In this article, we are going to explore a variety of ways you can recession-proof your career. Plus, we explore how you can remain profitable and in employment during times of a crypto bear market. We look at the many in-demand Web3 careers and the accessibility and availability of entering a Web3 career. Also, we explore the next steps towards finding a career in Web3.
For a deep dive into how this cutting-edge technology operates, see our Blockchain and Bitcoin Fundamentals course. Perfect for non-programmers with no technical expertise, Moralis Academy is the best place for beginners to embark on their blockchain journey. Check out the world-leading Web3 development and education suite, Moralis Academy, today!
Crypto Bear Market Overview
The difference between a bull market and a bear market is very simple. In a bull market, asset prices generally go up. In a bear market, asset prices generally go down. For long-term investors, experiencing a crypto bear market is nothing new. Moreover, many experienced investors may deem a crypto bear market a good time to double down on investments. Additionally, a crypto bear market can still yield profits for full-time day-traders. For tips on investing in bearish conditions, save our “How to Invest During a Crypto Bear Market” article for later!
The crypto bear market of 2022 is reflective of the conditions of broader socio-economic markets. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been an exponential increase in the global monetary supply, taken on as debt to artificially stimulate economies during international lock-downs. Now Covid-19 is taking somewhat of a backseat in global social affairs; we are beginning to see the repercussions of such excessive money printing. Inflation is increasing at a near-uncontrollable rate, while central banks worldwide are increasing interest rates to try and counteract this. As such, most populations are experiencing a financial ‘squeeze’. Things are becoming more expensive while currencies decrease in purchasing power.
On top of this, businesses suffer in similar ways to individuals. Essential running costs to businesses (i.e., energy, materials, transportation, etc.) are increasing, which minimizes profit margins. They could increase prices with the risk of attracting fewer customers as more consumers face financial hardship. If businesses begin making a loss and taking out another loan is too expensive, it is likely the labor force will decrease. When the cost of living increases and job security decreases, people begin to sell any existing assets (e.g., stocks, shares, cryptocurrencies), which causes the market prices to fall.
How to Recession-Proof Your Career with Web3
Ahead of economic downturns, many begin searching for “how to recession-proof your career” as a way to get ahead of the game and remain financially afloat. A common misconception is that these opportunities are only available to the elite or highly-decorated academics. The reality is, with Web3, there is an opportunity to recession-proof your career in almost every industry. Below, we outline various reasons why you may want to learn how to recession-proof your career within the Web3 industry.
Go Remote
As Web3 is based on decentralized technologies, the ethos of employment follows suit. As such, many Web3-based projects offer remote roles allowing employees to work from home. Further, remote employment brings the opportunity to travel and live the digital nomad lifestyle. In times of economic uncertainty in one’s own home country, Web3 careers typically allow people the freedom to relocate to more stable economies elsewhere.
Acquire an In-Demand Skill Set
Web3 careers span cryptocurrency projects, decentralized technologies, immersive technologies (e.g., augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR), and extended reality (XR)) within the metaverse, and artificial intelligence. All these technologies are evolving and in continuous development. Understanding the basics of how these technologies work and their use cases will not only recession-proof your career but future-proof it too.
Hedge Against Inflation
Another reason many may consider how to learn to recession-proof your career with Web3 is the ability to hedge against inflation. Many crypto projects are willing to pay employees and contractors in cryptocurrencies. Resultantly, people can save money on legacy payment infrastructural fees and keep a larger proportion of their earnings with deflationary assets. However, keep in mind during times of a crypto bear market, the dollar value of assets may decrease. Make sure to have a solid investment and earnings strategy to avoid losing the majority of the value of your earnings.
Be Creative
If you’re considering learning how to recession-proof your career during a crypto bear market, be creative! The Web3 industry is notorious for its collaboration, innovation, and creativity. Plus, more and more projects are emerging that allow non-programming users to build and deploy their own blockchain applications! A crypto bear market is a time to think outside the box and build something valuable. Perhaps this could be a specific blockchain dapp, a new business, or an algorithmic service. Building something in a crypto bear market lays solid foundations for future adoption in a bull market.
Make a Global Impact
Think big; start small. Web3 is a global, collaborative, and creative community working to improve existing internet standards to give power back to the users. Also, most projects to emerge or incorporate Web3 technologies focus on positive social impact and reducing social inequalities worldwide. If you have an idea on how to improve something for a social cause, a career in Web3 will likely open up the right doors to make this a reality.
Exploring Web3 Careers
Now we understand a few reasons you may want to learn how to recession-proof your career, let’s explore the plethora of Web3 careers available. With a wide range of programming and non-programming roles, Web3 careers apply to technical and non-technically-minded individuals. Moreover, Web3 facilitates the rare opportunity to seamlessly switch between roles as an employee, employer, or freelance contractor. Thus, Web3 is an opportunity for anyone to get involved.
‘Web3 careers’ is an umbrella term that includes roles intertwining aspects of decentralized technologies, cryptographic digital asset investments, and the metaverse, among other things. Gaining technical expertise in an innovative and emerging field puts oneself at an unfair advantage to be a part of world-leading forward-thinking businesses in the future. If you’re looking to recession-proof your career, why not consider exploring one of the many Web3 careers discussed below?
Blockchain Developer
One of the most in-demand roles within the selection of Web3 careers is a blockchain developer. Up-and-coming crypto projects need developers to build the fundamental structures and functional operations of projects. Plus, there is an increasing demand on an enterprise-level as more businesses begin to adopt blockchain technology. Blockchain developers can work front end, back end, or full-stack in UX and UI design and game development.
Blockchain development encompasses a range of programming languages. However, being familiar with Javascript, Python, Solidity, and Rust will put developers at a competitive edge with the ability to program on the leading blockchain networks. Learning blockchain doesn’t have to be difficult when you’re presented with the right tools. At Moralis Academy, we offer industry expert-led video tuition for beginners learning to program for the first time. Save our “Rust & Solana” article to learn more about Solana development and the Rust programming language!
Security and Auditing
The demand for blockchain developers is closely followed by the need for blockchain security analysts. Ideally, before a project or new code launches, it will need another pair of eyes to scan the underlying infrastructure for vulnerabilities, bugs, or malware. There are varying roles and titles under the category of security and auditing. This includes smart contract specialists/auditors/engineers and blockchain/Web3 security engineers.
Law
If you’re a lawyer, solicitor, barrister, or legal professional hoping to recession-proof your career, the Web3 industry needs you! As a niche, evolving, and often misunderstood industry, the laws and regulations around blockchain implementation are blurry. On the other hand, there are a minute number of legal professionals that understand the complexities of the technology. As such, crypto projects wanting legal advice must spend valuable expenses on time explaining the fundamentals of the technology to a lawyer. Currently, there is much uncertainty surrounding cryptocurrency laws, so many legal professionals refuse to take on a legal battle.
The flip side to this is any professional that can offer legal advice who has a solid understanding of sound money policies and decentralized technologies will be in exceptionally high demand.
Human Resources (HR)
Human Resources (HR) is an essential department for the well-being and sustainability of any growing business. Rising crypto and projects in the blockchain industry are no different. However, the knowledge-set and demands for HR roles within the Web3 industry are more intricate and present opportunities to be creative. For example, HR roles in Web3 will require people to understand the nuances of remote work. This affects many aspects, including employee well-being and efficient communications between team members and departments in different time zones. When responsible for a large team collaborating worldwide, it requires out-of-the-box thinking to yield an inclusive communal remote work environment.
Additionally, Web3 HR personnel are often specialist tech recruiters. This requires understanding the culture around Web3 and empathy with different personality types. Another critical aspect of HR within Web3 is the demand to keep up-to-date with emerging projects, innovations, and job roles. The Web3 industry is notoriously fast-paced and brings the opportunity to design previously-unthinkable job roles.
Administrative Roles
Although blockchain moves us away from physical paperwork, administrative roles still have a critical value. Moreover, as the laws and regulations surrounding blockchain and other Web3 technologies are still largely ambiguous, admin roles can be highly collaborative with legal teams. Further, blockchain-related admin roles can apply to finances, internal operations, and the organization and management of communications between clients, partnerships, and relevant line managers. If you’re looking to future-proof your career in an administrative field, Web3 might be an excellent option to choose.
Ideal for non-programmers looking to expand their skill set, shifting into a Web3 admin role requires very little technical demand. To future-proof your admin career, consider learning about the fundamentals of how blockchain operates. You don’t need to be able to program. However, to work collaboratively in a Web3 environment, it is best to gain some basic knowledge of what the Web3 industry is and the potential benefits and drawbacks.
Marketing
In a similar fashion to administrative roles, marketing professionals can consider Web3 careers without the need to learn programming. Nevertheless, marketing will require more fundamental knowledge of blockchain technology than on an admin level. This is because marketing in Web3 requires understanding complex topics and then communicating this information in easy-to-understand and engaging language. Despite a crypto bear market, the industry overall has an upwards trajectory witnessing adoption growth faster than the internet did in the 1990s. As such, the demand for marketing professionals who can onboard new users to the blockchain industry is, unsurprisingly, very high.
A marketing department can comprise many different roles. This includes SEO writers, social media content creators, and campaign strategists. Also, copywriters, events managers, graphic designers, illustrators, proofreaders, and affiliate managers are in-demand too. Marketing can tie in with various public relations (PR) roles too. Finally, Web3 careers in marketing yield a niche demand for writers who are also programmers. Typically, the role of a ‘technical writer’ is to produce a document that succinctly expresses the functions and operations of the underlying project code.
Customer Support
If putting customers first is at the heart of what you do, these skills are desirable and transferable to Web3 careers. The Web3 industry is person-centered with an overarching theme of a global community. Perfect if you’re a non-programmer looking to recession-proof your career in customer service, the knowledge requirement for blockchain is very low. This being said, if you’re hoping to progress from a customer support to a community manager role, you will need to be familiar with the trends, sentiment, and culture around Web3. This is because the role will potentially require a more specialist understanding and communication skills with any complaints.
Day Trading
Many early Bitcoin enthusiasts went ‘full-time crypto’ through day trading. In short, this means being traders can earn a full-time income placing trades throughout the day. This requires research, education, commitment, and alertness. Even in times of a crypto bear market, investors can be nearly as profitable as in a bull market. However, this is completely dependent on whether one understands how to short assets, use stop losses, and can read market sentiment. Once a trader is familiar with these practices, they can learn how to automate trades so they don’t need to be at a computer to execute a trade.
Moreover, this could create time to manage a trading portfolio for others with an agreed commissioned percentage. As such, day trading isn’t really a career that needs ‘recession-proofing’ per se. Rather, day trading is an opportune career for people looking to learn a new skill set and understand how to calculate profitable trades, regardless of market conditions. Day-trading requires education and understanding around market fluctuations, technical, and fundamental analysis to gauge market sentiment and prepare accordingly. For readers wanting to learn more, our Master Technical Analysis course at Moralis Academy is the best place to start!
Blockchain/Crypto Researcher
Some roles within Web3 careers don’t exist in legacy industries, for example, the role of a blockchain or crypto researcher. If you’re already a crypto or blockchain enthusiast looking to switch roles into a Web3 career, this could be the perfect starting point. Researchers must be familiar with analytical tools, technical, fundamental, and on-chain analysis, market psychology and emerging trends. Also, another critical aspect of this role is collating and presenting data in an engaging and informative way.
Becoming a blockchain or crypto researcher is easy with many job roles starting at an assistant or associate level. Plus, there is always plenty of opportunity to learn on-the-job and industry developments emerge.
Exploring How to Recession-Proof Your Career Summary
During economic downturns, it is not unusual to consider how to recession-proof your career to remain financially stable. As Web3 careers cover a whole range of roles, contracts, and opportunities, there are plenty of transferable skills in Web3. Further, non-programming professionals can recession-proof their career in Web3 too! Moreover, Web3 careers in times of a crypto bear market are far less vulnerable than employment roles within the legacy infrastructure during times of recession. Many people can still earn a full-time income even amidst a crypto bear market. However, to achieve this requires some basic knowledge of blockchain technology.
Kickstart your blockchain education at Moralis Academy today with our Blockchain Business Masterclass! Ideal for non-programmers hoping to establish themselves in the Web3 industry, this course shows students how to manage a blockchain project and team of developers. Or, check out the free Moralis Blog! Read our “Understanding Crypto Crashes” article to learn why we experience market fluctuations. Alternatively, expand your knowledge of leading blockchain projects with our “Solana vs. NEAR” article next!
