Expertise or prior experience working with blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT) has quickly become the number-one “hard skill” that firms are now looking for on LinkedIn.
According to a recently published job trends report, LinkedIn researchers examined user profiles who were “getting hired at the highest rates” and found that blockchain has become the most in-demand “hard skill” for 2020 in the US, the UK, Australia, France, and Germany.
LinkedIn’s management explains that hard skills are those that “concern an employee’s ability to do a specific task.”
Other in-demand technology skills and requirements, including those related to cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), user experience / interface (UX) design, and scientific computing, also managed to make LinkedIn’s list of most sought-after skillsets. Although blockchain or DLT did not make it to LinkedIn’s rankings last year, this year it notably surpassed all other innovative technologies such as AI and cloud computing, which were ranked at the top of the list in 2019.
As mentioned in the report:
“Skeptics, and there are many, raise concerns about the lack of standardized protocols, scalability, and excessive energy use. The business world, however, is voting with its jobs, and companies seem to be saying that the potential is worth the gamble.”
The report confirmed that tech and financial giants including Amazon, American Express, IBM, Oracle, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, Amazon, and American Express had all been actively recruiting professionals with experience working with blockchain or DLT.
The report noted:
“Blockchain has emerged from the once shadowy world of cryptocurrency to become a business solution in search of problems. You don’t have to be in financial services to be seeking new hires who have background and expertise in putting blockchain to use.”