IN BRIEF

• Crypto Parrot has released the percentage share of crypto and blockchain jobs, by discipline.
• Demand for marketing, HR, and management has increased significantly.
• Software and hardware development roles have decreased by almost a third.

2021 may just be the best year yet for anyone looking for a new job in the blockchain and cryptocurrency sectors.

Recent research released by Crypto Parrot (a crypto trading simulation provider) reveals that across all industry sectors, the share of jobs that involve cryptocurrency or blockchains on listing boards has more than doubled, increasing at a rate of 118%.

This data covers the period between July 16, 2020, through July 16, 2021.

Less blockchain developer jobs, demand for HR and marketing grows

The research published by Crypto Parrot also provides a breakdown of these new job listings, by discipline. Unsurprisingly, software development represents the field with the greatest level of demand from employers, however, the proportion of blockchain and cryptocurrency jobs relating to software development has actually dropped over the past year by 14.65%.

Combining this number with the decrease in Industrial engineering roles as well (-12.49%), shows that there is a total decrease of 27.14% in demand for technical roles in the blockchain and cryptocurrency sectors. These include job roles directly related to the development and maintenance of the actual hardware and software powering cryptocurrencies and blockchains.

Human resources, by far, has seen the greatest increase in demand based on their share of all cryptocurrency and blockchain job listings. In 2021, there has been a 200% increase in job listings for HR roles compared to the previous year. Second place goes to marketing, which has had more than double the number of listings (105.88%) this year compared to 2020.

Other major job listing increases include:

• Finance: +100%
• IT Operations & Helpdesk: +53.84%
• Accounting: +39.39%
• Management: +29.87%

What this shift in priorities may represent

The reasons for this can only be speculated upon. However, the changing landscape of blockchain standards and protocols and increasing utilization and development of open-sourced “blockchain of blockchains” platforms such as Ethereum, likely play a key role

This may be one of the reasons why there is a decrease in demand for technical roles. Another is the shift of many protocols to a proof-of-stake model, resulting in a decrease in demand for hardware-based roles.

Also, as anybody can technically create their own blockchain and/or token now, we are seeing a saturation of companies that are focused more on monetization rather than innovation. We can conclude that in 2021, there are a lot more jobs available in the cryptocurrency and blockchain sectors than there were last year — a net positive for the industry.