If you are invested in crypto-assets and do not have a six- or seven-figure bankroll it can be tough sometimes: With lack of capital you will ask yourself questions like ‘in what project should I invest most?’, ‘How do I get more capital?’, often leading to ‘Could I not just work for a project and get paid in crypto?!’.
The simple answer to this last question is: Yes! Of course you can!
I myself started with a tiny bankroll back in the days. Working for projects nowadays, in the field of marketing, allows me to keep growing my stacks while also covering for life expenses. 100% of my income today is paid in cryptocurrencies, no FIAT payments.
In this article I will try to give anybody a helping hand who wants to try the ‘work-to-earn’-method. I will explain the different types of jobs available, the areas in which a lot of jobs are available categorized by skills and how to reach out to projects.
Working in Crypto: Full-Time vs. Freelancing
First decision you have to make for yourself is whether you want to work full-time (40h+ per week) for one project or rather have multiple smaller freelance gigs. If you are working for just one project full-time be aware that it is limiting your flexibility.
Also the risk that a project goes bust is real. Not different to startups. Just 9/10 will succeed mid-/long-term. So betting all your effort on one project might be a mistake if it’s not an already established company in this space.
For me, freelancing is the best solution. I have different clients with different workloads, everything is pretty flexible, giving me a higher grade of safety and also makes the work varied. Nothing is worse than getting ‘bored’ at work.
If you decide to go for the freelancing route it is helpful to have more than one particular skill. Bigger skill set equals more job opportunities.
‘I Have No Skills, This Won’t Work For Me’ — Wrong!
One of the biggest misconceptions with this topic is the fact that a lot of people think they don’t have any skills that are worth getting paid for. I tell you, this is wrong in most cases.
The mistake a lot of people make is that they think they would need a university degree in informatics, computer science or whatsoever: No, you don’t!
Here a list with positions that almost every project has to fill:
Business Development: Experienced in business development and growth but without big financial/crypto-experience? Often not a problem as there is a big lack of business developers especially for smaller projects and companies.
Web Design: Self-explanatory, web design is always needed. But here I have to say, there are a lot of web designers out there. To get gigs on a regular basis you and your work have to stick out.
Coding/Development: I guess I don’t have to explain this one. If you are an experienced blockchain dev (e.g. Solidity) there is no way you won’t find jobs.
Marketing: Besides cringe influencers most projects are lacking a basic online marketing strategy and execution. ‘Build it and they will come’ is a romantic view and yes, most garbage projects use ‘marketing’ to pump their charts. Still, for legit projects it is important to get the work out. If you have experience, your chances are high to fit in somewhere.
Community Management: Community managers take care of moderating Telegram, Discord and other social media channels, answering questions, engaging with the community, etc. — if you have social skills and are knowledgeable it is very easy to get a job.
Editing: Good content is always needed, be it for the website, blogs or Medium accounts. There are a lot of people, especially developers, who really don’t have the urge to write content, at all. Helping hands are often needed.
Translations: We are an international industry, borders don’t really exist. For this reason it is great to be a translator! Translations of websites and whitepaper contents in languages like Spanish, French, Russian, Korean, Chinese are pretty common. Perfect if you speak multiple languages!
So to start with you should make a list with all skills you have that are fitting into those categories. Be realistic, don’t lie to yourself. If you created one website in your life using a CMS don’t think you are a ‘web developer’.
You can expect the highest payments in: Development, Business Development & Marketing
Lower payments in: Editing, Translations, Community Management but also lower entry-barriers.
How To Reach Out And Apply For A Job
Forget the typical application letters and CV’s, in 90% of the cases you won’t need it. Don’t be scared to reach out to anyone. What’s more important in our industry is having references.
Those don’t have to be from working in the crypto-industry, but just from former jobs etc. — you have to be able to prove your skills. Of course, having an impressive CV will help if there is any doubt. Still, it is not the regular traditional job universe here.
So, you created your skill list and know what services you could charge money for, great. Probably you also have a list with projects already for which you could imagine working with. But, how to reach out? Well, multiple options here:
Website Contact-Form: Most projects get a contact form on their website and in many cases they also list the available jobs. This is pretty much the standard way to make first contact, but it can take some time till you get an answer.
Social Media Channels: Having an active Twitter account is worth so much when it comes to reaching out to projects. If you don’t have one, go and start one today! A lot of projects have their DM’s open, or you can check if you can find the profiles of people already involved. Besides Twitter you can also jump into their Telegram or Discord. Just don’t spam in multiple ones, its about genuine outreach. Not this YouTube marketer style in which people post the same ‘proposal’ into hundreds of project TG’s.
‘Vitamin B’: If you didn’t understand already — contacts just hurt if you don’t have any. A big network with crypto-people all over the world opens a lot of doors. Most people underestimate this; networking itself should be a fixed part in your schedule.
Cold Outreach: If there is no info re: open jobs available, don’t worry. Just reach out and ask. Almost never experienced an answer like ‘nah we are looking for nothing’.
Like with regular job applications in the ‘real world’ — don’t get sad or demotivated in case you get rejected. That’s life. Just don’t stop, you got this!
Stay Up-2-Date In The Crypto Job Market
Besides the projects you already identified as an interesting opportunity for you, it is recommended to keep your eyes wide open. There are always new projects and companies in need of manpower in various areas. Nowadays there are a lot of classical job boards on which companies and professionals can get together, here the most popular ones:
https://crypto.jobs/
https://cryptocurrencyjobs.co/
https://cryptojobslist.com/
https://pompcryptojobs.com/
https://cryptojobs.careers/
Also follow projects you like on Twitter and follow announcement channels e.g. in Discord to be one of the first to see new job opportunities. If you are using LinkedIn, XING or similar services, don’t forget to mention in your profile that you are looking for jobs/freelance gigs in a certain area.
Conclusion: If You Want It You Can Do It!
There is no excuse for not having a job in crypto if you really want it. I am sure most people who claim its too hard, or even ‘impossible’, just lack self-confidence or they just don’t see how their skills could be beneficial (= worth money). If you are having a hard time with this, feel free to reach out (Twitter @cryptonator1337) — I will try to help you to find your way!