The Quiet Rise in Demand For Blockchain Devs

The demand for blockchain developers is soaring in spite of a dwindling buzz around the technology.

News coverage and ads around blockchain technology may not be at the fever-pitch level of 2017, but the technology has since displayed a level of resilience that virtually ensures that conversations about it never quite go away. From startups to corporations and governments, stakeholders are quietly paying attention to the technology. Some are decidedly overt – there are currently over 3000 blockchain companies with over 2000 blockchain job openings listed on AngelList.

Because blockchain is essentially new tech, the market isn’t exactly gorging with blockchain talent yet. For every available blockchain engineer, there are as many as 14 job openings, which explains why companies are willing to pay high wages to pull talent in the field. Several factors account for blockchain developer salaries – experience, company, skill, location, etc. According to a paysa report, the average annual salary for a blockchain developer is $96,545, and top earners earn as high as $139,339. Hired.com has a report that ranks SF Bay Area, New York and London as the locations with the highest average annual salary for blockchain developers, where the figures are $158,668, $141,835, and £69,129, respectively.

When the freelancing platform for developers and designers, Toptal, launched its blockchain on-demand talent network in February 2018, it also announced a spike in client demand for blockchain devs on its platform to the tune of over 700% between January and that time.

Overall, the soaring demand for blockchain engineers underscores the increasing belief – in some circles, at least – in the role blockchain is playing or will play in how we manage and protect information and other high-value assets in the future. Amidst growing pressure on funded blockchain companies to show results, the high demand for talented engineers in the field will likely continue to rise.