BTC and XBT: Why are there two ticker symbols for ₿itcoin?

AngelList, the job board specializing in startup jobs, reports cryptocurrency job postings have nearly doubled in the past six months and are soon to triple from 2016. Companies in the crypto space have experienced “unparalleled investment and growth” in recent months. The organization stated that while many new technologies (self-driving cars and virtual reality, for example) are embraced by tech giants, cryptocurrency remains one of the largest non-corporate startup opportunities.

The data shows that investments are on the rise. Cryptocurrency startups collected more investments in the first two quarters of 2017 ($467 million) than they did in all of 2016 ($325 million). According to AngelList, as the companies in the crypto space grow, and raise larger amounts of funds at higher valuations, their need for new talent has also grown. The two main reasons for the crypto hiring boom are the expansions of both bitcoin and Ethereum to a mainstream audience and the popularity of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).

In 2016, there were 442 cryptocurrency-related job postings on AngelList; however, the number of listings is projected to reach 1,255 by the end of 2017. The organization added that in the last six months, the number of job postings has nearly doubled. While experienced engineers in the crypto space are in the highest demand, startups are also looking for engineers with an interest in cryptocurrencies. There are also positions ready to be filled in the areas of marketing, business development, operations, customer support and other job functions in which no technical background is required.

The main reasons to join a cryptocurrency startup as either an employee or a team member include better salaries — up to 20 percent higher compared to the industry norm — more remote flexibility and employee liquidity in the form of tokens or coins, which is often an exclusive bonus offered at “new coin/token companies,” according to AngelList.

Preparing to Answer the Growing Demand for Talent

At a time when demand for crypto experts is on the rise, the blockchain and research development company IOHK has announced that the first cohort of its graduates has successfully completed training at the summer course hosted by IOHK, and are ready to start working within the crypto space and blockchain industry. IOHK plans to offer full-time positions to selected candidates from the training program in the firm’s newly created Athens Haskell Team.

IOHK offered the summer course free of charge to computer science graduates in Athens, Greece. The participants were personally selected by the university professors. The course primarily focused on Haskell, a programming language currently in high demand within the crypto space because of the language’s significant security advantages. The summer course was a little more than two months long, hosted between July 17 and September 22.

“Corporations and financial institutions are increasingly seeking Haskell developers, but are faced with a shortage of skilled programmers. IOHK is delighted to have trained seven talented students into proficient Haskell developers. Building on IOHK’s growing legacy of sourcing and training high-quality programmers and engineers from Greece, we are proud to have made several offers of employment to them,” IOHK Chief Scientist Aggelos Kiayias said in a statement.

In addition to attending lectures presented by notables like Dr. Lars Brünjes, Haskell developer at IOHK, and Dr. Andres Löh of the Haskell consulting firm Well-Typed, the students had to complete assignments and programming projects, such as creating peer-to-peer networks and performing a “handshake” with a bitcoin node.

“By integrating several of IOHK’s internal project goals into the curriculum, students were given practical experience programming code that solved real, relevant industry problems,” Prof. Kiayias said.

IOHK is not the only firm offering blockchain courses for students. Blockchain software technology company ConsenSys recently announced that the first developer program class of ConsenSys Academy, consisting of more than 150 blockchain developers, will be flying to Dubai for a “three-day hackathon” followed by a graduate ceremony on October 22, 2017. According to the organization, the class represents the first group of successful candidates out of 1,300 applicants from 95 different countries. ConsenSys’s goal with the Academy’s program is to address the global shortage of blockchain developers.