If you have browsed job search forums, listened to Web3 podcasts, or attended a "blockchain + career" sharing session, you have probably heard these keywords: "industry growth stage, considerable income, remote work, flat management, young team".
Web3 is becoming a "new world" in the imagination of young job seekers. In the past two years, more and more graduates have begun to try to "go on the blockchain". Not only those with technical and financial backgrounds, but also non-technical people in marketing, operations, design, content, and products have begun to pack their resumes and apply for this seemingly flexible and pioneering industry.
But amid the craze, opportunities and misunderstandings coexist. On one hand, project owners are saying they are “lacking people”, while on the other hand, newcomers are saying they “can’t invest”. Behind the seemingly open entrance is a set of recruitment logic that is still taking shape.
In order to clarify this issue, in June 2025, BlockBeats and Bitget jointly launched an in-depth interview and questionnaire survey to the crypto community, collecting information on career choices, recruitment paths, and job preferences from job seekers and employers, and collected a total of 71 valid questionnaires. At the same time, interviews were conducted with people in different roles, including students, practitioners, HR, well-known headhunters in the industry, and job search platform managers.
Based on the cross-validation of quantitative and qualitative data, this article attempts to review what has happened in Web3 job hunting in the past two years from the dual perspectives of recruitment and job hunting: who is pouring in, who is recruiting, and who is staying? And a more realistic question: does a newcomer with zero experience really have a chance to break out in this "decentralized" career jungle?
1. From testing the waters to influx: What changes have taken place in Web3 job hunting in the past two years?
In the past two years, the Web3 job search ecosystem has quietly changed from "accepting all" to "selecting carefully". This industry, once regarded as a cutting-edge experimental field, is gradually becoming a realistic choice for more and more graduates with outstanding resumes.
Today, Web3 is no longer just the exclusive domain of geeks and speculators, but a large number of elite talents are actively participating in it.
1. From small circles to "985+Ivy League schools", who is flocking to Web3?
“Is this position still hiring?”
Kitty is used to this question. As the person in charge of a Web3 recruitment platform, she receives many resumes from college students every week. Those with degrees from Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, and Jiaotong University, undergraduate and master's degrees from the United States, competition resumes, investment bank internships... The quality of these resumes is completely different from the days two years ago when "as long as you are willing to come, you can get a job."
As an industry observer who is deeply involved in Web3 recruitment, Kitty clearly feels that the industry is undergoing a change in the structure of job seekers. If early participants were mostly geeks obsessed with technology or speculators with a keen sense of smell, then today's job seekers are more like top students attracted by the concept of "the next era."
According to a survey conducted by BlockBeats, among the respondents who participated in the Web3 job search questionnaire, nearly 80% (80.5%) came from 985/211 and ordinary first-class universities, of which 985/211 accounted for 36.6% and ordinary first-class universities accounted for as high as 43.9%; in addition, job seekers with overseas academic backgrounds accounted for 7.3%, while those from higher vocational colleges or other colleges accounted for only 12.2%. Among them, nearly 80% (78.05%) of the respondents said that they were willing to take Web3 as their first job. This data shows that Web3 is moving from a "small circle" to a "mainstream choice", attracting more and more talents with highly educated backgrounds to actively pour in.
From the perspective of professional background, this group of highly educated job seekers is not lacking in choices. According to a survey conducted by BlockBeats, among the respondents who participated in the Web3 job search questionnaire, 46.34% were from computer and information technology related majors, and 21.95% were from finance and business backgrounds. They originally had the opportunity to enter more stable traditional industries, and also have the competitiveness to enter mainstream industries such as large factories, securities companies, and banks.
2. A more realistic choice: why do newcomers come to Web3?
Why did these "elites" who could have taken a more stable path choose to join a track with greater volatility and unfixed rules? This is not a blind speculation, but a rational turn under the pressure of reality. To understand their choice, we must look back at what the "traditional path" they should have taken looks like now.
Batty is a 2025 graduate with a complete financial resume, including a 985 undergraduate and master's degree, an investment bank internship, and a CFA Level 3 pass. According to the "standard path", she originally thought that she could at least get a decent and stable job. However, at the end of the 2024 autumn recruitment, she only received an offer from a bank backend, with a monthly salary of less than 10,000.
This was far from her expectations. So she did not choose to start work immediately, but began to frequently search for keywords such as "Web3 jobs" and "How to enter Web3 with zero experience" on social platforms, trying to find a path that "deviated but may lead to the future."
Her story is not special. For many young people with a financial background, Web3 is no longer just a concept, but a real way to escape from the "involution".
From 2022 to 2024, the traditional financial industry has undergone a profound adjustment period. Financial positions that were once considered "golden rice bowls" are losing their former glory, and the industry as a whole is showing a severe trend of job reduction, salary decline, and internal competition .
This trend is particularly evident in the employment of fresh graduates. The leading securities firms that once recruited a large number of graduates only opened more than 100 positions in the 2024 autumn recruitment, and the entire IB front-end market only had about 500 positions, far less than the recruitment volume of a single institution in 2022. CITIC Securities, GF Securities, etc. have all been exposed to layoffs of thousands of people, and the myth of the stability of the financial "golden rice bowl" is being shattered.
Jobs are shrinking, but the barriers to entry are rising. "High education + background from a prestigious school + multiple internships" have become the basic configuration, and CFA certificates, programming skills, macro vision, English writing, investment research frameworks, etc. have gradually become "entry tickets". Job seekers have joined the "employment competition" in order to stand out.
More and more students are involved in the fierce competition for jobs, but high investment does not necessarily bring returns. According to salary intelligence data, in 2024, the starting salary of grassroots employees in first-tier cities of state-owned banks is mostly concentrated in the range of 7,000-10,000 yuan, and the year-end bonus is only about 20,000-30,000 yuan; non-first-tier cities are even as low as 5,000 yuan. "After deducting the five insurances and one housing fund, and paying for rent and transportation, there is not much left." said a graduate who joined a state-owned bank.
Faced with the contraction of the traditional financial sector, many finance graduates have turned their attention to Web2, hoping to find new opportunities in the Internet industry. But this road is not easy. On the one hand, after experiencing a wave of layoffs in 2022-2023, Internet giants have significantly reduced recruitment, and competition for positions is also fierce; on the other hand, switching from finance to the Internet requires filling in the gaps in skills and industry understanding, and the difficulty of job hunting is no lower than before.
Since the mainstream paths of finance and large companies are difficult to follow, the question is: why don’t these young people choose the equally popular and seemingly more promising AI industry?
After all, AI is one of the hottest trends right now. A certain book company launched a top internship program with a salary of 3,500 yuan per day, and a certain universe's TopSeed project also attracted countless young people with a daily salary of 2,000 yuan per day. On social media, the "rise of AI" has almost become a consensus, as if as long as you jump on this train, you can drive towards a certain future.
But the reality is not that simple. Whether you have a technical background or a non-technical background, it is not easy to gain a foothold in the AI industry.
For job seekers with non-technical backgrounds, AI is almost a closed threshold. Without algorithm foundation and engineering experience, most of the jobs they can do are peripheral work such as content operation, data annotation or model management. Such positions are not only highly competitive and have limited development space, but also easily replaced by automated tools. Unlike Web3, which can break through the circle through community, content and operation.
Even for people with a technical background, it is not easy. Core positions are highly concentrated in large companies and scientific research institutions, and a doctoral degree or algorithm competition experience is almost assumed. Even if many job seekers enter the industry, they can only be responsible for marginal work such as model fine-tuning, parameter adjustment, and bug fixing, lacking creative space. Xiao A, who is looking for Web3 opportunities, said frankly: "Large companies are indeed doing AI, but the work is actually not very innovative. A lot of it is just fine-tuning, and you have to work 996, which is not interesting."
At a stage when AI is developing rapidly and job structures have not yet overflowed, the industry is indeed full of imagination, but this does not mean that ordinary people have a place. It is a "trend", but not necessarily an "opportunity".
3. What is so good about Web3?
When traditional paths become crowded or even blocked, some people begin to turn to new worlds that have not yet been fully defined. Web3 is such an option. Compared with traditional finance and Internet giants, some of Web3's "atypical features" are attracting more and more job seekers: high salary and remote work.
According to a questionnaire survey of Web3 job seekers released by BlockBeats, high salary and remote work are indeed the key factors for most respondents to enter the Web3 industry. 82.93% of respondents think that Web3 has great salary potential, and 73.17% value its abundant remote work opportunities.
This phenomenon is in stark contrast to the salary crunch in traditional industries. Web3 projects can often provide immediate and high returns. According to salary statistics from Web3 Career , as of June 2025, even for entry-level positions, the annual salary is generally not less than US$50,000, or about RMB 350,000 (calculated at an exchange rate of US$1 ≈ RMB 7.15).
Data source: Web3 Career, June 2025 The statistical chart shows the global salary range for Web3 non-technical positions (above) and technical positions (below) at different qualification levels
Although salaries in Asia are relatively low, for job seekers with excellent English skills, "geographic arbitrage" becomes possible - that is, earning income in the European and American markets and enjoying a relatively low cost of living in China.
Data source: Web3 Career, June 2025 statistics
The figure shows the average annual salary of Web3 non-technical positions (above ) and technical positions (below) by region
More importantly, the Web3 industry has a "non-involutionary" working environment compared to traditional large companies. Many practitioners who switched from traditional Internet companies to Web3 mentioned that the intensity of work has been significantly reduced. A product manager who switched from a large company to Web3 said: "I came to Web3 purely because of the high pay and the high pressure and exhaustion of working in large companies."
Image source: Crypto Community. In a world where “high-pressure overtime and 35-year-old anxiety” have become the norm in Web2 giants, this way of working is almost utopian.
At the same time, the remote working method provided by Web3 has also become a major highlight to attract students.
According to a research report by Metarficial , 53.39% of Web3 work is completely remote, 25.08% adopts a hybrid work model, and only about 12.01% of positions actually require long-term office work, which is far lower than traditional finance and Internet industries.
BlockBeats' survey of employers also shows that online remote work has become the mainstream collaboration method for most Web3 teams. In the context of global teams and project-driven systems, remote work not only saves commuting time, but also allows young job seekers to gain more autonomy in their work rhythm and living space.
Joseph, a campus recruit who currently works as a data analyst at the Bitget Operations Center, said that as a typical i-person (introvert), remote work allows her to efficiently connect with various departments at home, reducing commuting pressure and improving work efficiency and comfort. Ricardo, also a campus recruit at Bitget, has a similar experience. He hates wasting time on commuting, and the work rhythm of Web3 just fits his lifestyle - even if he occasionally needs to post tweets after get off work, it is just a piece of cake because he is deeply involved in the on-chain ecosystem.
In addition, BlockBeats' survey of Web3 job seekers found that 82.93% of respondents felt that Web3 represented innovation and technological advancement. At the same time, they instinctively compared Web3 to the early mobile Internet era. "They often made such an analogy to me, thinking that the current Web3 is like the state of the early mobile Internet 10 or 12 years ago," a headhunter recalled.
In the eyes of these students, Web3 is still in a stage where it has not yet been structured and has not yet been monopolized by giants. The underlying technology has matured initially and the infrastructure has been gradually improved, but applications with real large-scale users have not yet been born - this precisely constitutes the biggest window of opportunity.
It is this "imagined rising period" that drives a large number of talents with Web2 backgrounds to enter this track. They generally believe that now is the best time to "restart the path to success."
2. A guide for newcomers: Web3, which seems "difficult to enter", is actually in great need of talent
Although the Web3 industry continues to attract a large number of newcomers, the actual "landing rate" is not optimistic. "Web3 is not friendly to newcomers", this is the most direct feeling of many job seekers. Interestingly, in sharp contrast to the newcomers' lack of job opportunities, the project owners are also shouting "can't find the right people".
Blogger Web3 Hamburger Cat revealed that trading platforms and project owners generally face recruitment difficulties, so much so that they are willing to pay 20% of their annual salary for headhunting fees. Based on the generally high salaries of Web3, this means that the cost of one entry is often as high as 50,000 or 60,000 yuan or even more. Even so, the recruitment cycle is often delayed for several months.
This presents a paradox: on the one hand, it is difficult for new Web3 people to enter the industry, and on the other hand, recruiters cannot find suitable talents. The root cause of the problem is not the lack of ability of job seekers, but the lack of an effective talent system.
1. Why did your resume go unanswered?
1. Lack of recruitment infrastructure
"I don't even know where to send my resume." This is the first problem countless newcomers encounter when looking for jobs in Web3.
In the traditional Internet era, the recruitment system represented by platforms such as LinkedIn and Boss Direct Hire has long been mature: positions are highly standardized, the interview process is relatively fixed, and job seekers have clear delivery channels.
In the Web3 industry, similar infrastructure has not yet been established. Although there are some dedicated recruitment websites on the market, most job information is still scattered on X (formerly Twitter), Telegram groups, Notion pages or Google forms; the recruitment process of different projects varies greatly, and the evaluation criteria vary from person to person; many teams do not even have full-time HR, let alone a systematic recruitment mechanism.
"Recruitment in this industry has never been formal." Kitty (the person in charge of a recruitment platform) said bluntly. Compared with the mature recruitment process and HR mechanism of Web2, the human resource allocation of most Web3 projects can be described as "chaotic."
The situations she encountered include: some teams do not have full-time HR; the interviewer may be a "jack of all trades" who is responsible for recruitment, finance, and community operations at the same time; and some HR even eliminates all candidates with Web2 experience because the boss says "we want Web3 natives".
“Many newcomers’ resumes are ignored, not because HR deliberately ignores them, but because of the lack of a systematic mechanism.” Kitty explained, which has caused job seekers and recruiters to “miss each other” for a long time. This non-standard recruitment ecosystem is a microcosm of the “wild growth” of the Web3 industry.
2. The failure of academic advantage and the experience paradox
In addition, the traditional job market has an advantage in the prestigious university degree, but it is not completely effective in the Web3 field. Even a master's degree in the top 20 of QS may not even find an internship opportunity. The core of this contradiction is that the employer needs talents who can "get started immediately", but newcomers generally lack verifiable "practical experience".
BlockBeats' survey of employers shows that the Web3 industry does not expect newcomers to have "academic qualifications first", but rather to place more emphasis on practical operation and cognition. Among the employers interviewed, nearly 70% (68.97%) hope that newcomers have in-depth industry understanding or actual project experience, which means that "knowledge" is often more competitive than "good school". Secondly, 51.72% of employers value English proficiency, reflecting the international communication environment of the industry; and employers who have expectations for academic background are 44.83%, which is not the majority.
This data further confirms the strict requirement of the Web3 industry for newcomers to "have experience first". But in practice, this seems to be a paradox: how can newcomers with no experience gain "experience" in this industry?
Faced with such a dilemma, many newcomers have turned their attention to "job search agencies". Starting in the second half of 2023, a large number of Web3 training institutions have emerged in the market, using "guaranteed employment", "0 basic career change" and "simulated project experience" as selling points, trying to fill the gaps in "experience threshold" and "entry path".
It is understood that the fees charged by these training institutions range from 15,000 yuan to 30,000 yuan. In essence, they allow job seekers to exchange money for a "professional identity". However, this model soon exposed problems in reality:
· The course content is seriously lagging behind. Many training institutions are still stuck in the DeFi boom period of 2021. The teaching content has failed to keep up with the pace of the industry and has long been out of touch with the current market hotspots and actual needs. CoinGecko data shows that there are currently more than 20,000 active Web3 projects distributed in more than 20 sub-sectors. The hotspot update cycle is calculated in weeks, and the traditional system learning path is difficult to adapt;
· There is a fake element in the "project experience". Many students reported that the so-called practical projects are actually just teachers talking about basic operations such as AMA and community operation in the group, and finally fabricating project experience through synthetic images or "packaged resumes";
The so-called "guaranteed employment" is often disguised as "selling internships". The employment services promised by some institutions are actually just mass-sending resumes on behalf of applicants, and the so-called "good news" is often just an unpaid or low-paid internship opportunity.
*AMA: The abbreviation of Ask me anything. In the context of Web3, it is a form of activity in which project members conduct open Q&A with the community through channels such as Twitter space. It can be understood as a live broadcast connection, but only with audio.
Interestingly, the education level of the audience of this type of training is not low: 985 undergraduates, masters from the National University of Singapore, and people with investment banking backgrounds are among them. They are often not lacking in ability, but they don’t know how to explore the path of this opaque and feedback-deficient industry.
"They just want to change careers, but they really don't know how to do it, and they don't want to take the initiative and spend time and energy exploring the uncertainty. They think, I'll pay some money, and you'll give me a certain path," said a job seeker observer.
2. Which positions are easier for newcomers to break through?
Before discussing how to enter Web3, we must first understand: What positions are really lacking in the market? And which positions are most open to newcomers?
According to BlockBeats' survey of employers, operations and BD (Business Development) are the positions with the highest current recruitment demand. 86.21% of the employers surveyed said they are recruiting or have looked for new people in this field; followed by technical positions, accounting for 51.72%; research positions ranked third with 48.28%.
1. Non-technical positions: operations and BD
Among all non-technical positions, operations and BD are generally considered to be the most rigid needs. No matter how unpopular the Web3 project is or how small the team is, these two types of positions are needed to connect with the market, integrate resources, and promote growth. As headhunter Kevin said, "Positions that can bring direct output are the most scarce positions."
Because of this, this type of position has become the first stop for many newcomers. According to BlockBeats' survey of job seekers, 46.88% of people prefer "external growth" directions such as BD/marketing, and another 40.63% prefer "user reach" positions such as community operations and content creation. This shows that among non-technical paths, "growth" and "community" are still the most popular job search tracks.
But the popularity of a position does not mean stable development. What newcomers should be aware of is that operations and BD positions generally have the characteristics of "easy to get in, difficult to stay".
Snow originally worked in administration at a state-owned enterprise. In mid-2023, she decided to "all in Web3". She joined a RWA (real asset on-chain) startup project, doing operations and community management, "every day, I have to do content, activities, and community myself." Although she got started quickly, three months later, she was notified that "the team structure would be adjusted and the contract would not be renewed."
“I didn’t make any mistakes, I was just optimized away,” she said calmly. “Later I found out that they actually found a newcomer who could write content and do growth.” This was the first time she realized that although some positions are very popular, the turnover rate is also very high.
Snow's experience is not an isolated case, but a microcosm of the Web3 job market. Although it is relatively easy to get started in non-technical positions, the requirements for comprehensive capabilities are extremely high. Operations, BD and other positions require not only traditional marketing skills, but also a deep understanding of blockchain technology, familiarity with various DeFi protocols, and mastery of the unique rules of community operations. At the same time, they also need to have a keen sense of the market and strong resource integration capabilities.
2. Technical positions: accumulating on-chain experience
In comparison, technical positions present a structural contradiction of "hot at both ends and cold in the middle".
On the one hand, there is a long-term shortage of high-end technical positions: positions such as cryptography experts, ZK engineers, security architects, and on-chain auditors are highly dependent on doctoral degrees or years of on-chain development experience, and most talents have already started businesses or infrastructure construction. As one practitioner said: "People who really understand on-chain logic have started businesses."
On the other hand, entry-level "Web2 transfer" technical positions (such as front-end development, wallet access, etc.) have long become a battleground. These positions do not require high on-chain experience, attracting a large number of traditional Internet engineers, and the competition is becoming increasingly fierce.
For newcomers, the most core challenge is: how to find their own entry point between these two extremes?
In fact, many Web3 projects still have a certain demand for developers who "have both development capabilities and understand on-chain interaction logic", especially in daily development such as contract interaction and oracle calls. This type of "multi-faceted" talent is not extremely scarce, but the stable supply is not sufficient. To enter this level, the most critical accumulation is actual on-chain experience. For example, learning basic contract language, reading open source project documents, and participating in real project collaboration.
Therefore, for newcomers who want to enter Web3 as a technical position, instead of rolling up qualifications in peripheral positions, it is better to look for practical opportunities on the chain as early as possible, accumulate "chain sense" through hackathons, open source projects, collaborative development, etc., and pry open a space of their own between overcrowding or over-high-end.
(III) The correct way to successfully enter the circle
1. Dare to start: Starting first is more important than having experience
Many newcomers fall into a common dilemma when they first enter Web3: they don’t know how to participate.
They worry about their lack of experience and dare not take the initiative, so they can only hope for a traditional path - submitting a resume, waiting for an interview, and being "hired".
But this kind of thinking may be fundamentally wrong. In fact, when we actually walked into the recruitment site, we found a big contrast: many project teams showed unexpected patience and goodwill towards "potential newcomers".
BlockBeats' survey of employers also shows that employers value quick learning and self-driving ability more than experience. In a recruitment indicator priority rating, "quick learning and self-driving" scored 3.41, higher than "understanding the basic concepts of Web3" at 2.14 and "English proficiency" at 1.79, while "having certain industry experience" ranked last, only 1.41.
Behind this is a pragmatic and efficient logic of employing people: on the one hand, Web3 projects are generally small in scale and fast-paced, and there is not much spare capacity to cultivate from scratch; on the other hand, they are willing to find "teachable talents" through "low-cost trial and error", like scratching a potential lottery ticket.
As one project leader said, "It's not that we don't bring in new people, but they have to show me their energy. You have to take a few steps on your own to let me know that you are serious."
This is not limited to project parties, but also applies to campus recruitment of trading platforms. In 2025, Bitget received more than 10,000 resumes and finally admitted 28 fresh graduates, nearly half of whom had no systematic Web3 background. What they have in common is not a mature resume, but a signal of "being trustworthy and worth cultivating."
"We always believe that potential is more important than resume." Bitget HR emphasized that the team will pay special attention to growth willingness, self-drive and plasticity during the screening process, which is why many "zero experience" newcomers can enter smoothly.
This also means: you don’t need a “job” to start taking action. Many people who really succeeded in entering the circle did not start by submitting resumes, but by actively participating and accumulating experience:
If you want to do operations, you can first pick a project that interests you, be active in their Discord group, and take the initiative to apply to become a MOD (Moderator) to understand the industry rhythm in practice;
If you want to create content, you can find your favorite KOL or author, actively communicate and express your opinions. Even a high-quality comment can be a start;
If you want to do technology, you can start with languages such as Solidity and Rust, then try to write according to online tutorials, and then understand their contracts through the documents of open source projects. You can also participate in hackathons in the industry, team up with like-minded people to practice, and then exchange ideas with projects that interest you.
This is the reality of Web3’s employment mechanism: there is no definite path, but there is enough room for “trying it out”. Instead of waiting for “readiness”, it is better to take action first. Accumulating trust through action is always more realistic than waiting for a perfect path.
To sum up in one sentence: Experience is important, but "willingness to take the first step" is more important.
2. Be seen: Go out and socialize actively
If the first question solves the problem of "whether to act", then this paragraph solves the problem of "where to act" - the answer is: among the crowd.
The Web3 industry has a distinct feature from traditional industries: it has no job search system to speak of. There is no unified recruitment website, no standardized interview process, and even many projects don’t have HR. In this case, the industry has begun to return to the most primitive way of talent matching: internal referrals and introductions from acquaintances.
"We don't post job announcements," a project manager said. "We just bring in anyone who's reliable and capable to give it a try. We mainly rely on recommendations from acquaintances, and we can quickly fill up with two or three people."
It sounds like a makeshift team, but that’s how many positions are decided. Especially for early-stage projects, when there are not many people and the pace is fast, it’s better to find someone you know who you are, even if they’re not perfect, and start working right away, rather than spending time screening resumes.
For them, being reliable and trustworthy takes precedence over being well-educated and experienced. It’s not that they don’t look at background, but they don’t have the time to infer whether this person can handle the job based on the background.
Therefore, the core logic of finding a job in Web3 is also very simple: you have to appear in their field of vision first. You have to make others think of you when they need you - this is the recruitment logic of this industry.
For students, the most stable way to be "seen" is to join the University Blockchain Association (hereinafter referred to as the Chain Association).
On the one hand, the Chain Association helps new members learn the basics of blockchain and understand how the industry operates through open classes and internal lectures. On the other hand, it continues to connect with alumni resources and cooperation projects to provide members with opportunities for internships, part-time jobs or volunteer participation.
In addition, many blockchain associations also hold public events for the industry, such as organizing AMAs, co-organizing offline Meetups, or participating in the preparation of Hackthon hacker events. These activities not only allow members to get in touch with project parties and practitioners earlier, but also virtually establish the "trust endorsement" of blockchain associations in the industry.
“We are not a recruitment company, but project owners often ask us if we have any recommendations,” said an organizer of the blockchain association. “So we have a group to bring together project owners and students. If anyone is short of people, they can post job information in the group, and students can directly add HR to start a chat.”
Some recruitment activities in the industry will also be directly connected to the Chain Association. For example, Bitget's overseas campus recruitment in 2024-2025 held offline briefing sessions in multiple overseas target universities.
For project owners, this mechanism significantly reduces screening costs; and for students, it also provides a relatively safe testing ground. Many people’s first Web3 experience often starts with the Chain Association.
If your school doesn't have a blockchain association, don't worry. Most associations' activities are open to all students and they also provide similar student subsidies, so you can pay more attention to relevant information.
In addition to the Chain Association, participating in more offline activities is also an important way to establish industry connections.
"We prefer to go to offline events to see our faces. We really can't remember people online." A project owner admitted, "Judging a person by resume or profile picture is too metaphysical. Trust is very important in Web3. We must establish offline connections." Compared with the traditional recruitment process, this is closer to a fate-based recruitment. "Many people just meet a few times at events, and then there happens to be a vacancy, so they directly ask you if you are willing to try."
This is not a game of one interaction in exchange for one offer, but a process of making the other party remember you, recognize you, and trust you through multiple participations and multiple conversations.
In addition to traditional blockchain associations and offline activities, there are also some platforms and projects in the industry that are actively building "bridges" to provide a more structured entry point for newcomers who lack connections, and they can actively pay attention. For example, the Blockchain 4 Youth charity program initiated by Bitget provides systematic industry guidance for newcomers in a variety of ways, including: cooperating with the University of Zurich to set up scholarships to support students to participate in Web3 research and project practice; and jointly launching the #Web3 Insider video series with the Web3 career platform Bondex (equivalent to Linkedin in the Web3 industry), focusing on job introductions and job search path combing, to help newcomers better understand industry needs and possible entry methods.
At a time when the industry as a whole lacks recruitment infrastructure, paying attention to such resources can provide a clearer entry path for newcomers without a network background.
It is worth noting that being social does not mean being a social expert, and being proactive in socializing does not mean that introverts have no chance. In the Web3 field, the following methods are also effective:
· Small, deep connections: Instead of meeting 20 people at an event, build deep connections with 3-5 people you really connect with. Introverts tend to be better at one-on-one, deep conversations, which is the best way to build trust.
· High-density community participation: Focusing on 2-3 high-quality small circles or communities and becoming an active contributor in them is more effective than casting a wide net for socializing. In a small circle, your professional ability is easier to be seen and remembered.
· Content replaces small talk: By writing technical blogs, sharing project reviews, publishing thinking summaries, etc., let your professional ability actively "find" the right people. Many introverted technical experts have established a strong personal brand through continuous content output.
In short, Web3 recruitment is often not about “who will apply”, but “who among the people I know can do this job”. This is a byproduct of the “lack of a standardized recruitment mechanism”, but it is indeed more about fate.
You don't have to perform very well, but you must be trusted, or at least "know who you are".
Under this logic, taking the initiative to go out, make yourself visible, and establish trust relationships have become compulsory courses for Web3 job hunting. Whether you are through chain associations, offline activities, or online content output, the key is to continue to appear in the industry's vision and become the "person who can be remembered".
3. Staying: Initiative and communication and collaboration skills
If "getting into the circle" depends on being noticed, then "staying" depends on being trusted. And what really wins trust is not the qualifications on the resume, but whether you can demonstrate initiative and communication and collaboration skills at work.
According to BlockBeats' survey of employers, 96.55% of recruiters value "initiative/execution" the most, and 62.07% value "communication and writing skills". In other words, whether a newcomer can push things forward on his own and whether he can explain complex problems clearly is more important than whether he is a "veteran in the cryptocurrency circle". In actual projects, seniority is no longer a decisive factor. Instead, whether one can quickly enter a working state of "being able to deliver and collaborate" is the standard for measuring the value of retention.
As one project founder said bluntly: "I don't care how many meme projects you have played, but whether you can make your words clear."
In a decentralized, flat Web3 team, the ability to express is equal to the ability to obtain resources. The experience of Ricardo, a campus recruit in the marketing department of Bitget, confirms this: "My mentor told me when I joined the company that I could propose any ideas, and as long as they were reasonable, I would be given resources to push forward." This means that the premise of promoting an idea is that you can convince others accurately and clearly.
In the eyes of Joseph, who works as a data analyst at Bitget, effective communication can even be an accelerator for solving problems. Once when he encountered a complex problem, he directly asked his colleague to communicate with him by voice, and the colleague then asked the upstream collaborators layer by layer, and finally facilitated a meeting of seven people. "Everyone is willing to figure things out together." This ability to actively connect and coordinate with multiple parties is becoming the cornerstone of collaboration in a flat organization.
This ability also directly affects the recruitment process. An interviewer revealed: "I will ask some questions that you can't answer, not to test your knowledge, but to see how you organize your language. If you are disorganized, I will guide you to say first, second, and third. If you still can't explain it clearly, I basically won't continue the conversation." In his view, structured expression is not only a communication ability, but also a manifestation of execution awareness - a person who can break down the problem clearly and advance the task in an orderly manner is often the one who can stay.
In the fast-paced Web3 projects, expressiveness, logic, and collaborative awareness are no longer bonus points, but "infrastructure capabilities". They determine whether a person can really keep up with the pace of the industry and whether he can continue to create value in the team.
3. Which platform should you choose as the starting point for your career development?
For newcomers who want to enter Web3, the first step in career choice is not “Am I suitable for operations or content?” but “Which type of organization should I start with?” In this industry where a standard career path has not yet been established, the choice of platform often determines the speed and direction of growth, and even the ability to bear risks.
Different from the standard process of "submitting resume, joining the company, and waiting for promotion" in traditional industries, the entry method of Web3 is often more non-standardized, unequal, and even has a certain degree of confusion and randomness. The real problem facing newcomers is not "which company to choose" but "which entry method to choose".
According to research data from BlockBeats, 75% of job seekers consider centralized trading platforms as their preferred starting point, 56.25% choose to join project parties or start-up teams, and another 56.25% choose to join investment research institutions or venture capital platforms.
Faced with these significantly different entry paths, we conducted in-depth interviews and comparisons on two of the most typical directions: trading platforms and project parties, trying to restore the true ecology and provide job seekers with a more valuable reference career map.
These two paths each have their own advantages and disadvantages, and are suitable for job seekers with different backgrounds, ability structures and preferences.
1. Project team: not afraid of "miscellaneous work", relying on internships and part-time jobs to get closer to the core
Most Web3 project teams are early-stage startups with small organizational scale and short decision-making chains. Due to the lack of a systematic training system, these teams are generally reluctant to "recruit people", but are willing to "employ people" - as long as you can get started and solve problems immediately, it doesn't matter whether you are part-time, remote or an intern.
This "delivery for trust" hiring logic is very common among Web3 project parties. For them, hiring the wrong person is extremely costly, so instead of "training from scratch", it is better to "trial and error at a low cost" to discover teachable talents.
Lynn is a core member of a Web3 startup project. The team has only five full-time and three part-time employees, and the scale is so small that it doesn't even need an office. She said frankly: "We don't hire many people because it's hard for us to survive." But even so, she still hired some interns through friends' recommendations to be responsible for operations or technical work, ranging from US$500-1,000 per month, working a few hours a day. This budget is higher than the internship salary of a certain company, and it is remote and "easy", but she doesn't think it's generous at all. "I only look at the results. As long as it can be delivered, it's worth it for me." She said with a smile.
The significance of this configuration to the project party is that the cost is controllable, the burden is light, and it can be withdrawn at any time. If the intern performs well, the team is equivalent to "picking up a treasure"; if it is not suitable, it can quickly stop the loss and no sunk cost will be generated. In the context of the generally short life cycle of projects and highly uncertain cash flow, such an arrangement not only avoids the risk of excessive labor expenditure, but also provides more room for error.
Of course, for newcomers, this path is full of uncertainty: you may be the one who does the most core things, or you may just be a "filler who does miscellaneous things." But it is undeniable that it is one of the few opportunities to be "directly seen."
More importantly, it is a rare window to get close to founders and directly understand product and market decisions. You will participate in actual business, understand the rhythm of community operations, and may even be involved in the process of financing and ecological cooperation, gaining a growth density far beyond traditional internship experience.
Of course, it is not suitable for everyone: there is no training plan, no promotion channel, and everything depends on self-exploration. What is still leading the growth strategy today may be "optimized" due to team reorganization tomorrow. But for those newcomers who are willing to exchange actual combat for experience, can accept volatility, and are not afraid of starting from scratch, this is one of the paths to truly "get into the front line" in the Web3 industry.
(II) Trading platforms become “new large companies”: mechanism-based cultivation and stable growth path
If the project is a high-risk and high-return "free fight", then the centralized trading platform provides a more "standardized" way of entry.
Compared with the common referrals from acquaintances and community referral mechanisms, the recruitment channels of trading platforms are more open and transparent, with fixed processes and clear nodes, providing a clearer entry path for newcomers. Taking Bitget as an example, its campus recruitment and internship positions are regularly posted on the official website, LinkedIn, social media, and the intranet platforms of target universities. Allen, who used to work in a large Web2 company, saw Bitget's recruitment for AI product positions on LinkedIn and applied directly, and received an interview invitation within a few days.
In addition to clear channels, job supply is also far richer than the outside world imagines. By the end of 2024, a leading trading platform will open more than 500 positions in Shenzhen and Hong Kong simultaneously, covering multiple functional modules such as products, operations, growth, risk control, and security. Another newly started trading platform also completed the expansion of its core team of nearly 100 people in a short period of time. "If it doesn't reach this scale, it basically can't turn around." said a recruitment manager in the industry.
Behind this intensive recruitment demand is the high-density operating structure that platform-type organizations need to undertake: they must serve global users while also dealing with complex technical operations, ecosystem construction, and compliance supervision. In order to ensure the efficient operation of this system, most trading platforms will set up a full-time HR team, build a clear job grade system, and strengthen cross-departmental collaboration mechanisms. Compared with project parties with loose organizations and limited resources, trading platforms have an organizational foundation that can "accommodate newcomers and growth."
Bitget's campus recruitment is a microcosm of this structured mechanism. In 2025, its campus recruitment project received more than 10,000 resumes, and finally admitted only 28 fresh graduates, entering multiple core business modules such as technology, products, regional growth, global brand, and global operations, covering almost the entire main chain of encryption business.
What is more friendly to newcomers is that compared with the employment logic of many project parties that "must get started right away", the trading platform provides a more tolerant growth range and a clearer support system. Among these newcomers, a considerable number have not directly engaged in Web3-related work before, but with their clear expression ability, curiosity about the industry and willingness to learn, they still won the opportunity to be hired.
After joining the team, newcomers will receive induction training covering industry knowledge, job skills and cultural concepts; each person is assigned a direct mentor, and HRBP regularly tracks performance and development needs, and supports horizontal rotation and cross-departmental attempts. This mechanism not only helps newcomers quickly identify their roles, but also ensures that they have a relatively clear development path in an uncertain industry.
In actual implementation, this mechanism has also shown positive results.
Hazel, a campus recruit from Bitget Branding, shared that when participating in Bitget's large-scale marketing project "Bitget Anti-Scam Month", the team provided SOP framework and resource coordination support from creative planning to implementation, enabling her to lead the entire campaign within three months. Another campus recruit, Joseph, also mentioned that in the data dashboard construction project, the mentor accompanied him throughout the process, not only covering the business difficulties, but also teaching him how to disassemble problems and review processes. After a few months of employment, he can independently support operational data needs.
Of course, the trading platform path is not without shortcomings. Compared with the "generalists" and "close contact with the core" of the project side, the trading platform has a more detailed division of functions and a more mature process. This means that: in some positions, personal expression space and innovation flexibility may be limited; for novices who are eager to lead products and frequently trial and error, the growth rate may be limited.
Who is it suitable for? Newcomers who want to get systematic training, need stable cash flow, and plan to stay in the industry for a long time. Especially job seekers who want to understand the overall picture of the industry and "slowly grow" in a stable structure, the trading platform is a trustworthy starting point.
In short, there is no standard answer on how to enter Web3, only a more suitable entrance.
If you are eager to learn quickly, get close to the core of the industry, and are willing to bear uncertainty, the project may be your training ground;
If you want to start steadily, have system support, and have long-term planning, a trading platform may be a better first stop.
What really matters is whether you can accumulate trust through actions and establish a position through output - the platform is just a path, and growth still depends on yourself.
Conclusion: It’s not about finding a Web3 job, it’s about finding a way to create value
When we review the full picture of this in-depth survey, a clear picture emerges: Web3 is not only an emerging industry, but also a laboratory that is redefining "career" itself. Here, the traditional job search logic is subverted, and new ways of value creation are emerging.
For everyone involved, the real meaning of Web3 job hunting is not to find a "Web3 job", but to learn a new way of working, thinking and living. The core is to shift from "adapting to the world" to "creating the world".
In the process, you’ll discover:
The best jobs are not found, but created;
The best opportunities are not what you wait for, but what you make;
The best future is not planned, but the result of action.
Web3 is not the end, but a starting point. It teaches us how to find certainty in uncertainty, identify opportunities in change, and establish order in chaos.
The long river of history has repeatedly shown that in the changing times, those who perish are often not those who embrace change, but those who cling to old attitudes and resist change.
The dividends of the times will eventually pass, but the ability to embrace change will become your underlying asset that never expires. No matter how Web3 evolves in the future, those who dare to act, continue to learn, and continue to create will always find their place in the next cycle.
Note: All the characters mentioned in this article are pseudonyms
