As the adoption of Web3 and blockchain grows, more and more students as well as experienced professionals are becoming interested in pursuing a career in this industry.
For people with limited to no hands-on experience a Web3 internship offers a unique opportunity to work on cutting-edge projects, contribute to the growth of the industry, and gain practical experience in crypto.
In this guide, we will walk you through the essential steps to prepare for and secure a Web3 internship.
Understanding the Web3 Ecosystem🧠
Before diving into your internship search, it's crucial to grasp the fundamentals of crypto & Web3.
There is a reason that every single one of our career guides starts with this section first. Without understanding how Web3, blockchains, smart contracts etc work, there is no chance of getting any opportunities in this field, internships or otherwise.
So, let’s talk about Web3 first. Web3 refers to the third generation of the internet, fundamentally built upon decentralized networks, blockchain, and peer-to-peer interactions.
You must not only familiarize yourself with the basics of how things work in Web3 but also spend some time on how Web3 culture differs from Web2 culture and how people interact with each other here.
Once you’ve spent some time on these then you are ready to explore the most in demand skills in Web3.
Acquire Relevant Web3 Specific Skills👨🏻💻
As you probably already know, Web3 is a highly tech and innovation driven industry, which means tech skills are going to be the most in demand and most important.
However, irrespective of if you are looking to get a tech based Web3 Internship or a non-tech one, you’d be expected to have some knowledge of the job ready knowledge.
Fortunately there are tons of guides, YouTube tutorials, Udemy & Coursera courses available for you to explore the Web3 specific knowledge for your role.
Some key areas that show quite consistent demand in the industry include:
- Blockchain Development: Learning programming languages such as Solidity for EVM-based projects or Rust or Vyper is going to be imperative. Understanding other Web3 frameworks is definitely a big plus too.
- Community Engagement: Web3 is as much about community engagement and interaction as it is about anything else. People who understand the social media dynamics & have a good grasp over community engagement are going to have better internship opportunities in Web3.
- Research & Analysis: Research skills that span tech as well as non-tech domains such as investment research & business analysis are quite powerful as well. As an intern you might not be required to have a comprehensive knowledge about these but some practical knowledge is expected.
- Content, Marketing & Business Development & DevRel: Since Web3 has tons of new projects that are trying to solve modern problems they require modern evangelists who are great at communicating the vision of the project with the concerned stakeholders. Content & Marketing based internships are definitely a great way to test the waters and also at the same time understand the Web3 culture in depth, interact with others and build strong relationships across the industry.
As we mentioned earlier, you don’t need to learn or know all these. You can choose one of these spheres based on your interest and educational background.
Web3 internships tend to be a great way for the project as well as the candidate to understand each other and test things before making a huge commitment.
Building a Powerful Portfolio💼
A strong & well crafted portfolio is a compelling way to showcase your expertise to potential Web3 internship providers. Yes, we know that as a student you might not really have “work experience” to put onto your portfolio.
As a student or someone who is pivoting their career and applying for a Web3 internship, even the hiring managers do not expect you to have shiny projects with thousands of real world users.
However, they do need to see that you are motivated about the field, are an action taker and not afraid to build things and you try to solve different problems.
For those reasons you can consider the following ideas:
Personal Projects: Develop your own projects or contribute to open-source initiatives on platforms like GitHub. If you are building your profile for a non-tech role such as marketing then you can build your own Twitter profile and other social media profiles, start interacting with other people in the indutry and regularly creating content.
Hackathons and Competitions: Participate in Web3 hackathons and other coding/non coding competitions to tackle real-world challenges, network with industry professionals, and gain some traction for your profile in doing so.
Networking and Engaging with the Web3 Community🤝
The Web3 industry is all about community and relationships. This means if you are looking for a job in crypto or an internship in crypto, you’ll definitely need to proactively engage with others & be a part of the community in order to succeed here.
Here are a couple of things you can do to take a deep dive:
Social Media Communities: Discord and Twitter are a treasure trove of knowledge, relationships and growth opportunities. A lot of things in Web3 happen on these two platforms and in order to do really well it is highly recommended to interact with others in communities here.
Attend Web3 Events: Attending conferences is the next best thing. You might not be able to interact with as many people as you’d be able to via social media but the connections built in live events and conferences are much more personal and highly valuable. Relationships help build careers.
Researching Web3 Internship Opportunities🔬
A big thing about finding opportunities is research. Sometimes these opportunities are not posted anywhere and sometimes they’re just posted on the company’s own website.
Ideally you should scour the internet for such open postings and reach out to companies accordingly.
Look for internships on the official websites, LinkedIn pages, and Web3 job boards like Crypto Jobs List.
Additionally talking to the friends you might have made on social media or through crypto events could be a great idea as well.
Another way to get seen by the right people is to create crypto specific talent profiles that put you right in front of the hiring managers.
We also have a complete guide to setting up your Talent profile on CJL that you can follow!
An Impressive Internship Application📝
You must tailor your application to each position you apply for.
Highlight your relevant skills & experience based on the internship requirements.
Never avoid the cover letter. Cover letter is your way to communicate how you can be of value to the company. Drafting a good cover letter that shares the exact value you can bring to the company can change the game in your favor, especially when compared with someone who has sent no cover letter at all.
Wrapping Up
Securing a Web3 internship is an exciting step towards understanding this industry, getting to know the work culture and opening long term career opportunities for yourself in crypto.
Finding an internship is definitely not easy but it is also not as hard as you might think.
Especially if you have taken the time to craft a great profile, contributed to the ecosystem through open source projects or through community participation you stand a great chance of getting an interview.
As always, good luck with your internship search!
