Don't just focus on educational qualifications; search for Web3 talent with a crypto spirit.

Writing by: Ben Wu, a16z

Translated by: Chopper, Foresight News

The emergence of cryptocurrency is not just about reshaping money or moving databases onto the blockchain. It represents a deeper transformation: shifting from opaque systems to mechanisms that can be directly inspected, verified, and simulated. Open source code ensures transparency, predictable transaction settlement, and rules enforced by non-subjective software.

However, when it comes to hiring, many builders of these systems have quietly forgotten these principles. Crypto industry recruitment often remains surprisingly traditional: educational background, big company experience, endorsements from well-known institutions still dominate early screening.

While these signals are convenient, they are fundamentally trust-based. They lead decision-makers to infer ability rather than verify it. This article will explain how we can approach hiring in a way that aligns more with the crypto ethos and is more likely to produce excellent results.

The Credentials and Experience Funnel

Traditional hiring relies on heuristics: degrees, previous employers, official titles. These are compressed into screening tags that allow teams to make quick decisions when time and resources are limited. Used cautiously, these shortcuts are not irrational.

But over time, a credential-based hiring approach can introduce biases: for example, overlooking those who learn through practice rather than rote methods; overemphasizing institutional background while neglecting actual skills; or delaying genuine ability verification until late in the process (or ignoring it altogether).

Verifiable Signals Already Exist in Crypto

One of the core features of crypto is that work results are inherently publicly accessible. Builders don’t need permission from centralized gatekeepers or third-party certificates to prove their capabilities—they just need to produce something.

Therefore, crypto talent leaves behind continuous, verifiable records of output, including:

• Public code repositories, commit histories, pull requests, and code reviews
• Deployment to testnets and mainnets, with source code verifiable smart contracts
• On-chain activity viewable via block explorers and protocol interfaces
• Contributions to hackathons, DAOs, and open-source communities

Resumes are ultimately just claims, but technical work leaves evidence. These can be directly inspected without relying on endorsements, recommendations, or institutional reputation.

In the crypto world, a person’s work can be recognized without institutional backing. No matter where you graduated from or who you’ve worked for, your output can be directly verified.

Especially for technical roles, showcasing work is far more persuasive than background alone. Moreover, these contributions accumulate over time: commit histories are permanently accessible, deployments continue to run, and contribution histories deepen. Many builders in crypto have already proven their capabilities before their resumes even reflect it.

Contributors have stood out in hackathons before securing formal positions at foundations; builders have gained reputation in DAOs without ever holding official titles.

Output First, Recognition Follows

When verifiable work becomes more visible, imitation also becomes easier. Open-source contributions are long-standing strong signals of technical ability, but with the proliferation of AI tools and incentives to contribute openly, this signal is becoming noisy.

Some contributors chase quantity over quality: making numerous small changes across multiple repositories, with little follow-up or pushing into more challenging problems. These changes may be correct and occasionally accepted, but they don’t demonstrate deep understanding or sustained responsibility.

Even with these issues, verification remains effective—provided you genuinely evaluate the work itself. Code quality, problem selection, and long-term contribution history matter more than isolated achievements.

High-value builders demonstrate depth and continuity, with ongoing accumulation of work. Recognizing these qualities is straightforward for experienced evaluators, while low-value contributors are easily spotted.

Moving Toward a “Verification-First” Hiring Model

To more efficiently identify talent, more teams can adopt a verification-first approach:

• Highlight verifiable signals early: prioritize code quality, live deployments, contribution history—treat resumes as background rather than gatekeepers.
• Incorporate on-chain and open-source data directly into hiring processes: consider these outputs as key materials.
• Embed hiring into real-world contexts: engage deeply in hackathons, DAOs, and open-source communities—talent is often already there.

“Verification-first” requires teams to change how they attract talent: no longer passively wait for candidates to apply or rely solely on narrow filters like target companies or elite schools. Founders and hiring teams can proactively seek out builders who have already produced high-quality work publicly: core repositories, deployment systems, governance or design discussions, and other foundational infrastructure relied upon by teams.

For example, top Solidity engineers are often found in:

• Core protocol and tooling repositories on GitHub
• Public discussions and submissions for Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs)
• Contracts deployed and on-chain activity visible on explorers like Etherscan

This logic applies across all ecosystems, including Move-based chains, Rust developers, zero-knowledge systems, and various application protocols. Hackathons are high-value talent pools; events like ETHGlobal, Solana Breakpoint gather builders capable of coding and delivering under pressure.

In Conclusion

This isn’t about replacing one set of credentials with another, but shifting focus from indirect evidence to direct evidence.

Degrees and experience remain important, but are most effective when combined with observable output. In an industry rooted in transparency and execution, crypto hiring should start with verification. Trust becomes a background condition, not a prerequisite.

This aligns with the industry’s core mantra: Don’t trust, verify. Now, it’s time to apply it to finding the best talent.