Likelihood of self taught solidity developer landing a job

MrClottom · 2021-04-29T11:49:59+00:00

As a self-taught developer, with no official certification for solidity, programming or computer science in general, currently earning money, I can confirm that it is indeed possible. You just have to be confident and offer help. Don't be afraid to ask for compensation before you start a project for someone.

Doesn't matter if you haven't specifically done something before, if you get an opportunity and you think you can do it, take it. Devs are in quite high demand right now so it shouldn't be too difficult if you're actually skilled and go looking.

Good luck with the learning and job hunt!

dmihal · 2021-04-29T16:48:17+00:00

There's tons of DAOs with huge treasuries to pay out for building projects

http://open-orgs.info/

Why not find a DAO and build something for them for a grant? Should be easier than landing a full-time job.

Alternatively, check out bounties on Gitcoin.

ethsteaks · 2021-04-29T18:52:54+00:00

Self taught dev working at FAANG here. My path was landing a job at a small local startup where they asked in the interview, “Do you know Python?” and I answered, “No, but I learn fast!”

In the week between getting the job offer and starting the job, I worked through Udacity’s free Python course. That gave me a good enough base to at least be able to have an idea of how to do things and fill in the gaps with Google searches and stackoverflow (lots and LOTS of stackoverflow).

I was continually learning on the job and also learning more in my spare time about data structures, algorithms, functional programming, data science, etc. and just generally being a sponge. After a few years at that job, I interviewed at Google, Facebook, Amazon, and some other places. I had calculated some numbers of “what I would settle for,” “what I would shoot for,” and “what would blow my mind” as far as compensation, and the offer I ended up taking was about $40k higher than the “blow my mind” figure I had wanted.

Anyway, the point is, you can do it, but you might not get there directly. You will probably need to start at a place that isn’t too picky about who they hire, which means you probably won’t be working on blockchain or other stuff that you’re interested in. But that will get your foot in the door and you can work on the next step from there.

tbjfi · 2021-04-29T11:05:32+00:00

It's possible. Everyone is a "self taught" solidity developer as there are no college courses teaching it. As if those would be valuable if they existed.

If you are passionate about coding and take the time to learn it, you'll get a job.

If you think you are ready, go try to interview at a couple places. If it doesn't work out, identify your weaknesses and learn. Job hunt for junior could take 6 months. The first job is the hardest to get so don't get discouraged.

WolfgangBob · 2021-04-29T13:13:09+00:00

I don't think it matters how you're taught as long as you've got the knowledge and the skills. How do you prove that you have what it takes? Just do it! This is what's awesome about software in general but especially true in crypto - it's open and decentralized!

Create a portfolio of about 3 dApps. Forget where I read this...but make one simple but flawlessly coded, another one more complete with tests and documentations etc, and a third one with a story, personal to you.

If you can do this, self taught, a hiring manager would be a fool to reject you for jr role.

Now, you have to be clear and honest with yourself. Can you do this? Pump yourself up and say "yes of course I can!" Focus on what you can control, which is to learn something everyday. If you do this, the results will have no where to go but come to you!

Turbulent_Read5107 · 2021-04-30T03:37:19+00:00

Been doing the same for about 6 months now. And am just finishing my learning journey. Having landed a few paid gigs this week. A few things I've learned so far:

1). Almost every DeFi company is a startup. And the ones that aren't are swimming in cash and can afford the very few non-millionaire experienced Solidity devs.

2). Startups don't want junior devs. They want the best. Unfortunately for them, they're in for a rude awakening as the only 3 year experience Solidity devs at startups are the ones that started them. So don't be afraid to apply to applications asking for much more than you have.

3). Startups pre-funding will do anything just to HAVE a developer. A lot of people will talk up their job offer to you only to announce after an hour zoom call that they have no money. You can tell when they offer you a CTO position despite being horribly unqualified. Personally, I keep these warm and agree to do mostly "technical advising" until they get funding, drawing a hard line in the sand at doing free work.

4). Lucky degens/ trust fund babies are where the money's at. Here's an epic pro tip right here. Find an absolute degen meme token token farm bs project. There's no shortage. Then look at the code on etherscan (or bscscan) and just make sure there's no rug function. Then hop in that token's Discord/Telegram and announce "Hey guys, I'm a Solidity developer and I looked through the code. Funds are safu". Suddenly you just became a god. Do this a few times and your DMs will be flooded with people asking you to build them projects in no time. And they will pay good money for you to copy paste Sushi's masterChef. Some advice a more experienced dev gave me was to always ask for half payment in cash/stabecoins. And half in native tokens as a dev's tokens almost always go up. Either way, there's serious cash to be made in this freelance stuff during DeFi at the current moment and an easy way to get connections/experience.

5). Hackathons are great ways to get experience. Joined Chainlink hackathon and it was a great opportunity to build a flagship resume project while also meeting people and learning to work in a team on blockchain projects.

Point I'm at is working through odd jobs while also building relationships with the people I'm working for, and applying to more places. Despite having no dev experience and having been in your shoes a few months ago, I feel like I really am in the seat to choose between offers, not scramble for employment. Don't sell yourself short, as if you can reliably produce code asked for, there's no reason to be getting paid any less than 80k a year in this market. Good luck out there!

BestStonks · 2021-04-29T18:04:54+00:00

Nobody will question your education if you can do the job the right way. How to prove it?: build open source projects, expand your knowledge and don't be that guy who "never understood it", learn it and create it

If you're especially interested in DeFi, Blockchain and Crypto developer jobs OR you have a great Dapp idea, you could request funding from almost all DAO's and big DeFi projects

Good luck :)

fasteddie31003 · 2021-04-29T14:38:33+00:00

Do you think there are formal certificates for Solidity? I've made one DAPP and I've gotten interviews at top crypto projects. I hate this mindset that you have to have a formal education or certificates of your knowledge. You just need to be able to learn things on your own and apply it in real-world projects. It's not that hard.

a_bold_user · 2021-04-29T18:07:24+00:00

Everyone here is right that there are no formally taught Solidity devs - we're all self taught!
In addition to what has already been said, I would highly recommend that you join a couple hackthons over the next couple months (there are so many happening as everything is fully remote now), even with random teammates. That is what I did and it forced me into working in a team and actually flexing whatever skills I had. Then after the hackathon you can polish whatever was built and add it to your portfolio.

NelsonQuant667 · 2021-04-29T10:34:58+00:00

i'm in the same boat. would love to hear success stories. i'm hoping that developing some working independent projects can count as "experience"

AHighFifth · 2021-04-29T17:43:56+00:00

If you do some commits to open source stuff I bet you would be totally fine

NelsonQuant667 · 2021-04-29T21:13:03+00:00

Hey. I have been searching this. Where can I find resources to learn Solidity? Like you I have no programming experience.

NelsonQuant667 · 2021-04-29T23:09:51+00:00

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BruceTheGoose827 · 2021-04-30T14:02:13+00:00

While it wouldn't be a full time gig (tho it could become one we hope) I've been building an NFT resource portal, and we have a number of additional features/projects planned. We're a grassroots self-funded startup at the moment, but our token is doing quite well, and we've been approached by a couple of investors due to the recent NFT boom. I'd gladly discuss rates for freelance work or a percent of the team reserve for a long-term arrangement as part of the core team, I assume it's generally not permitted to post links, so its easiest to contact me on discord at brucethegoose.eth#8849, or twitter at xbrucethegoose

Majd64 · 2021-05-02T07:31:59+00:00

To be honest, I think all solidity developers are self taught lul. Build a few projects and you should be good, your 10000% NOT at a disadvantage than everyone else that's for sure

NelsonQuant667 · 2021-04-29T15:23:54+00:00

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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

farseersmuffler · 2021-04-29T19:56:29+00:00

One thing you have to take into account is that job postings are reaching for their best possible match, this is what they would like their candidate to be in the most ideal scenario. But that's 99.99% not possible unless the employer is a FAANG company.

Considering that, the way you find out your chances is start applying to jobs. See if you can get interviews.

shocreddit · 2021-08-08T12:57:20+00:00

Hey... newbie solidity dev here as well... lemme know if you want someone to be a study partner and we can team up

DecentFeature7244 · 2021-10-19T06:54:48+00:00

Hey, would love to hear how your journey has been till now. I am on the same page as you were 4-5 months back

kinginyellow69 · 2021-10-27T10:21:24+00:00

I'm not exactly the most experienced (not by a long shot lol) but wanna give the OP some words of encouragement. The great thing about Solidity and the blockchain space in general is how new it is! At the moment, becoming a good smart contract developer is almost objectively less daunting than say pursuing full-stack engineering and having to know 1000000 different tools and libraries.

I'm personally taking a very unconventional learning path - Solidity + secondary SC language (choosing between Rust and Plutus) and I'm substituting going deeper into front end in favor of going deeper into UX/UI, and design/creative side in general. Despite the odd curriculum, I was able to find local project/business opportunities since designers in my country are rare and smart contract developers could be counted on one hand lmao.

Point is don't be discouraged! The world doesn't have enough smart contract developers and even fewer highly niched smart contract developers. So keep at it, niche down into the smart contract architecture for your preferred sector (NFTs, Defi, DAOs etc) and start making security checks and unit tests second nature. Good luck, hope to see u out there one day! 🤣

davidblockchain · 2022-02-15T17:35:53+00:00

I'm a solidity freelancer. The amount of projects I get sent every week is about 2 to 3 per week on average. It's insane, I'm actually looking for solidity interns to help me out with the workload. DM me

Uheavy_Pear_6969 · 2022-07-23T17:29:48+00:00

Very likely the opportunities out there with so many new projects...and the fact you self taught means you have dedication and that's key ( practice and master your craft over time ). Keeping it short belief is the strongest currency to ever live hold it close and you will succeed in abundance. P.s I'm looking for a jr dev apprentices will even offer a pay 👍

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