teams.
As it turns out, this is exactly what training aims to achieve. It can be effectively employed as a tool to empower existing teams with the preeminent and high-demand skills in Web3 in what is a streamlined and potentially more efficacious approach to talent management than hiring. And the advantages are substantial.
For one, by circumventing the necessity for external recruitment, an organization that trains its existing developers obviates the risk of making a bad hire.
Training also serves as an effective strategy for retaining top-tier talent. An organization that invests in a developer’s skills conveys its commitment to the growth of the individual, which speaks to them directly.
For new members of the team, the training process is an accurate discerning gauge for future potential. The eagerness an individual demonstrates for skill acquisition is a powerful predictor of their capacity to evolve into exceptional engineers.
Yet in all this, a valid query might arise; what if the developers we train depart? However, the more pressing consideration is, what if we don’t train them and they stay, burdened by skill gaps that impede optimal performance in a rapidly evolving landscape?
Upskilling: Key to Web3 excellence
Developer training plays a pivotal role in Web3 talent management and more importantly, it transcends an investment in skill. It is an investment in the sustained competitive advantage and success of a project; one that in the coming years, might just be the difference between a top-tier organization and the rest.
Knowing this, it is imperative that organizations become selective about the kind of programs they bring to their engineers. The effectiveness of training lies not in the mere act but in the precision of it; it hinges on alignment with the specific needs of the organization.
So, for many teams, the crux lies in finding programs backed by expert-level resources that impart the most coveted skills currently in demand. These are not just generic Web3 boot camps; instead, they are bespoke solutions meticulously crafted for existing engineering teams.
For organizations that successfully implement such solutions, the benefits are immediate. By fortifying existing teams, talent acquisition and its accompanying costs and challenges are no longer a problem, allowing the project to focus more on innovating and building transformative web3 solutions.
About the author
Jeffrey Scholz is Founder of RareSkills.io, a leading advanced coding bootcamp for web3 engineers, and former leader of Yahoo’s video machine learning team. RareSkills is renowned for training senior engineers and has educated professionals at top blockchain companies, such as Coinbase, Compound Finance, and Consensys. Scholz’s vision for RareSkills is to be the go-to source for advanced developer training in blockchain.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.