If you have browsed through job-seeking forums, listened to Web3 podcasts, or attended a "Blockchain + Career" meetup, you have most likely heard these keywords: "Industry Boom, Lucrative Income, Remote Work, Flat Hierarchy, Young Team".
Web3 is becoming a kind of "new frontier" in the job-seeking imaginations of young people. Over the past two years, an increasing number of graduates have begun to attempt to "get on-chain." Not only those with backgrounds in technology and finance, but also non-technical professionals in areas such as marketing, operations, design, content, and product have started to update their resumes and apply to this seemingly flexible and cutting-edge industry.
However, beneath the trend, opportunities and misconceptions coexist. On one side, project teams are shouting "We need people," while newcomers are exclaiming, "I can't break in." Behind the seemingly open entrance lies a recruitment logic that is still taking shape.
To address this issue, in June 2025, BlockBeats and Bitget jointly launched an in-depth interview and survey within the crypto community, focusing on job seekers and employers. Information was collected on career choices, recruitment paths, job preferences, and more, with a total of 71 valid responses received. Additionally, interviews were conducted with individuals in different roles such as students, professionals, HR personnel, well-known industry headhunters, and job platform managers.
Based on cross-validation of quantitative and qualitative data, this article attempts to review what has happened in Web3 job-seeking over the past two years from the dual perspectives of recruitment and job-seeking: Who is entering, who is hiring, and who is staying? And the more practical question: Does a newcomer with zero experience really have the opportunity to stand out in this "decentralized" professional jungle?
Over the past two years, the Web3 job-seeking ecosystem has quietly transformed from "accepting all comers" to "careful selection." This industry, once seen as an avant-garde experimental field, is gradually becoming the real choice for more and more outstanding graduates.
Today, Web3 is no longer the exclusive domain of geeks and speculators. Waves of elite talent are actively joining in.
"Is this position still open for applications?"
Kitty has gotten used to this question. As the person in charge of a Web3 recruitment platform, she receives numerous resumes from college students every week. From top Chinese universities to Ivy League and similar elite schools, competition achievements, internships at investment banks... The quality of these resumes is now completely different from the days two years ago when "just being willing to join could get you onboard."
As a deep participant in Web3 recruiting, Kitty clearly feels that this industry is undergoing a structural change in job seekers. If early participants were mostly tech-savvy geeks or sharp-eyed speculators, today's job seekers are more like top students attracted by the concept of the "next era."
Research by BlockBeats shows that among the respondents to the Web3 job-seeking survey, nearly 80.5% come from first-tier Chinese universities, with 36.6% from Project 985/211 universities and a high 43.9% from other first-tier universities. Additionally, 7.3% of job seekers have an overseas educational background, while only 12.2% come from vocational schools or other institutions. Nearly 78.05% of the respondents expressed willingness to make Web3 their first job. This data indicates that Web3 is transitioning from a "niche" to a "mainstream choice," attracting more and more highly educated talent to actively join.
From a professional background perspective, these highly educated job seekers are not lacking in options. Research by BlockBeats shows that among the respondents to the Web3 job-seeking survey, 46.34% come from computer science and related fields, while 21.95% come from finance and business backgrounds. They originally had the opportunity to enter more stable traditional industries and also had the competitiveness to enter mainstream industries such as top companies, securities firms, and banks.
Why do these "elites" who could have taken a more stable path choose to actively engage in a more volatile track where the rules have not yet solidified? This is not a blind speculation but a rational shift under real-world pressure. To understand their choice, we must look back at what the "traditional path" they were supposed to take looks like today.
Batty is a 2025 graduate, holding degrees from a top Chinese university, an internship in investment banking, and passing Level III of the CFA. Following the "standard path," she thought she could at least secure a decent and stable job. However, when the 2024 autumn recruitment ended, she only received an offer from a bank's back office with a monthly salary of less than a thousand.
This was far from her expectations. So, instead of choosing to immediately start working, she began frequently searching on social platforms for keywords like "Web3 jobs" and "How to enter Web3 with 0 experience," trying to find a "divergent but potentially future-oriented" path.
Her story is not unique. For many young people with a financial background, Web3 is no longer just a concept but has become a realistic exit from the "involution."
Between 2022 and 2024, the traditional financial industry experienced a profound period of adjustment. Roles in finance that were once seen as a "golden rice bowl" are losing their former allure, with the industry as a whole facing a harsh reality of reduced positions, declining salaries, and intensified involution.
This trend is particularly evident in the employment of recent graduates. Top-tier brokerages that previously hired large numbers of graduates opened only a few hundred positions during the 2024 autumn recruitment season, with the entire front-office market in investment banking offering only about 500 positions, far fewer than the recruitment volume of a single institution in 2022. Brokerage firms such as Citic Securities and GF Securities have been reported to have laid off thousands of employees, shattering the stable myth of the financial "golden rice bowl."
While positions are shrinking, entry barriers are constantly rising. "High education + prestigious school background + multiple internships" has become the basic requirement, and qualifications such as the CFA certificate, programming skills, macro perspective, English writing, research frameworks, etc., are gradually becoming the "entry ticket." Job seekers are eagerly joining the "employment competition" in order to stand out.
More and more students are getting caught up in fierce job competition, but high investment does not necessarily bring returns. According to Zhi Lue data, in 2024, the starting salary for frontline grassroots employees in state-owned major banks in first-tier cities mostly ranged from 7,000 to 10,000 yuan, with an annual bonus of only about 20,000 to 30,000 yuan; in non-first-tier cities, it could go as low as 5,000 yuan. "After deducting social security, housing fund, rent, and transportation, there is not much left," said a recent graduate who joined a state-owned bank.
Faced with the contraction of the traditional financial sector, many financial graduates are turning their attention to Web2, hoping to find new opportunities in the internet industry. However, this path is not easy either. On one hand, after the wave of layoffs in 2022-2023, major internet companies significantly reduced their recruitment efforts, leading to intense competition for positions; on the other hand, transitioning from finance to the internet requires bridging the skills gap and understanding industry-specific knowledge, making the job search no easier than before.
Since the mainstream paths of finance and major corporations are difficult to pursue, the question arises: Why haven't these young people chosen to enter the equally popular and seemingly more hopeful AI industry?
After all, AI is one of the hottest trends currently. A certain company launched a top internship program at 3,500 yuan/day, and the TopSeed program at a universe offered a daily wage of 2,000 yuan, attracting countless young people with backgrounds from prestigious universities. On social media, the "rise of AI" has almost become a consensus, as if by boarding this train, one can journey towards a certain future.
However, the reality is not that simple. Whether from a technical or non-technical background, establishing oneself in the AI industry is not easy.
For non-technical job seekers, AI is almost a closed threshold. Without algorithmic foundation or engineering experience, the most they can do is peripheral work such as content operations, data annotation, or model management. These positions are not only highly competitive with limited room for advancement but also easily replaceable by automated tools. It's not like Web3, where breaking into the field is possible through community, content, and operations.
Even for those with a technical background, it's not a walk in the park. Core positions are highly concentrated in top-tier companies and research institutions, often requiring a doctoral degree or algorithm competition experience by default. Many job seekers, even if they enter the field, can only handle tasks like model fine-tuning, hyperparameter tuning, bug fixes, and other marginal work, lacking creative space. Little A, who is seeking Web3 opportunities, admits, "Big companies are indeed doing AI, but the work itself lacks innovation; it's mostly fine-tuning, and it's a 996 work culture, not very meaningful."
In the stage of rapid AI development where the job structure has not yet overflowed, the industry is indeed full of imagination, but that does not mean there is a place for the average person. It is a "trend," but not necessarily an "opportunity."
When traditional paths become crowded or even blocked, some people begin to turn to those new worlds that have not been fully defined. Web3 is one such choice. Compared to traditional finance and Internet giants, some "atypical features" of Web3 are attracting more and more job seekers: high salaries and remote work.
According to a survey published by BlockBeats targeting Web3 job seekers, high salary and remote work are indeed key factors that most respondents consider when entering the Web3 industry. 82.93% of respondents believe that Web3 has great salary potential, and 73.17% value its abundant remote work opportunities.
This phenomenon contrasts sharply with the salary compression in traditional industries. Web3 projects often offer immediate and substantial returns. According to Web3 Career's salary statistics, as of June 2025, even for entry-level positions, the annual salary generally does not fall below $50,000, approximately equivalent to 350,000 RMB (based on a USD to CNY exchange rate of approximately 7.15).
Data Source: Web3 Career, June 2025 Statistics
Chart showing global salary ranges for Web3 non-technical roles (top) and technical roles (bottom) at different experience levels
While the salary level in the Asia region may be relatively low, for job seekers with excellent English skills, "geographical arbitrage" has become possible—meaning earning income in Western markets while enjoying a relatively lower cost of living domestically.
Data Source: Web3 Career, June 2025 Statistics
Chart showing annual average salary data for Web3 non-technical roles (top) and technical roles (bottom) segmented by region
More importantly, the Web3 industry offers a "non-burnout" work environment compared to traditional tech giants. Several professionals who transitioned from traditional internet companies to Web3 have mentioned a significant reduction in work intensity. A product manager who moved from a tech giant to Web3 stated, "I came to Web3 purely because there's more money and the pressure from the tech giant was too exhausting."
Image Source: Cryptocurrency Community. In an era where "high-pressure overtime and the anxiety of being over 35" are the norms in Web2 tech giants, this work approach is close to a utopia.
At the same time, the remote work offered by Web3 has become a major attraction for students.
According to Metarficial's research report, 53.39% of Web3 jobs are fully remote, 25.08% follow a hybrid work model, and only about 12.01% of positions truly require long-term in-office presence, a much lower percentage compared to traditional finance and internet industries.
A survey by BlockBeats aimed at employers also indicates that online remote work has become the mainstream collaboration method for most Web3 teams. In a context of globalized teams and project-based work, remote work not only saves commuting time but also gives young job seekers more autonomy in terms of work pace and living space.
Currently working in the Data Analysis team at Bitget Operations Center, campus recruit Joseph expressed that as a typical i person (introverted), remote work allows her to efficiently collaborate with various departments from home, reducing commuting stress and actually enhancing work efficiency and comfort. Ricardo, also a Bitget campus recruit, had a similar experience. He despises spending time on commuting and finds that the work pace of Web3 conveniently aligns with his lifestyle—even if he occasionally needs to tweet after work, it's a breeze for him due to his deep involvement in the on-chain ecosystem.
In addition, a survey conducted by BlockBeats targeting Web3 job seekers found that 82.93% of respondents believe that Web3 represents innovation and cutting-edge technology. At the same time, they instinctively analogize Web3 to the early days of the mobile internet era. "They often make this kind of analogy to me, believing that the current state of Web3 is like the early stage of mobile internet from 10 or 12 years ago," recalled a headhunter.
For these students, Web3 is still in a stage where it is "not yet structured, not yet monopolized by giants." The underlying technology is already mature, the infrastructure is gradually improving, but applications that truly have a scalable user base have not yet emerged—this precisely presents the biggest window of opportunity.
It is this "imagined upswing" that drives a large number of talents from a Web2 background to enter this field, with a common belief that now is the best time to "reboot a successful path."
Although the Web3 industry continues to attract a large number of newcomers, the reality of the "landing rate" is not optimistic. "Web3 is not friendly to newcomers," is the most direct feeling of many job seekers. Interestingly, in stark contrast to the dilemma of newcomers finding it difficult to secure a job, project teams are also shouting, "Can't find the right people."
Blogger Web3 Hamburger Cat revealed that trading platforms and project teams are generally facing recruitment difficulties, to the extent that they are willing to pay a headhunter fee of 20% of the annual salary. Given the generally high salaries in Web3, this often means an onboarding cost of tens of thousands or even more. And yet, even so, the recruitment cycle often still extends for several months.
This presents a contradictory phenomenon: on the one hand, it is difficult for Web3 newcomers to enter the industry, and on the other hand, recruiters cannot find the right talent. The root of the problem is not the lack of skills among job seekers but rather the absence of an effective talent ecosystem.
1. Lack of Recruiting Infrastructure
"I don't even know where to submit my resume," this is the first issue that many newcomers face when looking for a job in the Web3 space.
In the traditional Internet era, the recruiting system, represented by platforms like LinkedIn and Boss Zhipin, is already mature: job positions are highly standardized, the interview process is relatively fixed, and job seekers have clear application channels.
However, in the Web3 industry, a similar infrastructure has not yet been established. Although there are already some dedicated recruiting websites on the market, the majority of job postings are still scattered across Twitter (now X), Telegram groups, Notion pages, or Google forms; the recruiting processes of different projects vary widely, and evaluation criteria differ from person to person; many teams do not even have dedicated HR personnel, let alone a systematic recruiting mechanism.
Situations she has encountered include: some teams do not have dedicated HR personnel; interviewers may be "jacks-of-all-trades" simultaneously responsible for recruiting, finance, and community operations; and some HR personnel directly eliminate all candidates with Web2 experience just because the boss said, "We want someone who is Web3 native."
2. Obsolescence of Educational Advantage and the Experience Paradox
In addition, the educational advantage that is effective in the traditional job market does not fully apply in the Web3 field, where even master's students in the top 20 QS rankings may not find internship opportunities. The core of this contradiction lies in the fact that recruiters need talent who can "hit the ground running," while newcomers generally lack verifiable "hands-on experience."
Research by BlockBeats focusing on employers showed that the Web3 industry does not prioritize "educational background" for newcomers, but values practical experience and knowledge more. Among the employers interviewed, nearly 70% (68.97%) hope that newcomers have a deep industry understanding or practical project experience, meaning that being knowledgeable often gives more competitive edge than attending a prestigious school. Furthermore, 51.72% of employers value English proficiency, reflecting the industry's international communication environment; and 44.83% of employers who expect educational backgrounds do not represent the majority.
This data further confirms the Web3 industry's strict requirement for newcomers to have "experience first." However, in practice, this seems to have fallen into a paradox: how can newcomers without experience gain "experience" in this industry?
Facing this dilemma, many newcomers have turned their attention to "job intermediaries." Starting in the second half of 2023, a large number of Web3 training institutions have emerged in the market, with "job guarantee," "career transition with 0 foundation," and "simulated project experience" as selling points, attempting to fill the gap in "experience threshold" and "onboarding path."
It is understood that the fees for these training institutions range from 15,000 to 30,000 RMB, essentially allowing job seekers to exchange money for a "professional identity." However, this model quickly exposed issues in reality:
· Course content severely outdated. Many training institutions are still stuck in the DeFi boom of 2021, with teaching content failing to keep up with the industry's pace, being out of touch with current market trends and actual demands. CoinGecko data shows that there are already over 20,000 active Web3 projects spread across more than 20 subfields, with hot topics updating on a weekly basis, making it difficult for traditional systematic learning paths to adapt;
· "Project experience" contains elements of fraud. Several students have provided feedback that the so-called hands-on projects are actually just teachers talking about AMA sessions, community operations, and other basic tasks in group chats, ultimately fabricating project experiences through synthetic images or "resume padding";
· The so-called "job guarantee" often degrades into "selling internships." Some institutions' promised employment services only involve mass-sending resumes on behalf of students, and the so-called "good news" often only results in obtaining an unpaid or low-paid internship opportunity.
*AMA: Short for "Ask Me Anything," in the Web3 context, it is a type of community engagement activity where project members engage in open Q&A with the community through channels like Twitter spaces. It can be understood as a live audio interaction, similar to live streaming but audio-only.
Interestingly, the target audience for these types of training is not low in qualifications: individuals with undergraduate degrees from top-tier Chinese universities, master's degrees from the National University of Singapore, or backgrounds in investment banking are among them. They often lack not skills but the know-how to navigate this opaque and feedback-lacking industry path.
“They just want to switch careers, but they really don't know how to do it, they are not willing to face it themselves, spend time and effort to explore that uncertainty. They think, I'll just pay some money, and you give me a certain path.” This is how a job seeker observer put it.
Before discussing how to enter Web3, we must first understand: What positions does the market truly lack? And which positions are most open to newcomers?
According to BlockBeats' employer-oriented research, Operations and Business Development (BD) are the most concentrated positions in current recruitment needs, with 86.21% of the surveyed employers stating that they are recruiting or have sought newcomers in this direction; followed by technical positions, accounting for 51.72%; research positions then rank third at 48.28%.
1. Non-Technical Positions: Operations and BD
Among all non-technical positions, Operations and BD are generally considered the “must-have of must-haves.” Regardless of how niche the Web3 project is or how lean the team size is, these two types of positions are needed to interface with the market, integrate resources, and drive growth. As headhunter Kevin said, “Positions that can bring direct output are the most scarce positions.”
It is for this reason that these positions have become the first foothold for many newcomers. According to BlockBeats' survey of job seekers, 46.88% of people tend towards BD/marketing and other “external growth” directions, while another 40.63% prefer community operations and content creation, which belong to the “user engagement” category. This indicates that in the non-technical path, “growth” and “community” are still the most favored job tracks.
However, position popularity does not mean stable development. Newcomers should beware that Operations and BD positions generally exhibit the characteristic of “easy to enter, difficult to retain.”
Snow originally worked in administration at a state-owned enterprise. In mid-2023, she decided to go “all in Web3.” She joined an RWA (Real World Asset) startup project, working in operations and community management, “having to handle all the content, activities, and community every day.” Although she quickly got the hang of it, three months later, she was notified that there was a “team structure adjustment and no renewal.”
「I didn't make a mistake, I just got optimized.」 she said calmly, 「Later on, I realized that they actually found someone who could create content and drive growth.」 It was her first time realizing that some positions, although in high demand, also had a high turnover rate.
Snow's experience is not unique but rather a microcosm of the Web3 job market. Non-technical roles, while relatively easy to get into, demand a high level of overall abilities. Roles such as operations and business development (BD) not only require traditional marketing skills but also a deep understanding of blockchain technology, familiarity with various DeFi protocols, mastery of the unique dynamics of community management, as well as sharp market instincts and strong resource integration capabilities.
2. Technical Roles: Accumulating On-chain Experience
Compared to non-technical roles, technical roles exhibit a structural contradiction of "hot at the extremes, cold in the middle."
On one hand, high-end technical roles have long been in short supply: positions such as cryptography experts, ZK engineers, security architects, on-chain auditors, etc., highly rely on a doctoral-level education or years of on-chain development experience, with most talents already involved in startups or infrastructure development. As one practitioner put it, "Those who truly understand on-chain logic have all gone into startups."
On the other hand, entry-level "Web2 transition" technical roles (such as front-end development, wallet integration, etc.) have long been contested ground. These positions do not require much on-chain experience, attracting a large number of traditional Internet engineers to join, intensifying the competition.
For newcomers, the most critical challenge is: How to find their entry point between these two extremes?
In fact, many Web3 projects still have a demand for developers who "have development capabilities and understand on-chain interaction logic," especially in daily development tasks such as contract interaction, oracle calls, etc. These "versatile" talents are not extremely scarce, but a stable supply is not sufficient. To reach this level, the key accumulation required is practical on-chain experience. For example, learning basic contract languages, reading documentation of open-source projects, and participating in real project collaborations.
Therefore, for newcomers hoping to enter the Web3 space through technical roles, instead of accumulating experience in peripheral positions, it is better to seek on-chain practical opportunities early on. By accumulating a "feel for the chain" through avenues like hackathons, open-source projects, collaborative development, one can carve out their own space between overcrowding and high-end exclusivity.
1. Dare to Start: Starting first is more important than having "experience."
Many newcomers to Web3 often find themselves in a common dilemma: not knowing how to get involved.
They worry about their lack of experience, are hesitant to take the initiative, and can only rely on a traditional path—submit a resume, wait for an interview, and hopefully get "hired in."
But this kind of thinking may be fundamentally wrong. In fact, when we truly step into the recruitment scene, we discover a significant contrast: many project teams show unexpected patience and favor towards "potential newcomers."
The survey by BlockBeats targeting employers similarly shows that, compared to experience, employers value rapid learning and self-driven ability more. In a recruitment priority scorecard, "rapid learning and self-driven ability" scored 3.41, higher than the understanding of Web3 basic concepts at 2.14 and English proficiency at 1.79, while "having some industry experience" ranked last, at only 1.41.
Behind this is a practical and efficient hiring logic: on the one hand, Web3 projects generally have a small scale and fast pace, with little extra capacity for training from scratch; on the other hand, they are willing to find "teachable talents" through a "low-cost trial and error" approach, much like scratching a potential lottery ticket.
As a project leader bluntly put it: "We don't mind bringing in newcomers, but they have to show me their effort. You have to take a few steps on your own first, so I know you're serious."
This point is not limited to project teams and also holds true for exchanges' campus recruitment. In 2025, Bitget received over ten thousand resumes and ultimately hired 28 fresh graduates, nearly half of whom did not have a systematic Web3 background. What they all had in common was not a mature resume but a signal of being "trustworthy and worth nurturing."
"We always believe that potential outweighs resume credentials." Bitget HR emphasized that the team pays special attention to growth willingness, self-driven attitude, and malleability during the screening process, and this is also why many "zero-experience" newcomers can smoothly enter the field.
This also means: you don't need a "job" to start taking action. Many truly successful individuals who have entered the industry did not start by submitting resumes but by actively participating and gaining experience:
· If you want to do operations, you can start by choosing an interesting project, being active in their Discord community, proactively applying to become a MOD (Moderator, community manager), and gaining industry insights through practice;
· To engage in content creation, you can find a KOL or author you like, initiate communication, express your views, and even a high-quality comment could be a good starting point;
· To engage in technology, you can start with languages like Solidity, Rust, etc., then try writing based on online tutorials, and further understand their contracts through the documentation of open-source projects. Additionally, participate in industry hackathons, team up with like-minded individuals to practice, and then exchange ideas with projects of interest.
This is the reality of the Web3 talent mechanism: there is no defined path, but plenty of room for "giving it a try." Instead of waiting to be "ready," it's better to take the first step. Building trust through action is always more realistic than waiting for the perfect path.
In summary, one sentence says it all: Experience is important, but being "willing to take the first step" is even more important.
2. Being Seen: Step Out and Engage Proactively
If the first issue addresses the question of "whether to act," this section aims to solve the problem of "where to act" — the answer is: among people.
The Web3 industry has a characteristic that is radically different from traditional industries: it lacks a formal job application system. There are no unified job boards, no standardized interview processes, and many projects don't even have HR departments. In this scenario, the industry is reverting to the most primitive form of talent matching: referrals and introductions by acquaintances.
"We don't post job openings." said a project lead, "We just bring in those who are reliable and capable to give them a try. It's mainly through referrals, and we quickly fill our positions with two or three people."
It may sound informal, but many positions are filled this way. Especially for early-stage projects with a small team and a fast pace, rather than spending time sifting through resumes, it's better to find someone who is known, even if they are not perfect, to start immediately.
For them, being "reliable" and "trustworthy" are higher priorities than having a "good education" or "extensive experience." It's not that they ignore backgrounds; it's just that they don't have time to deduce from a background whether the person can handle the job.
Therefore, the core logic of finding a job in Web3 is also simple: you must first appear in their field of view. You need others to remember you when they have a need — this is the recruitment logic of this industry.
For students, the most reliable way to "be seen" is to join the university's Blockchain Association (hereinafter referred to as the Chain Asso).
On one hand, Blockchain Associations help new members understand blockchain basics and industry operations through public lectures, internal workshops, and other means; on the other hand, they continue to connect with alumni resources and collaborative projects, providing members with internship, part-time, or volunteer opportunities.
In addition, many Blockchain Associations also hold open events for the industry, such as organizing AMAs, co-hosting offline Meetups, or participating in Hackathon event preparations. These activities not only allow members to engage with project teams and professionals early on but also implicitly establish the Blockchain Association's "stamp of approval" in the industry.
"We don't specifically focus on recruitment, but project teams often come to us asking if we have any recommended candidates," said one Blockchain Association organizer. "So we have a group where we bring project teams and students together, and whoever needs people can directly post job positions in the group, and students can directly reach out to HR."
Some recruitment events in the industry also directly connect with Blockchain Associations. For example, Bitget's 2024-2025 overseas campus recruitment held offline informational sessions at several overseas target universities.
For project teams, this mechanism significantly reduces screening costs; and for students, it provides a relatively safe way to get started. For many, their first Web3 experience often starts with the Blockchain Association.
If your school doesn't have a Blockchain Association, there's no need to worry. Most association activities are open to all students and also offer similar student subsidies, so you can pay attention to relevant information.
In addition to Blockchain Associations, actively participating in offline events is also an important way to build industry connections.
"We prefer to attend offline events to put a face to the name; online, it's really hard to remember people," said a project team member. "Judging a person based on a resume or profile picture is too abstract. Trust is crucial in Web3, so it's essential to establish offline connections." Compared to traditional recruitment processes, this is more like serendipity-based recruitment. "Many people have met a few times at events, and then when there's an opening, they'll directly ask you if you're interested in giving it a try."
This isn't a one-time interaction for one offer game, but a process of making the other person remember you, acknowledge you, and trust you through multiple engagements and conversations.
In addition to traditional Blockchain Associations and offline events, the industry also has some platforms and projects actively building "connection bridges" to provide more structured entry points for newcomers lacking connections, which you can actively follow. For example, the Blockchain4Youth initiative initiated by Bitget, which provides systematic industry guidance to newcomers through various means, including: collaborating with the University of Zurich to establish scholarships to support students in-depth participation in Web3 research and project practice; partnering with the Web3 career platform Bondex (similar to Web3's LinkedIn) to launch the #Web3 Insider video series, focusing on job introductions and career path planning, to help newcomers better understand industry demands and possible entry points.
In the current industry landscape lacking a clear recruitment infrastructure, paying attention to such resources can provide a more defined entry path for newcomers without a network background.
It is worth noting that being social does not equal being extroverted; proactive socializing does not mean introverted individuals have no opportunities. In the Web3 field, the following approaches are equally effective:
· Small-Scale Deep Connections: Rather than meeting 20 people at an event, it is better to establish deep connections with 3-5 individuals who truly align with you. Introverts are often more adept at one-on-one deep conversations, which is the best way to build trust relationships.
· High-Density Community Engagement: Focus on 2-3 high-quality small circles or communities, become an active contributor, which is more effective than broad networking. In a small circle, your professional abilities are more likely to be seen and remembered.
· Content Over Small Talk: Through activities such as writing technical blogs, sharing project retrospectives, and publishing thought summaries, let your professional abilities proactively "find" the right people. Many introverted technical experts have built a strong personal brand through consistent content output.
In conclusion, Web3 recruitment is often not about "who is applying," but "who among the people I know can do this." This is a byproduct of the "lack of standardized recruitment mechanisms," but it is also truly more about fate.
You don't necessarily have to perform exceptionally well, but you must be trusted, at least "known as someone."
In this context, taking the initiative, making yourself visible, and building trust relationships have become essential courses for Web3 job seekers. Whether you do it through chain associations, offline events, or online content output, the key is to consistently appear in the industry's field of vision, becoming the "remembered person."
3. Ability to Stay: Proactiveness and Communication Collaboration Skills
If "getting in the circle" relies on being seen, then "staying" depends on being trusted. And what truly wins trust is not the credentials on a resume but whether one can demonstrate proactiveness and communication collaboration skills in work.
BlockBeats' research on employers shows that 96.55% of recruiters value "proactiveness/execution" the most, and 62.07% value "communication and writing skills." In other words, whether a newcomer can drive things forward on their own and explain complex problems clearly is more important than being a "crypto veteran." In actual projects, credentials are no longer the decisive factor; instead, the ability to quickly enter a "can deliver, can collaborate" work mode is the standard for measuring retention value.
As a project founder bluntly put it: "I don't care how many meme projects you've been involved in; what matters is whether you can clearly articulate your thoughts."
In decentralized, flat Web3 teams, the ability to express oneself is equivalent to the ability to acquire resources. Ricardo, a marketing recruit at Bitget, confirmed this through his experience: "My mentor told me when I joined that I could propose any idea, as long as it was reasonable, and he would provide resources for me to execute." This means that the prerequisite for advancing an idea is the ability to persuade others accurately and clearly.
In the eyes of Joseph, a data analyst at Bitget, effective communication can even become an accelerator for problem-solving. When faced with a complex issue, he directly initiated a voice call with a colleague, who then involved upstream collaborators layer by layer, ultimately leading to a 7-person meeting. He said, "Everyone was willing to work together to clarify things." This proactive connection and multi-party coordination ability are becoming the cornerstone of collaboration in flat organizations.
This ability also directly impacts the recruitment process. An interviewer revealed, "I ask some questions that you may not know the answers to, not to test your knowledge but to see how you organize your thoughts. If you are disorganized, I will guide you to structure your response with first, second, third. If you still can't explain clearly, we probably won't continue the conversation." In his view, structured expression is not just a communication skill but also a demonstration of executive awareness—a person who can systematically break down a problem and push tasks forward coherently is often the one who can stay.
In fast-paced Web3 projects, the ability to express oneself, logical thinking, and collaborative awareness are no longer just bonus skills but rather "foundational capabilities." They determine whether a person can truly keep up with the industry's pace and whether they can continuously create value within a team.
For newcomers eager to enter Web3, the first step in career choice is not actually "Should I do operations or content," but rather "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, direction, and even risk tolerance of growth.
Unlike the standard process in traditional industries of "submitting a resume, joining, and waiting for promotion," the entry into Web3 is often more non-standardized, asymmetric, and even somewhat chaotic and random. The real issue newcomers face is not "which company to choose" but "which entry path to select."
According to research data from DapDance BlockBeats, 75% of job seekers consider centralized exchanges as their preferred starting point, 56.25% choose to join a project team or startup, and another 56.25% opt to engage in 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: the trading platform and the project party, attempting to reconstruct their true ecosystems to provide job seekers with a more valuable career map.
Each of these two paths has its own advantages and disadvantages, and they are also suitable for job seekers with different backgrounds, skill sets, and preferences.
Most Web3 project parties are early-stage startup teams with small organizations and short decision-making chains. Due to the lack of a systematic training system, these teams generally don't "hire" much, but are very willing to "use" people—as long as you can immediately get started, solve problems, your identity as a part-timer, remote worker, or intern is not important.
This "trust through delivery" logic in hiring is very common among Web3 project parties. For them, the cost of hiring the wrong person is extremely high. Instead of "training from scratch," they prefer "low-cost trial and error" to discover teachable talents.
Lynn is a core member of a Web3 startup project, with only five full-time and three part-time team members, so small that they even saved on office space. She frankly said, "We don't actually hire much because it's hard for us to survive." Nevertheless, through referrals from friends, she still hired some interns to handle operations or technical work, paying between $500 and $1000 per month, working a few hours a day. This budget is higher than the internship salary at a certain e-commerce giant, and it's remote and "easygoing." However, she doesn't feel extravagant at all. "I only look at results. As long as I can deliver, it's worth it for me," she said with a smile.
This setup is meaningful for project parties: cost-effective, light burden, and easily retractable. If an intern performs exceptionally well, the team is like "finding a treasure"; if not suitable, they can quickly cut losses without incurring sunk costs. In the context of a generally short project lifecycle and highly uncertain cash flow, this arrangement not only avoids the risk of excessive manpower expenditure but also adds a margin of error.
Of course, for newcomers, this path is full of uncertainties: you may be the "person doing the most critical work," or you may just be a "stand-in for odd jobs." However, it is undeniable that it is one of the few opportunities where you can be "directly seen."
More importantly, it is a rare opportunity to get close to the founder, directly understand product and market decisions through a real window. You will be involved in actual business, understand the rhythm of community operations, and may even be involved in the promotion of financing and ecosystem cooperation processes, gaining a growth density far beyond traditional internship experiences.
Of course, it's not suitable for everyone: no training plan, no promotion path, everything is based on self-exploration. Today you may be leading the growth strategy, but tomorrow you may be "optimized" due to a team restructuring. However, for those willing to exchange hands-on experience, accept volatility, and are not afraid to start from scratch, this is truly one of the paths in the Web3 industry that can allow you to "get to the front line."
If being a project team member is a high-risk, high-reward "freestyle fight," then centralized trading platforms provide a more "standardized" entryway.
Compared to the project team's common practices of referrals and community endorsements, trading platforms' recruitment channels are more open and transparent, with fixed processes and clear steps, providing newcomers with a clearer entry path. Taking Bitget as an example, its campus recruitment and internship positions are regularly posted on the official website, LinkedIn, social media, and on the internal platforms of targeted universities. Allen, who had previously worked at a Web2 giant, directly applied after seeing Bitget's AI Product position recruitment on LinkedIn and received an interview invitation within a few days.
In addition to clear channels, the job offerings are much more diverse than outsiders imagine. By the end of 2024, a leading trading platform simultaneously opened over 500 positions in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, covering various functions such as product, operations, growth, risk control, and security. Another newly established trading platform also rapidly expanded its core team to nearly a hundred employees in a short period. "If you don't reach this scale, you basically can't get it going," said a recruitment officer in the industry.
Behind this intensive recruitment demand is the high-density operational structure that platform-based organizations need to undertake: they must serve global users, deal with complex technical operations, ecosystem development, and regulatory compliance. To ensure the efficient operation of this system, most trading platforms establish dedicated HR teams, build clear job grading systems, and strengthen cross-departmental cooperation mechanisms. Compared to project teams with loose organization and limited resources, trading platforms have a more solid organizational foundation that is "capable of onboarding newcomers and accommodating growth."
Bitget's campus recruitment is a microcosm of this structured mechanism. In 2025, its campus recruitment project received over ten thousand resumes in total, but only 28 recent graduates were finally hired, entering various core business modules such as technology, product, regional growth, global branding, and global operations, covering almost the entire chain of the crypto business.
What's more welcoming for newcomers is that, compared to the "must-hit-the-ground-running" logic of many project teams, trading platforms provide a more forgiving growth range and a clearer support system. Among these newcomers, a considerable portion had not directly worked in Web3-related roles before, but due to their clear communication skills, curiosity about the industry, and willingness to learn, they still secured employment opportunities.
Upon joining the team, new hires will receive onboarding training covering industry knowledge, job-specific skills, and cultural values; each person will be assigned a direct mentor, while HRBP will regularly track performance and development needs to support lateral job rotations and inter-departmental experiments. This mechanism not only helps new hires quickly understand their roles but also ensures they have a relatively clear development path in an uncertain industry.
In actual execution, this mechanism has also shown positive results.
Hazel, a campus recruit from Bitget's Branding department, shared that when participating in Bitget's large-scale marketing project "Bitget Anti-Scam Month," the team provided an SOP framework and resource coordination support from creative planning to execution, allowing her to lead the entire campaign within three months. Another campus recruit, Joseph, also mentioned that during the data dashboard construction project, his mentor was with him throughout, both covering business challenges and teaching him how to break down problems and review processes step by step. Within a few months of joining, he was able to independently support operational data requirements.
Of course, the path of a trading platform is not without its flaws. Compared to a project team's "jack-of-all-trades" approach and "close contact with the core," the trading platform has more refined job functions and mature processes. This means that in some positions, personal expression space and innovative flexibility may be limited; for newcomers eager to lead product development and engage in frequent trial and error, growth speed may be constrained.
Who is it suitable for? Those who wish to receive systematic training, need a stable cash flow, and plan to stay in the industry in the medium to long term. Especially for job seekers who want to start from understanding the entire industry landscape and "slowly grow within a stable structure," the trading platform is a reliable starting point.
All in all, when it comes to entering Web3, there is no standard answer, only a more suitable entry point.
· If you are eager to learn quickly, get close to the industry's core, and are willing to embrace uncertainty, a project team may be your training ground;
· If you want a stable start, have systematic support, and have long-term plans, the trading platform may be more suitable as your first stop.
What truly matters is whether you can build trust through action and establish your position through output—the platform is just a path, and your growth still depends on yourself.
As we look back at the full picture of this in-depth research, a clear image emerges: Web3 is not only an emerging industry but also an experimental ground that is redefining the very notion of "career." Here, traditional job search logic is being disrupted, and new ways of value creation are emerging.
For each individual involved, the true meaning of seeking a Web3 job is not just to find a "Web3 job," but to learn a new way of working, thinking, and living. At its core, it is a shift from "adapting to the world" to "creating the world."
Throughout this process, you will discover:
The best job is not found, but created;
The best opportunity is not waited for, but made;
The best future is not planned, but is the result of action.
Web3 is not a destination but a starting point. It teaches us how to find certainty in uncertainty, identify opportunities in change, and establish order in chaos.
The river of history constantly reveals: in the transition of eras, it is often not the embracers of change that perish, but those who hold onto old ways and resist transformation.
The dividend of the era will eventually pass, but the ability to embrace change will become your timeless asset. No matter how Web3 evolves in the future, those who dare to act, continuously learn, and consistently create will always find their place in the next cycle.
Note: All individuals mentioned in the text are using pseudonyms
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