According to a 2023 report by DevSkiller, which compiled over 200,000 skills assessments, there was a 552% surge in demand for blockchain programming skills in 2022.
The report covers 7 key areas:
- Digital & IT skills trends from 2022
- Technology insights
- Tech candidate behavioral insights
- Digital & IT skills management insights
- Developer seniority insights
- Customer insights
- Outlook, predictions, and recommendations for 2023
A significant portion of this upsurge in demand can be attributed to non-crypto companies seeking to hire developers with expertise in the industry, said Tomasz Nurkiewicz, the CTO of DevSkiller.
Nurkiewicz added that companies might be interested in utilizing blockchain for purposes other than just cryptocurrencies. For instance, they might be seeking to leverage it for decentralized storage or to establish a decentralized proof of something within their own organizations.
Moreover, the tech leader has observed a significant surge in demand for individuals with expertise in programming languages like Solidity and Ethereum along with experience in using the supporting tools within the Ethereum development ecosystem such as Hard Hat.
While it is an opportune time for individuals to enter the blockchain development industry, Nurkiewicz suggested that aspiring developers should endeavor to establish a solid foundation in traditional computer science concepts in addition to honing their blockchain skills.
Developers could showcase their proficiency in essential components of blockchain infrastructure such as demonstrating their practical knowledge of smart contracts that they have created and can showcase on their GitHub page or having a sound understanding of how Merkle trees function.
According to DevSkiller’s report, blockchain-focused developers around the world can expect an average salary of approximately $79,983. However, this figure jumps to $177,500for developers based in the United States, making it one of the highest-paying specializations among developers.
Despite the significant increase in demand for blockchain skills in 2022, it still falls short in comparison to the well-established programming languages such as Java, JavaScript, SQL, and Python, which continue to have a much greater demand in the overall job market.
As per the 2022 Stack Overflow Survey, only 1.45% of developers were reported to be using Solidity, whereas over 65% were utilizing JavaScript and 55% were using HTML, indicating that the adoption of Solidity and blockchain-related skills still has a long way to go before catching up with the most widely used programming languages.
Rust, a popular blockchain language used for the NEAR blockchain, for example, is used by 9.32% of developers, while Haskell (Cardano) is used by 2.22% of developers and finally Ethereum’s Solidity is only used by 1.45%, based on the survey.
Blockchain development is still considered a niche area of software development in that survey, given that, of all the areas surveyed, only 2.5% of those surveyed described themselves as pure-play blockchain developers.
Nonetheless, developers are urged not to pursue any kind of development simply based on trends, be it blockchain or AI, but to do it out of interest. In such case, as shown by mainstream companies seeking blockchain developers, there are opportunities in blockchain development that one can find even when the subject is out of the news.