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Ernst Young, one of the largest professional services firms in the world, will be hiring 2,000 employees in India in the next three years as part of its plan to build up its digital solution services in a number of domains including blockchain technology.

EY to Invest $1 Billion to Expand into Blockchain, AI

EY, which predicted in 2016 that large-scale implementation of blockchain technology would take at least three to five years, said in a report that companies who invest, experiment and adapt to DLT by that time will be able to reap the rewards of early adoption.

The digital services team in India will be assigned to develop blockchain projects for corporate and government customers. Other domains include analytics, automation, artificial intelligence, and tax technology, Ram Sarvepalli, EY India head of advisory services, told the Economic Times.

“There is significant capital available for new startups and big Indian companies are investing in digital,” Sarvepalli added. The government is heavily investing in digital from a citizen services perspective. Many of the traditional customer-oriented industries are trying to find models which allow access to customers to tier-two, tier-three towns from a digital perspective. There are regulatory changes like GST coming in and e-filing and automation of central and state govt departments … all of this is triggering a massive opportunity and the need for hiring digital talent.”

EY is adding about 600 employees every six months in analytics and has hired nearly 700 people in the last 18 months for digital governance jobs. Globally, the investment in new technology solutions will reach $1 billion over the next two financial years.

Related Reading: Indian Government to Draft Cryptocurrency Regulation Next Month

The company already has more than 2,200 people working on digital and technology solutions in India, with 25 percent of recruits being from a Science Technology Engineering Maths (STEM) background.Ernst & Young (EY), one of the ‘Big Four’ public service firms, was an early adopter of blockchain technology.

It has recently announced the launch of its EY Ops Chain Public Edition (PE), which allows businesses to benefit from private transactions over a public blockchain. The solution uses the zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) framework, which brings unparalleled protection during communication.

With blockchain labs in London and Paris, the firm is also developing DLT-powered tracking capabilities called EY Blockchain Private Transaction Monitor. The Indian booming economy will be able to adopt these technologies under development as EY plans to place thousands of new workers in the field over the next three years.

A business that is also booming for EY is auditing services of crypto firms. The Big Four accountancy firms, which include EY, are hiring blockchain specialists to address the new demand.

Though research shows that Irish people are hesitant to dive into blockchain in their professional lives, David Wachsman is confident that it’s inevitable not only for you, but your little dog, too.

Blockchain elicits all reactions and none. The response from people when the topic is broached can range from a blank stare to a laboured sigh. Some know blockchain only through bitcoin, others don’t know it at all. A small cohort of people will nearly scratch a cornea rolling their eyes at its mere mention, deriding it as a fad.

David Wachsman, founder and CEO of Wachsman, certainly disagrees with the technology’s detractors. He, described by Crunchbase as a “world-renowned blockchain expert and thought leader”, welcomed me in the glass conference room of his company’s Dublin office.

This office recently announced the expansion of its functions beyond PR, now offering a broad swathe of blockchain professional services to clients such as Dash, CoinDesk, Indiegogo, Kik and more.

David has been away from his native New York and hopping between Wachsman’s hubs in Ireland and Singapore, the latter of which recently opened. He has been living out of a suitcase for the better part of three months, though it shows neither in his temperament nor appearance.

Serene and self-possessed, sitting in the house that blockchain built, his (professional) house, he is confident enough in Ireland’s blockchain scene to double down on his commitment to it. He is baffled that the majority of Irish people, according to research recently published by the company, disagree with him.

As many as 75pc of people say they would not consider a career in the area.“Most people don’t know what blockchain is, that’s what our findings found. They don’t get it. To them, it’s simply some buzzword technology. That’s a big PR problem. It’s also a problem for companies that are building out in the space, and we have many here in Ireland who are doing that.

”The blockchain ecosystem in Dublin is in pretty good condition. A healthy mix of blockchain-focused companies such as ConsenSys have operations here. Many of the large consultancy firms have dedicated blockchain labs.

Finance giants such as Fidelity Investments and Mastercard have poured resources into gaining a foothold in blockchain. “All the big tech giants, some of them probably secretly, are looking to hire people with blockchain backgrounds here in Dublin.”

Blockchain’s inevitable takeover

The proliferation of blockchain technology is as inevitable as the tide coming in. It’ll wash over us all in a matter of time. The march of technological progress is as unrelenting as the spinning of our Earth. It won’t be a case of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object – you will be moved into working in blockchain.

Though many in the Wachsman survey cited an inappropriate educational background as a reason they would not want to wade into it, the worker of tomorrow will likely learn on the job.

“Almost everyone today works at an internet company. The company itself may not be actually building websites but they probably have one. The company itself isn’t developing email applications but I guarantee you they use [them], or a chat app.

Blockchain companies are going to be just like that in future. Blockchain will be a piece of the technology stack that people use every single day.”For now, most of the blockchain jobs lie in building infrastructure, and the roles are mostly developer roles.

David maintains, however, that this is temporary.“Tomorrow, it’s going to be every company. I think [workers] are going to gain their skills by simply working with companies endeavouring blockchain.”

Steel, your dog and your mobile phone

This inevitability doesn’t address the fact that people still neither understand nor trust blockchain as a technology. If it is going to be such a large element of the future of work, as David implies, then a huge obstacle will have to be overcome in order to attract workers to the area.

“We need to do a better job of educating.

That means 101-type pieces, that means meet-ups, that means lectures. We need universities to chip in a bit because that’s what they’re really good at: teaching complicated concepts to people.

”More importantly, David adds, a “big consumer-y brand” or website needs to adopt blockchain. Airlines need to tokenise loyalty points. It needs to be normalised, which will likely happen. The question is, by whom?

David cites in particular blockchain’s potential application to the supply chain as the use case he is most excited about “because it’s boring”. Supply chains are complicated and expensive with a huge amount of moving parts. Maximising the efficiency of this process by reliably tracking all the various extenuating factors could lower the price of steel.

“That changes the world. ”Moving away from the macro, David opines that man’s best friend could end up having as much of a relationship with blockchain as humans.

Blockchain, though it’s “peer-to-peer trading of value”, could easily be applied to energy. “If your dog were wearing a little backpack with a solar panel on it, that dog, cute as it might be, would be an energy producer.

Because of the nature of how energy transmission works, the further you are away from the energy producer, the more is wasted. Imagine your dog being able to power, or at least being able to recharge, your cellphone.”

Hello Brexit, goodbye blockchain

Thanks to Brexit, Ireland can expect for its blockchain industry, and therefore the number of blockchain jobs, to only grow with time. This is in line with the general jobs boon that Ireland is experiencing as the UK, rather disastrously, attempts to negotiate its way out of the single market.

Companies such as Coinbase have announced plans to set up shop in Dublin, citing concerns about Brexit.“Ireland is a very important part of Europe. It’s the only English-speaking EU country, and Britain is making damn sure of that.

 I would say that as a launch pad for Europe, it’s a vital place for companies to set up – blockchain companies [in particular] because it is such a borderless enterprise. So many of the applications of blockchain must be international, that’s what makes them so effective. This distributed database must be distributed.”




 By Eva ShortEva Short is a Careers reporter at Silicon Republic who, coincidentally, was raised in Silicon Valley and has been nicknamed a ‘digital native’. Her passions include Pomeranians, witchcraft, skincare, wearing exclusively dark colours and eating.

When she’s not writing about tech professionals, she’s working backstage at festivals, yelling at musicians, and amassing a collection of crumpled gig tickets to stick on her wall.

The demand for blockchain engineers or software developers has continued to skyrocket over the past year and salaries for those positions are growing in lockstep.

The median salary for a blockchain developer is now $127,000, with experienced individuals commanding upwards of $172,000 when they move to new organizations, according to Janco Associates, a management consulting firm that conducts regular salary surveys.

[ Read about the 2018 Best Places to Work in IT ]

"ERP and Blockchain jobs are in great demand. Individuals can look forward to salaries continuing to increase," Janco CEO Victor Janulaitis said via email.


Janco Associates

Hired, a job recruitment firm, placed the salary for blockchain engineers even higher than Janco, saying they can command between $150,000 and $175,000 a year; those jobs are now on par with developers of artificial intelligence (AI).

By comparison, software engineers earn an average of $137,000, according to Hired CEO Mehul Patel.

"Since launching blockchain as an expertise on our platform in late 2017, we have witnessed demand for blockchain engineers increase 400%," Patel said via email.

"Interestingly, blockchain engineer has not solidified itself as a standalone job title quite yet; instead, blockchain is increasingly being included as an area of expertise for back-end, solutions architects and machine-learning engineers.

"Blockchain, Patel said, is poised to transform everything from how people verify their identities to how money is transferred, and so is expected to have longevity as a career option.

[ Looking to upgrade your career in tech? This comprehensive online course teaches you how. ]

"Combine its immense potential with the fact that it’s a new and growing field, and I can see the demand for these roles remaining high for the foreseeable future," Patel said.

A recent survey by HIred found IT professionals are increasingly looking for a position that is challenging — with 64% indicating they’d leave their job if another one offered new challenges and problems to solve. Career positions in AI/machine learning, devops and blockchain will continue to be on the cutting edge of technology, and a priority for hiring needs, Patel said.

For those hiring and looking to provide competitive offers to candidates with blockchain or other in-demand skill sets, the option to work remotely is a good incentive.

"In fact, we conducted a recent survey that found that over half of tech talent are interested in working 100% remotely," Patel said.

"Offering remote work to fill the demand for blockchain and AI engineers might meet the talent demand for these future-focused companies.

"Over the past 12 months, total job openings for blockchain skills have grown to 12,006, according to job data analytics firm Burning Glass Technologies. That represents a growth rate of 316% over that time frame. In June, Burning Glass  reported 5,743 blockchain developer jobs.

The median advertised salary for Software Developers requiring blockchain is $125,000 to $150,000, according to Burning Glass.

Freelance job site, Upwork, said demand for blockchain-based positions has increased on average 96% quarter-to-quarter in terms of job postings; it sees  blockchain development as the hottest skill in the freelance job market today.

Skills gap translates into higher pay
People with experience using specific blockchain iterations such as Solidity and Hyperledger Composer are in even higher demand - and that demand is increasing steadily, said Eric Piscini, CEO of Citizens Reserve and formerly a principal in the technology and banking practices at Deloitte Consulting LLP.



Janco Associates

"This is the number one thing I have in mind when I wake up in the morning: 'Where will I find more engineers to join the team,'" he said in an earlier interview with Computerworld.In addition to postings at established companies such as Deloitte, 2,977 blockchain startups have posted 2,043 jobs, according to AngelList, a website for investors and job-seekers looking for work at startups.

Even as companies are posting a plethora of blockchain jobs, there is a dearth of talent to fill them.

According to Upwork's latest figures (posted in June), 53% of hiring managers surveyed cite access to skills as their biggest hiring challenge, and the majority (59%) are already utilizing flexible talent.

The top blockchain jobs available today include entry-level and internship positions;  blockchain engineers; blockchain project managers; and blockchain developers. The best career opportunities are now in financial services, government agencies and at tech companies; all are seeking ways blockchain can create new efficiencies.

Other blockchain positions include quality engineers and legal consultants or attorneys, and blockchain web designers. Large organizations are also planning to beef up their middle management as they focus on Big Data, blockchain and smartphone and tablet connectivity, according to Janco.

Where to get blockchain skills
Most who choose to add blockchain to their skillset or seek a career as blockchain developers are typically versed in programming languages such as Java or Python, Piscini said. But that's by no means a prerequisite.

"More universities are starting curricula and the natural cycle to graduate enough students will produce good volumes in the next few years," Piscini said. "We collaborate with universities around the world to develop content and hire the best talent.

"Several accredited U.S. universities now offer courses on blockchain, such as MIT, which has offered two courses on cryptocurrency engineering and design, and Stanford University, which has a course called Bitcoin Engineering that teaches developers how to create bitcoin-enabled applications.

There are also specialty schools, such as Mountain View, Calif.-based Blockchain University and London-based education startup B9lab, which launched an online Certified Ethereum Developer Training program in 2016.

"We've been running this and other courses for over two years now and have trained 1,000 people from over 75 countries," said Elias Haase, founder of B9lab.The most successful students in B9lab's courses tend to have sysadmin experience and have worked with Javascript before, Hasse said.

But "with the right amount of focus, we've seen people from different backgrounds do really well."Our youngest student was 14, the oldest 76. So we've seen a pretty broad variety of developers," he said.

Currently, the easiest and fastest way to become proficient is to learn on your own or attend programs organized by blockchain vendors and industry groups, such as Consensys, Blockapps, the Ethereum Foundation and Hyperledger.

Senior Reporter Lucas Mearian covers financial services IT (including blockchain), healthcare IT and enterprise mobile issues (including mobility management, security, hardware and apps).

Early pioneers in computer science were women. Women like Grace Hopper, Jean Bartik, Dame Stephanie Shirley and Lynn Conway, were among the first programmers as the field emerged, and left a lasting mark on the industry.

In fact, back in its early stages programming was primarily a female-oriented profession and women were the largest trained technical workforce of the computing industry during the second world war right through until the mid-sixties. Then in the 1970’s things changed.

Personal computers came onto the market. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates came onto the scene, job advertisements for programmers started targeting males. Computer games were targeted at boys, and the stereotype of the computer programmer as a reclusive, anti-social eccentric male nerd was born.

The number of women majoring in computer science and software development began to drop, from close to 40 per cent in the 1980’s to around 15 percent today.  In crypto and blockchain less than nine percent of the current community are female and the number of female programmers in this space is even less.


HTTPS://COIN.DANCE/STATS

So how can this trend be reversed and how can the unhelpful stereotype of recent years be undone? How can we once again encourage, support and train female programmers to ensure women are an equal and integral part of this booming and promising industry?

After all, blockchain is a revolutionary technology that has the potential to transform many industries and the way we do business, but doing so will require divergent thinking, different perspectives, creativity and the ability to innovate, all of which, research shows time and time again, are driven by diversity – gender included.

At the same time we live in a world facing many complex, interconnected and wicked problems, the likes of which cannot be solved with the same thinking that created them. We need all of our collective and diverse ideas and experiences to come up with the solutions to today’s challenges and create tomorrow’s future.Many in the industry recognize this power of diversity.

Marie Wieck, General Manager at IBM Blockchain believes that, “when you get interdisciplinary engagement and skills and people who have come from different backgrounds, that really does create an innovation sandbox.” 

Cryptocurrency exchange, Cryptopia, are working to increase diversity across all teams, “not to only reach gender parity, but as a strong step forward in striving towards the creativity and ingenuity that fuels innovation – which can only be achieved through diversity.

”In addition, gender diversity can lead to higher returns and valuation, according to Salam Khanji, CTO of Jordan based blockchain company Green Tomorrow.

A study of gender diversity in some of the top firms in the US found that, on average, female representation in top management leads to an increase of $42 million in firm value.  

Clearly gender diversity pays.How Can We Make Programming Cool For Girls Again? Redefine The Image“There are a lot of anecdotal studies that say if you can’t see yourself in a role that you are unlikely to pursue it,” says Wieck. There needs to be more female role models and they need to be positively profiled in the field through media coverage, awards and promotion to visible leadership roles.

We also need to highlight the dynamic nature and features of the job. 

Programmer roles are often seen as a very static, isolated roles, sitting in a cubicle, tied to your laptop for hours on end coding with little human interaction.

In reality programmer roles are much more dynamic and involve problem solving, product development, client interaction and business involvement, with many different roles and levels of opportunity. We need to articulate and promote the dynamics of the role in job advertisements and through media coverage if we are to attract more diverse applicants to these positions.

Shift The Culture
The culture of any workplace or industry is hugely influential on the type of people it attracts and retains. Developing policies around inclusion and diversity are just the beginning.

Addressing deeper issues such as unconscious bias in hiring and promotion practices as well as adjusting recruitment processes are important to shift organizational culture and give women an equal footing in any role, including as programmers.

New Zealand blockchain Company, Centrality, have deliberately adapted their hiring process to increase recruitment of female programmers including interviewing all non-male applicants that apply. Centrality co-founder Aaron McDonald observes that “often women undersell their skills in their CV and so interviewing them will help to understand their skills better.

”Digital Currency platform, Coinbase, have made commitments to hiring inclusively. 33 percent of their leadership roles are held by women and for each open position at the VP level and above, the company ensures that three qualified people from underrepresented backgrounds are interviewed.

Addressing Mid-Career Drop Outs, Role Flexibility and Re-Training
There is presently a high mid-career drop out rate of women in tech. This is a time when women are often juggling their career with caregiver roles, whether elder care or childcare, requiring some flexibility and accommodations to be able to continue to fulfil both roles. It‘s also a time when they may be returning to work after some time off.

These years away from the industry, especially one that is evolving so rapidly, often leaves a gap on their CV and in their skill sets. Re-skilling programs and considerations in hiring processes are vital to ensuring talented female programmers are re-employed and supported to advance their career at this critical juncture.

Centrality combines a culture of flexibility with high levels of accountability to accommodate and encourage more female programmers in their company who often are juggling family commitments. 

Whilst ThoughtWare CEO Sonja Bernhardt sees flexibility and agility as critical to retaining and attracting her 100% female coding team. She says, “We are highly agile in how we are structured and how we operate. Core values at ThoughtWare are about individuals and thinking, with people accepting adult responsibility for what they do and when they do it.

” When it comes to retraining and hiring mid-career women, IBM Blockchain Wieck says, “Even though we have a great track record in both advancing and recruiting women to IBM, we still find that they drop out of tech more frequently than men.

So we formed a program called Pathways to Technology that is mentoring that mid-career woman and also looking at the re-entry of women who may have stepped out because of family needs and how to reintroduce them into the workforce and catch them up given the fast pace of change in skills.

”Formal leadership development programs at this mid-career level have also proven to be critical to retaining female talent in any organisation, including female technologists.

According to AnitaB.org,“Investing in formal leadership development programs lets women know that their growth and advancement is a priority. They help women clearly identify their goals and create strategies for reaching positions of greater influence and responsibility".

Educate And Train Newcomers
The tech industry has faced criticism for not attracting and retaining female workers and much of this criticism is certainly warranted. However, many blockchain companies say they would love to employ more female programmers but they simply aren’t out there or aren’t applying for the jobs.

So clearly, despite all best efforts and intentions there is also a pipeline issue – a training and education issue. Organizations like Girls Who Code, She Codes and Rails Girls are doing their bit to train and encourage young women to code but more must be done to target women to learn the craft.

Whilst jobs in technology and blockchain are poised for ongoing growth and expansion, women presently represent a very small percentage of these roles.

 Building an inclusive workplace and recruiting and retaining more female programmers requires strategic, ongoing effort including an overhaul of the unconscious bias and stereotyped image of the role.

But this effort is critical for our industry to thrive and develop the diverse products and solutions needed for the 21st century and to solve the wicked problems of our time.   

I am the Chair and a Co-founder of PowerLedger.io, a leading full stack energy blockchain technology company. I have more than 15 years experience in finance and risk advisory having worked for 11 years in investment banking in London.

Whilst there, I completed a Masters deg... MORE

Dr. Jemma Green is the Chair & Co-founder of Power Ledger and a researcher and speaker on the enterprise disruption caused by blockchain technology. Disclosure: I own Bitcoin and POWR.

The blockchain technology market could top $2 billion in three years as companies, NGOs and governments understand the potential create customer trust, cut down on counterfeit goods, reduce transaction costs, and reach emerging markets.

While there are a growing number of ways blockchain is being used in banking, retail, and education, it’s still relatively difficult to learn the skills to compete for lucrative new jobs being created.

According to largest global freelancing website Upwork, blockchain is ranked as the hottest technology in its quarterly skills index.  Even with the cool down of the cryptocurrency markets, the demand for blockchain job skills grew six thousand percent in just the first quarter of this year.

Juha Mikkola, co-founder of Wyncode Academy, a coding school, said some developers are being paid double the going rate for their blockchain experience. "It's not just tech companies that need this talent, it's real-estate, non-profits, and banks," Mikkola said.

Early Blockchain Education Initiatives

Leading university computer science programs have been quick to respond. According to new research, 42 percent of the top 50 universities in the world offer at least one course on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. MIT offers a six-week online blockchain certificate program (in partnership with 2U).

 Oxford offers a similar six-week certificate program (also powered by 2U).Coursera offers a four-course specialization in blockchain. Udacity offers a six month nanodegree for blockchain developers. Courseware is supplemented with office hours with their Experts-in-Residence.

Atlanta-based Kingsland University (founded ten years ago as Social Media Marketing University) offers an accredited blockchain training program for developers. The hybrid program involves four weeks of face to face training and four weeks of project work. They are offering scholarship funds to reach students in countries where such training is not available. They claim 275,000 students in countries globally including the US, Singapore, Australia, and the Philippines. 

Kingsland also offers a two-day executive course.

Blockchain Council (@ChainCouncil) is a group of subject experts and enthusiasts evangelizing  Blockchain for global impact. They offer a self-paced training program to become a Certified Blockchain Developer. Participants learn the discipline of Distributed Ledger Technology from a vendor-neutral perspective.

A federation of trade unions in Singapore, the National Trading Union Congress Learning Hub (NTUC), in partnership with Huobi Group, announced this week a series of new courses on Blockchain for cryptocurrency enthusiasts and fintech professionals. The courses will cover the basics of bitcoin and distributed ledger technology, with an emphasis on practical uses of the cryptocurrency (see the outline of the introductory course).

Aeternity ventures sponsored the first blockchain course at SoftUni, Bulgaria, and recently launched the first decentralized blockchain incubator program which saw ten dynamic startups battle it out for $1.3 million in funding.

London-based education startup B9lab (@b9lab) launched an online Certified Ethereum Developer Training program in 2016 (powered by edX). They also offer an executive course.  Education is core to the philosophy of engineering companies like IOHK. 

Director of Education  Lars Brünjes, a Ph.D. in Pure Mathematics, is a specialist in Haskell, a functional and secure programming language chosen to construct the leading cryptocurrency Cardano. Lars has also led courses worldwide in the durable Haskell programming language in Athens and Barbados, with the best graduates from the program offered full-time positions at IOHK.Want a free introduction?

Start with the Blockchain Innovation podcast and Frederick Munawa’s (@FrederickMunawa) free videos. BlockGeeks has a basic tutorial. The Linux Foundation offers a free course on Hyperledger (an open source business blockchain software). The space is moving fast and some providers have come and gone, so test drive where you can and ask for graduate referrals. For more, see:

• 20 Ways Blockchain Will Transform (OK, May Improve) Education
• Imagining a Blockchain University
• Camp C-Block Introduces Blockchain Technology to Black Girls

Tom Vander Ark is an advocate for innovations in learning. As CEO of Getting Smart, he advises school districts, networks, foundations and learning organizations on the path forward. A prolific writer and speaker, Tom is author of "Getting Smart"; "Smart Cities That Work for... MORE