How to get your first UI/UX gig in Web3
Let me tell you how I got my first Web3 gig as a designer, and how you can do it too without any prior experience.
Web3 is booming.
Venture capital firms and the crypto community is pumping money into it.
And there is a shortage of talent.
There is an opportunity for you and your developer friends to get early in and build expertise. Become an expert and secure yourself a fat paycheck for the next 5 to 10 years.
Unfortunately, most people believe it is too difficult to get in.
Because…
“…crypto is complicated stuff, and I don’t have any experience.”
- “I don’t understand how this crypto thing even works.”
- “I don’t have similar projects in my portfolio.”
- “This whole thing sounds like a foreign language to me.”
But it doesn’t have to be this way. You can get yourself to a legit candidate for a week or two in your spare time.
Here’s how.
Week 1: Learn the lingo and key concepts.
In your spare time, start researching. Google the basics.
Then go deep.
Top DeFi projects? What is NFT? Top NFT projects? Top crypto gaming projects? Top crypto tools.
Write down everything you don’t understand and Google it the next day.
See what catches your interest the first two days and double down.
Week 2: Put some skin in the game
Create a MetaMask wallet.
Create an account in an exchange like Coinbase or Binance. Learn about gas fees. Buy some crypto assets. Don’t try to make a profit. Pick two cryptocurrencies and one NFT. Don’t spend more than $20 on each.
Now you know the main user flows of this industry.
Week 3: Join the community & contribute
Google “crypto hackathons”. There is a bunch of websites. One is GitCoin.co.
Go on the website and find the Discord link and join. Repeat.
Introduce yourself, share your previous experience, and that you like to contribute to UI/UX. Hackathon teams are forming all the time. So most likely, people will DM you with offers.
If no one reaches out be proactive, offer to design someone’s idea. Share the process in the community and ask for feedback to build some credibility.
Expressing interest and enthusiasm are key in these first interactions.
This is how you get your first Web3 project in your portfolio.
Since this is a relatively new field, this one project turns you into a credible candidate for most Web3 design jobs.