If you are just starting your journey into the Web3 space, it can be a lot to get the hang of the seemingly fast pace at which everything moves. The space is very competitive, and just like in a survival of the fittest world, only the strong will survive.

I remember the first time I got exposed to the Web3 community. It didn’t feel overwhelming back then. All I needed to do was chat as a moderator in the community I was working with. There were little or no expectations, as long as there was activity in the community.

Currently, being a moderator is far more than that. Now to excel in most projects as a moderator or community manager, you'd need to be skilled in marketing, community growth, business development and partnerships, etc. If all you have to offer is to chat and keep the community active, you’d most likely not last in the role (that is if you can get in at all). With the over-concentration of the web3 labor market, you need to upskill if you have any intention of maintaining a successful career in the Web3 space for yourself.

Now, there are many skills that you can build upon if you are to be successful. However, I’ll be sharing 6 soft and hard skills that I consider essential for anyone interested in having a successful career in the world of Web3.

Blockchain Development

The ability to use programming languages like Solidity in building blockchain-based solutions is what is known as blockchain development. Jeff Lawson- CEO of Twilio has been quoted as saying “Developers are the new kingmakers.” That is not far from the truth.

Blockchain development has become one of the highest in-demand skills in the global Web3 space. In Africa, this skill has proven to be valuable currently and in the future. It is being used to solve challenges like financial inclusion and all the way to supply chain management.

Shodipo Ayomide, the global head of developer advocacy at Polygon tells Quartz “There are numerous financial complications in Africa. One of them is the cross-country transfer of money. Through the right blockchain education, we believe most of these complications can be solved using blockchain technology. ” What better time than now to tap into this overflowing well of opportunities?

Smart Contract Development

A friend of mine once said, “Solidity is king in the blockchain space.” Solidity is a programming language used to write smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. It is very important as it helps developers to create diverse decentralized applications (DApps) not limited to gaming applications, financial applications, DAO voting applications, etc.

Smart contract development entails writing and deploying smart contracts capable of executing themselves due to being stored on a blockchain. It will be difficult for Web3 applications to function without a smart contract. If you are interested in being one of the ‘kings’ in the blockchain space, this is something you should look into.

Community Management

This is one of the most popular skills in the Web3 space. It entails building communities and creating strategies to ensure the community is consistently engaged. If any Web3 project is to thrive, it would need a community manager to drive the adoption and growth of the project.

As a Community manager, you’d be responsible for creating community content, hosting events if necessary, communicating feedback from the community to the team, and a host of other things.

Project Management

Another essential skill that you just have to have in the Web3 space is project management. It entails planning, coordinating, and monitoring projects. Without this skill, it will be near impossible for project owners to handle complex projects that have to be worked on by different teams.

As a Project manager, you'd be responsible for setting the goals in line with what the team has in mind. You'd also be responsible for monitoring the timelines and setting milestones that need to be achieved. Tracking the progress of the project via key performance indicators is also part of the role you'd need to play.

Marketing

Doubt I'd need to explain the efficacy of this skill. If there's a product, and there's no buyer of that product, such a product would be as good as dead. To make it clearer, in the Web3 space, the importance of community is essential. Without the community, there can't be any product.

Be it NFT, Defi, Desci, or whatever Web3 technology, the key factor that would make it thrive is the community as they'd be the ones to use whatever products are being released. How would this community come about if there's no one to reach out to them?

As a marketer, you'd be playing the role of reaching out to potential audiences of a particular project via organizing events, creating and distributing content, etc to bring them over to whatever social media platform the project you work with is interested in. In Africa, marketing helps Web3 companies to be able to conquer the divide of language, distance, etc, and engage users across the continent.

Problem-Solving and Creativity

Away from the core skills that have been mentioned before now, it will be near impossible to be among the 1 of 100 if you lack creativity and problem-solving skills.

There will always be new challenges to take on as you progress. Your job description might change as you go along working on a particular project. You might have to take up roles that you never thought you could. Your ability to think creatively and bring innovative solutions to the challenges you come across is what will make you survive in that role.

Conclusion

The skills listed here are just a few of the many that could contribute to you building a successful Web3 career. With any of these skills, you can easily position yourself to enjoy all of the opportunities and benefits in the Web3 space.

If you've read up to this point, it's time to take action and get yourself ready to skill up. Some of the ways you could kickstart your Web3 career would be to read more books, read articles like this, join Twitter spaces, take online courses, join Web3 communities, and attend Web3 events and conferences, amongst others. By doing this, you'll get access to information and information they say is power.

Feel free to use the comments to suggest more skills that you think are important for anyone interested in building a Web3 career.