The global market for blockchain specialists is experiencing one of the most acute shortages in the technology industry, WhiteBIT founder Vladimir Nosov said, explaining why blockchain teams are becoming the main field of competition for companies and even states.
The global market for blockchain specialists is experiencing one of the most acute shortages in the technology industry, WhiteBIT founder Vladimir Nosov said, explaining why blockchain teams are becoming the main field of competition for companies and even states.
According to Nosov, today there are a little more than 5,000 blockchain developers working around the world. 3,000 of them are in Asia and China, 1,500 in the US, and 500 in the EU.
«WhiteBIT has 250 blockchain engineers, which makes the team one of the largest in the world. In terms of the size of the technology team, the exchange is in the top 5 global blockchain companies,» Nosov noted in an interview with Alexey Durnev.
Nosov says that the deficit is so acute that attempts are being made to «drag» blockchain specialists to the state level: the USA, in particular Donald Trump’s team, China, and EU countries have already entered the fray.
«The competition is not for investments or offices, but for people who can build blockchain products,» he notes.
Nosov names several reasons for the staff shortage.
First, universities don’t train blockchain developers. «There are practically no universities where you can get a specialization,» he says.
Secondly, the training is very long. Even experienced senior developers need at least six months to go through onboarding and understand the basic specifics of blockchain development, says Nosov.
Third, the industry is too young. The technology is still new, and specialists simply haven’t had time to appear en masse.
«Businesses, banks, merchants, retail — they need to integrate blockchain solutions. But there are no specialists. We will face a shortage of teams that can do this,» says Nosov.
The market situation, he said, is so tense that there is a shortage not only of engineers, but also of crypto marketing specialists, salespeople capable of selling blockchain solutions, analysts, and lawyers who understand crypto regulation.
According to Nosov, Ukrainian lawyers who independently understood crypto law are now advising companies throughout Europe, because their expertise is unique even compared to German or French specialists.
The founder of WhiteBIT noted that blockchain is a chance for the development of specialists working in service companies. «A very large number of young people, primarily in Ukraine, work in galleys, or they harness you to a boat, and you row, row, row, and where you row is unknown. The blockchain industry can be a breath of fresh air,» he said.
The founder of WhiteBIT also told where to study blockchain development. WhiteBIT has already launched its first educational project — a course together with the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. This is a basic level, and Nosov admits that it is not enough: «This is a small step compared to what demand there is in the world and what it will be in a year or two.»
The main advice for those who want to enter the industry: learn through GitHub, Reddit, open materials, don’t be afraid to move from outsourcing to the product blockchain industry, set aside 6–12 months for a serious dive.
