How to Find a Good Blockchain Project to Work on?
Tags: blockchain, development, webdev, programming
Published: 2022-06-20 10:29:32

Blockchain job opportunities have exploded over the last year, with thousands of new blockchain ventures, projects, and marketplaces seeking highly talented blockchain engineers to bring decentralized protocols, platforms, and apps to life. 

Blockchain developers are now some of the most sought-after dev professionals in the industry, commanding extremely competitive remuneration. However, finding the right blockchain project to work on can be complicated.

Not all blockchain projects present talented blockchain developers with the same opportunity. When looking for a good blockchain project to work on, it’s important to apply the same due diligence and analysis applied to investing in a blockchain project. Some blockchain developer roles offer developers competitive remuneration but may fail before launch due to poor reasoning, unrealistic roadmap goals, or blockchain solutionism.

Finding the best possible blockchain project to work on not only requires careful due diligence but also requires a robust, strong online presence from which to negotiate with potential employers and projects. 

Screening hundreds of different recruiter emails, LinkedIn messages, and job listings can quickly become a frustrating, time-consuming process. Here’s how to cut ahead of the competition and find the best blockchain project for you to work on.

## If You’re New to the Industry, Consider Interning or Volunteering

While taking on an intern role is, in most cases, not a suitable solution for tenured blockchain developers, new blockchain developers and professionals may want to consider taking up an internship with a major blockchain venture or promising startup in order to develop critical industry experience.

The right internship, working on a promising project, can arm a prospective blockchain developer with the industry experience necessary to break into blockchain development and engineering as their expertise grows. 

Many of the largest and most popular blockchain projects are open source and operate on a wholly non-profit basis. Volunteering your expertise as a new blockchain developer not only provides critical insight into the inner workflow of major blockchain enterprises and projects but also presents networking opportunities that can assist new devs in moving to highly competitive paid roles.

## Lead From the Front With Writing

Thought leadership is a highly effective way to share your insights into blockchain development and the blockchain industry while capturing the attention of key stakeholders at the blockchain enterprises you may want to engage with.

Establishing a presence on platforms such as Twitter and Medium allows blockchain developers to connect with communities of blockchain professionals and share knowledge. Publishing domain expertise content specific to the blockchain niche in which you’d like to specialize will establish you as a thought leader in your field, placing you in a stronger position when filtering and negotiating with potential blockchain roles.

## Be Active Within the Blockchain Industry

The blockchain ecosystem isn’t limited to blockchain developer roles — maintaining an active and engaged presence within the blockchain industry will present project opportunities that may otherwise be unavailable.

When assessing candidates, many blockchain enterprises and projects are highly interested in the personal experiences of developers with blockchain platforms and how they use them. Blockchain role interviewers often ask candidates questions that include:

- Are you actively engaged with any DeFi protocols and, if so, which ones and why?
- Do you participate in the NFT economy, and if so, which NFT collections do you like?
- Do you participate in any decentralized autonomous organizations or decentralized governance protocols?

These questions give employers insight into the level of expertise a blockchain developer may possess. There are many ways to be active within the blockchain industry, from submitting improvement proposals, to participating in the DeFi economy, or even forking an entire project. Demonstrating proven experience on-chain will allow you to approach interviewers with confidence and authority.

## Identify Your Niche

The world of cryptocurrency and blockchain is wide. Blockchain projects exist in an extremely broad spectrum of meme coins, DeFi protocols, DAOs, marketplaces and exchanges both centralized and decentralized, play to earn platforms, and much more.
Identifying the blockchain niche in which you want to work will allow you to narrow down potential blockchain developer roles, identifying only opportunities that align with your personal preferences and goals. 

## Link Up With a Talent Pool

Joining a talent pool can take the heavy lifting out of looking for the ideal blockchain project to work on — with so many different projects online today, it can be difficult to identify which roles align with your skills.

A [blockchain recruitment agency](https://cryptrain.com/) can provide skilled developers with the ability to quantify and prove their expertise in blockchain technology through AI code analysis. Joining a talent pool automatically places your profile before the most relevant employers, ensuring you’re only screening and engaging with organizations and projects that suit your needs.

## Stay Up to Date With Job Boards

Crypto and blockchain job boards are highly active, with most boards publishing tens or hundreds of new roles on a daily basis. Screening each platform for relevant positions can be a time-consuming process — setting up email alerts when roles relevant to your interests are posted is a highly effective way to cut down your job board screening time.

Some of the most popular crypto and blockchain job boards include:

- [CryptocurrencyJobs.co](https://cryptocurrencyjobs.co/)
- [CryptoJobsList](CryptoJobsList)
- [BlockEw](https://blockew.com/)
- [Crypto.Jobs](Crypto.Jobs)
- [Crypto-Careers](https://www.crypto-careers.com/)
- [Web3.Career](https://web3.career/)
- [Remote3.co](https://remote3.co/web3-jobs)

## Key Takeaways

Regardless of whether you want to work at a highly promising crypto startup or a major institutional-backed blockchain enterprise, establishing authority and presence within the blockchain industry and engaging with services such as talent pools can streamline the hunt for the best possible blockchain project to work on.