A Deep Dive Into Building Your On-Chain Resume

During a job application, most employers require a resume as a prerequisite from potential employees, and despite its anti-establishment credentials, the crypto sector isn’t any different. If you’re applying to work in the burgeoning cryptocurrency industry, an on-chain resume could increase your chances of securing that coveted job.

So your application says you’re big into DeFi, can mint and sell an NFT and you know the difference between staking a token and yield farming it? Well then, your on-chain resume shall reveal all!

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What is an On-Chain Resume?

A résumé (or resume), also known as a curriculum vitae (CV) outside North America, is a formal document used by a job applicant to highlight their qualifications, background, skills, and accomplishments, in order to illustrate that they meet all the job requirements and are a great fit for a role.

An On-Chain Resume differs from a standard version as it records your cryptocurrency, DeFi, and blockchain-related skills and experience on a blockchain that can be accessed via the individual’s public key, the same public address that is used to send relevant cryptocurrency tokens to the user’s wallet.

A blockchain-based, verifiable resume could save employers some serious time and resources they would otherwise spend on checking the background of applicants. This is because every transaction on the blockchain is recorded and can be traced, verified, and confirmed without a third party.

Unlike a traditional resume, an on-chain resume cannot be altered or modified, only confirmed and verified.

Why Do You Need an On-Chain Resume?

An on-chain resume is proof of a person's participation and experience in the crypto community. An on-chain resume tells an employer that you have:

Pragmatic experience dealing with DeFi (decentralized finance) protocols and applications
Involvement in and an understanding of the ecosystem
Skills that will benefit your potential employer
A reputation that can be verified by past employers

Interacting With the Web 3.0

Web 3.0 refers to the next generation of the Internet that will be completely decentralized. The Web 3.0 ecosystem is essentially made up of decentralized blockchain applications.

Web 3.0 will be monetizable, however, monetization will be more transparent than ever before. This ecosystem also opens up a world of opportunity for different levels of involvement. Illustrating your skill set within the Web 3.0 ecosystem with an on-chain resume could land you that next big job in the industry.

How To Build Your On-Chain Resume

Jobs in the blockchain industry are at an all-time high and crypto-native companies looking to recruit want to see that you have familiarity with cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology – and one way to prove it is with an on-chain resume.

Because there’s no altering an on-chain resume, your history on it won’t lie and this transparency immutability can therefore be crucial for your chances of securing a job in the crypto space. So, how do you build an on-chain resume that can secure the job you want? Let’s start with these excellent suggestions from Bankless and others.

Beginner

Set up an ENS domain name — transactions are recorded on your Ethereum address, so starting with an .eth wallet address from the Ethereum Name Service name registration system is a good first step.
Trading – purchase DeFi tokens on Uniswap, or on Matcha, a decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator that fetches you the best prices across all DEXs.
Lending and Staking – after purchasing tokens, you could lend them out for interest on lending protocols like Aave and Compound. You can also stake in Aave’s Safety Module.
Mint or Collect an NFT - there are a number of NFT platforms where you can mint or buy someone’s NFT including OpenSea, SuperFarm, or Rarible. Find out how to mint an NFT here.
Open a Maker Vault - on a DeFi credit platform where you can bank yourself using Ethereum.
You can also donate on Gitcoin, save with PoolTogether, and provide liquidity on Bancor.

Intermediate

Borrowing on the previously mentioned lending protocols Aave and Compound. This requires more skills, you can find how to go about the process here.
Provide liquidity on Uniswap V2, Bancor and Balancer. Bancor offers a single-sided supply while Uniswap requires supplying a 50/50 ratio of two assets. To learn how to go about providing liquidity, click here and here.
Bridging assets to the Polygon sidechain is no beginner task, however, it can be mastered with some patience.
Trade on Loopring’s L2 (layer-two) exchange and Sushi’s Kashi’s DeFi lending and margin trading platform.
Save with an amazing stablecoin infrastructure like mStable’s Save to earn yields and token rewards.
Manage your DeFi assets with smart tools like Instadapp or DeFi Saver
Open a Liquity Trove for interest-free loans against ETH collaterals.
Stake LP tokens to yield farm.

Advanced

As you gain more confidence, experience and skills over time, you can decide to reinforce your on-chain resume by;

Stake SNX on Synthetix and earn bonus points if you migrate and stake on Optimism Layer 2.
Provide liquidity for Uniswap V3
Become an active governance participant. There’s no better way to show your passion for a coin and its community by drafting up and sending governance proposals.
Build and manage an NFT gallery consisting of collectables of your choice.
Open a Rai Safe — arguably the first true stablecoin. Learn how to deposit ETH and mint RAI from a Rai Safe, and you’ll be making pro moves.
Use a flash loan (a type of uncollateralized lending) via Furucombo.
Use Yam Synths to speculate on Ethereum gas.

To make things more interesting, you can perform multiple tasks on platforms that curate them as opposed to performing them individually on separate platforms. Platforms like Zapper.fi and RabbitHole are good options.

All in all, a good way to bolster your interaction within the Web 3.0 ecosystem is by getting involved with as many reputable Web 3.0 platforms as possible.

Maintaining the On-Chain Privacy Balance

While the issue of a publically viewable, unalterable resume may raise concerns over privacy and security, it is worth noting that there should be a balance between an attractive on-chain resume and maintaining your privacy with regards to your digital assets.

In the process of building your on-chain resume, it is important to use a wallet that ensures the security of your crypto portfolio. Your holdings are best kept in hardware wallets, smart wallets, or a combination of both.

Knowing that your on-chain resume will face public scrutiny, you should approach the process with clear objectives, and consider our recommended best practice of setting up a dedicated wallet for the development of your on-chain resume.

Should you Build an On-chain Resume?

Ever since its inception in 2009, blockchain technology has slowly, but steadily found its way into almost every sector. As blockchain adoption grows, decentralized networks like Ethereum, Polkadot and others are gunning to be the driving forces behind the Web 3.0 ecosystem.

Knowing that Web 3.0 may very well turn out to become the internet of tomorrow, the best time to start building your on-chain resume is today, on Ethereum or the network of your choice. Building a robust on-chain resume will open you up to both on-chain and off-chain opportunities for the foreseeable future.

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