While the jury is still out on whether the current iteration of Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse will ever get off the ground, despite the Facebook founder funnelling billions of dollars into its development, Web3 is coming — and with it, thousands of job opportunities for talent in development and engineering roles.
For those looking to get ahead of the curve, the fields of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and blockchain technology look set to dominate the space and because they are still in the relatively early stages of development, the potential for career advancement is huge.
Blockchain technology
Decentralised currency will be the backbone of Web3 and blockchain, which will enable secure and transparent peer-to-peer transactions without the need for a broker, will facilitate it.
In fact, the global blockchain market which was valued at £5.77bn in 2022 is set to grow £131.75bn by 2029, which equates to a CAGR of 56.3 per cent.
Lawrence Landeloos, founder of OneGrid, a platform which facilitates the creation and launch of NFTs, told EY: “I’m convinced that blockchain can transform business models and even entire organisational models.”
He also suggested that although blockchain technology in its current form is too complex for mass adoption, this will change.
“Just as no-code solutions like WordPress and Wix have democratised website creation, we want to radically lower the barrier to experimenting with blockchain technology. The more we experiment, the more valuable concepts will emerge.”
Automation
Automation is also a key component of Web3, and as such, machine learning skills will not only leverage AI technology, but lead to a more efficient, secure and autonomous user experience.
For data scientists and machine learning engineers, this evolution of the digital landscape also means new programming languages.
Solidity, JavaScript, Rust, Go and Python are being touted as the most popular with developers looking for more efficient and secure ways to decentralise applications.
Looking for a new opportunity that is already paving the way for Web3? The Information Age Job Board has thousands of roles in companies that are already leaning on the skills and expertise needed for Web3 and beyond, like the three below.
Director of product, financial products, Fireblocks, London
Founded in 2018 and already valued at over £6bn, Fireblocks helps companies create innovative products on the blockchain and manage day-to-day crypto operations. It is trusted by some of the largest financial institutions, banks, globally-recognised brands, and Web3 companies in the world, including BNY Mellon, BNP Paribas, ANZ Bank and Revolut.
As director of product, you will be responsible for driving the development and execution of Fireblocks’ financial products strategy and roadmap, overseeing product management activities, and leading a team of product managers. You will also identify and assess new market opportunities and develop plans to capitalise on them.
Applicants should have five-plus years’ product management experience — preferably in a SaaS company with a focus on financial products — a strong understanding of blockchain technology and its application in financial services; a deep understanding of the mindset of financial markets; and a demonstrated ability to drive product strategy. View more details here.
Research software engineer, climate & sustainability, IBM, London
IBM research scientists are charting the future of artificial intelligence (AI), creating breakthroughs in quantum computing, discovering how blockchain will reshape the enterprise, and applying science to some of today’s most complex challenges.
As a research software engineer you will develop, operationalise, and scale IBM’s toolkits and modelling ecosystem, working with complex materials datasets and large climate datasets for discovery and making them consumable in science and business. For this role you’ll need an undergraduate degree in computer science, maths, physics or engineering, and demonstrated software development experience in a scientific computing environment along with experience with AI, machine learning (ML), quantum computing or high performance computing (HPC). You will also need to prove experience in cloud-native application design, cloud-native environments such as AWS and containerised cloud platforms such as Kubernetes or OpenShift. See the full job description here.
Director of data science, operations, Monzo, London
Monzo wants to change banking for everyone. It has a strong culture of data-driven decision making across the whole company and uses real-time analytics to empower the wider business.
As director of data science, operations you will establish yourself as a trusted partner to the operations leadership team with a reputation for getting things done and working to define data’s priorities. You will also be required to develop a data team of 20 top tier data analysts, data scientists, data managers and machine learning engineers, and promote a culture of proactive, high-quality data insights that can impact the direction of the company. Get more information here.
Future-proof your career today by visiting the Information Age Job Board
A lifestyle journalist and editor for over 10 years, Aoibhinn McBride has written for titles in Dublin, London, New York and Dubai
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