What Is an On-Chain Resume?

If you want to work in crypto, you may need more than a traditional resume to land a gig. Many jobs will want you to show your background and skills with cryptocurrency, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and other digital assets, depending on the position. That's where an on-chain resume comes in.

Though there are similarities with a traditional resume, an on-chain resume provides your professional background in a different manner.

This piece is part of CoinDesk's Future of Work series.

Traditional resume vs. on-chain resume

A traditional resume is a document that provides an overview of your professional background, such as your work history, education and special skills.

But if you want to get a job in crypto, an on-chain resume may be more important. The thing about crypto is that one’s activities are visible on the blockchains you participate in, and so if you are looking to work in the NFT sector, you can point to the NFTs you have minted on NFT marketplace OpenSea, your PFP (profile picture) on Twitter or the address of the land you’ve bought in a metaverse project like The Sandbox, for example.

An on-chain resume is a log of your historical activities stored in a blockchain network such as Ethereum (ETH) that highlights your experience, transactions and skills. It is considered Web3 content.

Your on-chain resume can be as simple as a wallet or wallets containing transactions to verify your activity on a blockchain. These activities demonstrate that you “do crypto” and your experience over time with different tokens and projects, which can be seen as more valuable than a traditional resume that lists your qualifications.

Read more: What You Need to Know and Do to Get a Job in Crypto

Creating your on-chain resume

Creating an on-chain resume should be tailored to the job you want to get. Your on-chain resume for a job as a developer in a decentralized finance (DeFi) staking platform would be very different than one that focuses on landing a job in a play-to-earn game developer.

Think of a niche in blockchain technology you want to pursue a job in. Make a list of potential blockchain activities that can support your credibility for that niche. For instance, if you choose to be a bitcoin (BTC) market analyst, you can focus on buying and selling bitcoin in your wallet.

Two things that most people should start with when building an on-chain resume include:

• Make sure you carefully decide which wallet or wallets you will want to showcase to employers, because that will detail your skill set reflected by your transactions.
• Because most transactions you will want to perform for an on-chain resume are conducted on Ethereum, you can designate a reader-friendly name to your wallet address by using an ENS (Ethereum Name Service). This is like reserving a domain name with a .com or .org so that people can access your website. If you decide to use a blockchain network other than Ethereum, such as Solana, you can use the wallet address as an access point to your on-chain resume.

There are plenty of options to build your on-chain resume, and transactions aren't only Ethereum-based. Here are some ideas to jump-start your journey toward building skills for specific crypto roles.

Crypto trader and investor

If you want to advise on crypto investing, trading on a decentralized exchange (DEX) is an excellent activity to do. You can swap solana (SOL) with binance coin (BNB), which aren't Ethereum-native assets.

Popular DEXs include SushiSwap, PancakeSwap and Uniswap. By trading on a DEX, you can show your active participation in DeFi.

NFT artist

You can create digital media such as images, music and other digital formats to be minted into an NFT. Likewise, you can also start a collection of NFTs in your wallet.

You can easily mint one of your pieces of work on OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace on the Ethereum network. Another good option is Solanart, another large NFT marketplace on the Solana network.

Software engineer

Having in-depth knowledge of a product or service is essential to being a developer in that industry. Staking or earning rewards for holding certain cryptocurrencies can help give you credibility as a blockchain software engineer. You can stake popular cryptocurrencies on platforms such as Binance, Crypto.com and Kraken.

Understanding the mathematical formulas for rewards and interest demonstrates your knowledge of staking.

Risk analyst

Cryptocurrencies are considered high-risk, high-reward assets. Putting your cryptocurrencies into a Maker vault shows potential employers your experience with exposure to risk. Users can deposit one type of cryptocurrency as collateral in a Maker vault to obtain a loan paid in dai. These transactions help demonstrate your DeFi banking experience.

Trade support manager

By lending cryptocurrencies on platforms such as Aave and Compound, you are providing proof of another form of trading for your on-chain resume. If you are curious, you can experiment with lending to earn interest.

These types of transactions also demonstrate familiarity with DeFi.

Additionally, you can make use of services that can assist you with creating an on-chain resume and save you some time, such as:

• Zapper facilitates your DeFi positions with a single click eliminating the need to interact and navigate multiple DeFi platforms.
• RabbitHole is a platform with quests that guide you through making transactions while getting rewards.
• Degenscore provides a profile showing your activity level with DeFi smart contracts and protocols. This is also a way to check your progress as you build your on-chain resume.

Blockchain technology is always evolving, and exploring new activities to include in your on-chain resume shows that you are learning and growing as the crypto world continues to expand.

Read more: Learn-to-Earn, Move-to-Earn: How to Earn Crypto in New Ways

Final words of caution before starting your on-chain resume

Because an on-chain resume is public and immutable, it would be wise to separate your on-chain resume from your portfolio wallet. You wouldn’t want to lure cybercriminals and compromise the security of your hard-to-earn assets.

Finally, an on-chain resume shouldn't be seen as the only format to send when applying for jobs in the blockchain industry. In fact, it can (and probably should) be used in conjunction with a traditional resume, a LinkedIn profile and a portfolio to bolster your profile.

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