Solidity Developer? Attack the Blockchain To Earn Real Coin

Could being a Solidity Developer that understands Smart Contracts represent your new career path?

A great question which I’ll attempt to answer below. For the short answer, yes, being a Solidity Developer is a huge opportunity.

I’ve been in the world of tech since 2015, placing some of the finest minds into some truly superb roles. Devs, engineers, PMs, you name it, I’ve worked with them in gambling, SaaS, fintech, edtech and martech.

But, in all honesty, I didn’t expect the boom within Blockchain and Solidity developers. It’s having a profound effect on the industry, no doubt about it. And because of its very nature, it’s not going away. 

It’s not hard to see the HUGE potential of the Blockchain for skilled developers. But, finding a job or career where the platform is community-led with no true ecosystem that’s NEW, most would argue it’s not possible.

I’m now seeing opportunities for contracts that need Solidity as the language. But, it’s not as simple as “find me a Solidity developer”.

Solidity Developer Roles Are Big
Solidity Developer? Let’s Talk!

An Unknown To Many

From the feedback I get from hirers, what’s proving tricky is leveraging the dev skills in the somewhat murky world of the Block. Finding people who are genuinely excited about the contract they’re going to deliver is difficult. It’s new, fresh, and uncharted, meaning people are in short thrift. 

Along with limitations associated with Solidity, it presents issues when finding skilled devs with expertise. This highlights an issue that’s raised its head more than once – more opportunities if you’re a Solidity Developer, not enough understanding about the platform to “solidify” how companies should bring in talent. 

But, and this is a big but, if you’re the right type of person, you can look to double your salary or take-home pay. The industry is THAT lucrative. Particularly if you’ve launched your own contracts with proof that you’re as good as you say you are. Couple this with all the hype around NFT’s too, you’re in demand.

NFT’s Are In The NEWs

When something hits the BBC in the UK, it’s usually a pretty big deal. When a release about digital tech breaks on Newsround, the “kids” version of the news, you’ve got a big story on your hands. 

In September 2021, five news features focused on NFT’s (Non-Fungible Tokens if you like brackets). “Side-Eye Chloe”, the famous meme, sold for £54,000. Big numbers?

Not when compared to story two, a 12-year-old boy selling his Weird Whales artwork as an NFT. £290,000 in Ethereum banked since the young dev coded his program to create the set of 3,350 emoji-type whales – impressive.

The last story for the Beeb, French firm Sorare has raised an incredible total from their NFT fantasy football cards. With the likes of Rio Ferdinand pumping investment in, a total of $680m (£498m) was raised. 

Big money, lots of attention and enormous opportunities for the right type of developers. Particularly Solidity developers. 

A Meme We Don’t Own The Digital Rights For

Are You Into Solidity?

If you’re reading this, then you probably have. 

Possibly as a hobbyist or slightly away from the daytime dev job. If you’re thinking about investing time into it and are keen to have it as a language, it’s influenced by C++, Python and JavaScript. So, knowing them will make it feel more familiar. 

But, it’s not easy. According to this article, it’s challenging. In fact, please read it to find out why. 

All in all, it’s a bit sketchy when it comes to where you go next and what format you need to follow. Now, after some searching online, there are a few “official” (or more official) channels out there. 

  1. There’s an organisation called The Blockchain Council, over in CA. It’s not been on my radar, nor has it been mentioned within any job spec I’ve seen, but from their site, it’s worth having a look. For individuals, it’s $229.00 per year for a membership, giving you access to (what looks like) good training. If it gives you an edge in an application, it’s worth a look. Plus, there’s a Certified NFT course, lasting 6 hours, setting you back another $229.00. Money well spent? I genuinely don’t know is the answer
  1. There’s also this handy Udemy course, costing just a fraction of the one above (£13.99). Again, it’s aimed more at the novice, and nothing in my network has highlighted this as a necessity
  1. The social route – Twitter, Telegram and Discord being home to some of the greatest Solidity minds you’ll ever likely see. Follow them, look at their content, pour over their videos – you can learn a lot from their skills. However, a word of advice, those who shout loudest AREN’T always the ones that you should trust

How to land a Solidity Developer Job

Or rather, how to find a contract that you’ll find exciting enough to see through on Blockchain. 

If you find one, the next piece of advice would be to show your Smart Contracts. Ones that have been inspected and read by Blockchain supporters. Answer what the objective of the project was or what was the contract looking to solve? As a recruiter, these are the questions I’ll be using to screen you. 

At some point, it’s also worth deciding what your calling is. I.e. are you going to:

  1. Go Niche – and focus solely on Solidity as your weapon of choice. Handy for junior developers with little to distract them.
  2. Go Front-End – if you’re handy at web apps, this might prove a useful route.
  3. Go Full-Stack – doing a little bit of everything.  

The middle road is proving of interest to me, web apps built to interact with Blockchain. There’s demand for these skills, and you don’t necessarily have to fully commit yourself to one language. 

From my point of view, I need to find genuinely serious people about working in the arena, whether on a contract basis or a permanent fixture. The demand is crazy, honest, and salaries are 50% higher in the worst cases or 100% in the best. And I genuinely don’t have enough quality people to put forward. 

So, please send me an email at matthew.lewis@branchtechrecruitment.com for a chat.