The evolution of the web never stops. The web we use and experience right now isn’t what it was a decade back. It constantly evolves with time.
Table of Contents
Evolution of Web
Web 1.0
Web 1.0 was a mere read-only form of the internet, where you could find sites displaying static information. There wasn’t any scope for user interaction. It mostly served the purpose of delivering content to the users. Normal users or audiences can only consume data.
Web 2.0
Then 2004 saw the rise of the interactive social web where users from any part of the world can communicate with each other. Users no more just consume static content but also produce content that others can consume. This communication structure opened doors for multiple business opportunities and there was a huge digital revolution that happened and continues to happen.
Companies that couldn’t adapt to this new and evolving technology witnessed a great fall. But companies that rode with the tide came out to be big tech giants of the era. The web 2.0 revolution completely took a toll on the way people use the internet. Content creators, YouTubers, and social media influencers to name a few are some new careers that emerged in web 2.0.
Web 3.0
Data in web2 is free. We enjoy the privilege of posting content on social media platforms without paying them anything. Most of the software and apps offer their services for free. But nothing in this world comes free.
As a famous quote rightly said, “When it is free, you are the product”. Data that we upload in web2 is used/traded for advertisement and other purposes to provide a personalized experience to the users. This isn’t illegal. Companies do this only after getting our consent in the terms and conditions.
But we are not sure of how the data is used, and we have no control over our own data. The power is concentrated in hands of a few companies, leading to monopolization.
Solution? Web 3.0
Gavin wood the founder of Polkadot coined the term web3. The fundamental idea of web3 is that the services are not hosted/controlled by a single server/organization.
In web3 all the services present in web2 will be present in a decentralized manner. It doesn’t involve any client-server architecture. One well-known example is the Tor browser. Rather than the typical client-service-based architecture, the services in web3 will be hosted in a peer-to-peer environment, powered by blockchain.
This transition is termed web3 and this will not be an overnight transition. Many services are gradually moving on to web 3.0 and many others have started investing in building web3-based technologies. Web 3.0 is a robust de-centralized system with self-governance, individual ownership, complete transparency, and security.
Web 3.0-driven job opportunities
Companies are drifting towards web 3.0-based technologies like metaverse, cryptocurrencies, blockchain, etc.., According to nytimes, in 2021 investors and venture-capitalist have invested more than $28 billion dollars in crypto and blockchain-based startups. Out of which almost $3 billion has gone particularly to NFT-based companies. Which clearly exhibits the potential of web 3.0 in the near future.
With such a huge amount of funds flooded into these companies, there definitely is a high demand for people who can work on these technologies. It opens up more opportunities and jobs making the demand greater than the supply.
Job postings with the word cryptocurrency and blockchain on LinkedIn are more than 600% than the previous year. According to Bloomberg, “On LinkedIn, paid U.S. job postings with keywords like “cryptocurrency” and “blockchain” were up more than 600% from the previous year as of Aug. 1 and almost 400% compared with the same date in 2019. One popular jobs board, CryptocurrencyJobs.co, saw nearly 1,500% growth in paid listings since last year.”
What skills do you need to work in web 3.0?
Web3 is not just about learning new programming languages and coding. It opens many possible avenues for varied skills. There is no hard and fast rule in what skills you need to be ready for web3. But there are some skills that are mandatory and others that you can develop over time.
Basic understanding of web3
Web3 has become the talk of the town. Everyone is talking about web3, but not many understand it in detail. In order to get yourself a career in web3, you must know what web3 is, what it is based on, the structure on which it operates, its possibilities, and every new emerging technological term in this space. No matter what kind of job you land on web3, a solid understanding of fundamentals is essential.
Technical Skills
If you are a coder or a programmer, it is the right time to upgrade your skillset on
Solidity language – It is the language used for the development of Dapps. Having a solid understanding of solidity will get you a lot of job opportunities.
Smart contract development – Smart contracts are programs that run on blockchains. A smart contract developer must be able to create smart contracts
Front-end development – Horn your front-end development skills with Etherjs, web3js, and other javascript, node, and react libraries. Smart contracts and Dapps aren’t built just with backend technologies, front-end development is in serious demand as well.
Non-technical skills
Art and Design – If you are a designer or an artist then web3 is a boon. NFTs are created and sold for huge prices and metaverse is all about designs. Not just artists but people in any kind of creative field like musicians, singers, authors, etc.., will be benefited from the raising popularity of NFTs.
Community Management – Since everything in web3 is de-centralized, good community management and organizing skills are valuable. The success of any project in web3 will be decided by the communities and the people in them.
The ability to manage, organize and engage with the community will definitely have a greater impact on the success of any project. People with excellent organizing skills, community engagement, and interpersonal skills are definitely in-demand in the web3 space.
Career opportunities in web3
In addition to the existing jobs and career opportunities in web2, web3 opens doors for new and creative jobs. Some of which are listed below.
AI Engineer
The term Software developer/software engineer is quite common. They create/develop new applications and software. Similarly, an AI Engineer is a programmer who uses various machine learning techniques and algorithms to create new AI-based applications.
An AI engineer should have not just programming skills but also mathematical and statistical skills. Artificial intelligence-based products and apps are the future of the internet and in web 3.0, there absolutely is a huge demand for AI engineers.
Account executive
An account manager or an account executive is someone who communicates with the client and the project team to ensure that both the parties are clear about their duties and responsibilities and the client’s needs are clearly understood.
They act as a support system for the client to make sure all the client data is gathered, required information is collected and complaints are rectified. They work together with the team and the client to make sure that the overall client experience is up to the mark.
Interpersonal communication, management skills, and effective problem solving are some of the necessary skills for this position. In web3, the role of an account executive would be to maintain a key relationship between the community and the system.
It is necessary to have good knowledge about the working of web3, NFT, cryptocurrencies, and other technical stuff specific to the working organization.
Game Designers and Product UX designer
Designing is a creative profession. A creative professional can never be replaced by a machine. There isn’t much of a difference between a UX designer’s role in web2 and web3. In web3 the product they design may vary. Eg: a virtual world in the metaverse, NFT token, etc..,
And with the emerging meta verse, every major brand is making its virtual presence. In the metaverse, more than anyone designers are going to play a vital role. The entire experience and success of metaverse will be completely dependent on the user experience and design of the virtual world and games. Which lies at the hands of the designers.
Without any doubt, designers are going to play a huge role in web3 and it is going to be one of the highest-paid jobs in near future.
Financial analyst
With web3, Defi known as decentralized finance is introduced. It is the web3 alternative to the current centralized system of finance. In Defi, the finances are controlled by individuals without relying on any intermediary services. A hands-on experience in a crypto environment is an added benefit. The ability to read, analyze and process different data formats is expected.
The primary task of a financial analyst is to plan the finances of the organization. To maintain a solid track of the project’s budget, coordinate with the business partners, track the financial performance and Return of investment of the organization, and much more.
And again an upstanding knowledge of web3 technologies, cryptocurrencies, and distributed systems is required.
Solidity engineer/blockchain developer
Solidity is the programming language of the web3. Similar to the popular HTML and CSS. Solidity is used to develop smart contracts on Ethereum. A solidity engineer is required to design, code, write scripts, test, and deploy smart contracts in solidity language.
Understanding Ethereum is mandatory. The demand for solidity developers is steadily raising and currently, there are only a few developers with a solid understanding of web3, Ethereum, and solidity programming.
Dapps developer
Decentralization being the core of web 3.0, the apps that run on this kind of system are known as Dapps / decentralized apps. With these emerging technologies there comes a demand for developers who can develop these apps.
The apps we use in web2 have their backend code hosted on a centralized server that is under the control of a company. The code is not open sourced and there isn’t much transparency in the way the company handles your data.
Dapps are web3 apps that are hosted in a decentralized system. The code isn’t under the control of any individual or an organization. The front-end code is written in a suitable programming language and it is hosted on a decentralized storage platform.
Since all the applications developed in web3 is going to be in a decentralized manner, the demand for Dapps developer with a solid understanding of decentralized systems is exploding.
Conclusion
There is an increasing number of job listings related to web3 being posted and the number is significantly increasing over time. Now is the best time to be the early bird and grab your best opportunities in web3. Currently, there are many platforms like web3, remote, and cryptocurrencyjobs that display job postings specifically on web3 and the crypto space.
