Don’t Just Look at Degrees—Find Web3 Talent with a Crypto Mindset
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Don’t Just Look at Degrees—Find Web3 Talent with a Crypto Mindset
Credentials and experience remain important, but they are most effective when combined with observable outputs.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy Ben Wu, a16z
Translated by Chopper, Foresight News
Cryptocurrencies emerged not merely to reinvent money or move databases onto blockchains. They represent a deeper transformation: a shift from opaque systems to mechanisms that are directly inspectable, verifiable, and analyzable. Code is open and transparent; transaction settlement is predictable; rules are enforced by objective, non-subjective software.
Yet when it comes to hiring, many builders who design these very systems quietly forget these principles. Crypto hiring remains surprisingly traditional: academic credentials, pedigrees from top-tier companies, and endorsements from prestigious institutions still dominate early-stage screening.
While convenient, these signals are fundamentally trust-based. They ask decision-makers to infer ability—not verify it. This article outlines how we can hire in a way more aligned with crypto’s ethos—and more likely to yield outstanding results.
The Credential Funnel
Traditional hiring relies on heuristics: degrees, past employers, formal titles—these data points are compressed into filtering labels, enabling teams to make rapid decisions under time and resource constraints. Used judiciously, such shortcuts aren’t irrational.
But over time, credential-first hiring introduces bias: for example, overlooking those who learn through practice rather than prescribed paths; overvaluing institutional affiliation while undervaluing actual skills; or deferring genuine proof of ability to late-stage interviews—or ignoring it altogether.
Crypto Already Has Verifiable Signals
A defining feature of crypto is that work products are, by default, publicly auditable. Builders don’t need permission from centralized gatekeepers, nor third-party certifications, to prove competence—they just need to build things.
As a result, crypto talent leaves behind a persistent, inspectable record of output, including:
- Public code repositories, commit histories, pull requests, and code reviews
- Smart contracts deployed to testnets and mainnets, with source code verifiable on-chain
- On-chain activity visible via block explorers and protocol interfaces
- Contributions to hackathons, DAOs, and open-source communities
Resumes are ultimately declarations; technical work produces evidence. That evidence can be examined directly—no reliance on endorsements, referrals, or institutional reputation required.
In crypto, one’s work gains recognition without institutional backing. Regardless of where you studied or who employed you, your output can be verified firsthand.
Especially for technical roles, demonstrating tangible work is far more persuasive than background alone. And these contributions compound over time: commits remain permanently visible; deployments stay live; contribution histories deepen continuously. Many crypto builders prove their capability long before it appears on any resume.
Contributors stand out at hackathons before landing formal roles at foundations; builders earn reputations within DAOs without ever holding an official title.
Output first—recognition follows.
When Signals Start to Distort
As verifiable work becomes increasingly visible, imitation grows easier. Open-source contributions have long served as a strong signal of technical ability—but with the proliferation of AI tools and growing incentives for public contributions, this signal is becoming noisier.
Some contributors prioritize quantity over quality: making numerous trivial changes across multiple repositories, with little follow-up and rarely tackling harder problems. Such changes may be technically correct—and occasionally merged—but they reveal neither deep understanding nor sustained ownership.
Even amid these challenges, verification remains effective—if we truly assess the work itself. Code quality, problem selection, and long-term contribution history matter more than isolated outputs.
High-value builders demonstrate depth and continuity; their work compounds steadily. Once you know how to tell the difference, low-value contributors become easy to spot.
Toward a “Verification-First” Hiring Model
To uncover talent more efficiently, more teams can adopt verification-first hiring:
- Surface verifiable signals early: prioritize code quality, production systems, and contribution history—treat resumes as contextual background, not gating criteria.
- Integrate on-chain and open-source data directly into hiring workflows: treat these artifacts as core evaluation materials within your recruiting system.
- Embed hiring in real-world contexts: engage deeply with hackathons, DAOs, and open-source communities—where talent already lives.
“Verification-first” demands a shift in how teams attract talent: no longer waiting for applicants to apply, or relying on narrow filters like target companies or elite universities. Founders and recruiting teams can proactively identify builders who’ve already shipped high-quality work in public: core repositories, deployed systems, governance or design discussions, and infrastructure other teams depend on.
For example, top Solidity engineers typically appear in:
- Core protocols and tooling repositories on GitHub
- Public discussions and submissions to Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs)
- Contract deployments and on-chain activity visible on block explorers like Etherscan
This logic applies across all ecosystems—including Move-based L1s, Rust engineers, zero-knowledge systems, and application-layer protocols. Hackathons are high-value talent pools: events like ETHGlobal and Solana Breakpoint attract builders who ship code and deliver under pressure.
Finally
This isn’t about swapping one set of credentials for another—it’s shifting focus from indirect evidence to direct evidence.
Degrees and credentials remain relevant, but they’re most powerful when combined with observable output. In an industry built on transparency and execution, crypto hiring should begin with verification. Let “trust” serve as context—not prerequisite.
That’s the industry’s foundational tenet: Don’t trust, verify. Now, let’s apply it to finding the best people.
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