Transitioning to Web3 Is Becoming an Increasingly Common Choice for Young Professionals

In the past two years, Web3 has gradually evolved from an “industry concept” into “tangible job demands.” Alongside the rise in recruitment numbers, clearer candidate profiles and more concrete hiring requirements have emerged.

On one hand, policy and industrial advancements are accelerating. Hong Kong continues to issue licenses to Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), expediting the compliant implementation of virtual assets; leading enterprises such as Alibaba and JD.com have sequentially ventured into new tracks like stablecoins and real-world assets (RWA); and an increasing number of domestic technical teams are choosing to “go global,” establishing Web3 project entities in places like Singapore and Dubai to connect with global markets and financing resources. These developments have released a significant number of recruitment opportunities in technical, product, compliance, and marketing roles within the Web3 industry, turning the idea of “transitioning to Web3” into action.

On the other hand, in traditional industries such as third-party payments, fintech, and data services, a cohort of experienced professionals is facing a “career transition window.” Some feel the uncertainty brought about by technological iterations and platform strategy adjustments; others are gradually losing enthusiasm for repetitive product forms and business models; and still others are contemplating how to rebalance income growth, lifestyle, and technical accumulation.

Expressions such as “decentralization,” “remote work,” “crypto-denominated income,” and “high degree of freedom,” which once seemed niche, are now appearing in the browsing histories of more programmers, developers, and product managers.

The Web3 industry is indeed offering an alternative career path. However, for you, is it a window leading to emerging opportunities, or a door to unknown risks?

A Product Manager Role with a Monthly Salary of 90,000 RMB: Should You Accept It?

Some time ago, a friend planning to transition to Web3 approached me, seeking my analysis of a job opportunity.

He currently works as a product manager at a mid-sized payment company in Hangzhou, with an annual salary of around 500,000 RMB, and has been working for nearly ten years. Over these years, he has primarily been responsible for product design related to payment pathways and clearing middle platforms, liaising with channels such as WeChat Pay, UnionPay, and international card acquiring. He has also developed industry solutions, such as designing international card settlement interfaces for cross-border e-commerce platforms and creating aggregated cashier solutions for chain restaurants.

“To be honest, the current business is very stable,” he said. “Our team has basically been focused on rule configuration, system refactoring, streamlining clearing and reconciliation processes, or upgrading cashier components in several legacy systems. It has been a long time since we had the opportunity to build a payment chain from scratch.”

Most of his colleagues are stuck at the same level. They have sufficient experience and capable skills, but there is no room for further advancement. The company itself is also contracting, with fewer internal innovation projects.

Against this backdrop, he received a headhunter’s invitation from a Web3 exchange. The role was “Head of Trading Product,” with a monthly salary of 90,000 RMB, settled in USDT (U). The platform is based in Singapore, the work mode is remote, and collaboration is mainly conducted through Telegram, Slack, and Google Docs.

According to interview feedback, the main responsibilities of this role include leading the product design of the matching engine, order management system, clearing rules, and trading risk control logic. From the technology stack to the underlying structure, it is very similar to the systems he previously worked on, still using Go and Java.

“It does sound quite attractive,” he said hesitantly. “But I still feel somewhat uneasy in my heart.”

“Is this type of platform actually legal in China?”

“I am in Hangzhou, and the company is overseas. Will I face any risks if something goes wrong?”

Career Anxiety Across Various Industries

Like the product manager mentioned above, in the past two years, we have successively engaged with numerous professionals from backgrounds in fintech, payment systems, internet brokerages, bank IT, and more.

Their resumes are impressive: they have navigated large-scale systems for many years, possess stable technical and product capabilities, and are accustomed to multi-department collaboration, cross-border liaison, and process stress testing. However, in the current industry cycle, many are beginning to feel a sense of “structural stagnation.”

Projects have become repetitive, and work content is gradually being standardized; promotion paths are limited, with minimal turnover at senior levels; organizations are shifting from expansion to contraction, and performance evaluations are becoming increasingly conservative... On one side lie accumulated experience and capabilities, and on the other lies the reality of stagnation. Many are unwilling to continue engaging in intense internal competition but cannot immediately find a leverage point to jump out.

Web3 was initially just an unfamiliar term, slowly appearing on recruitment platforms, social media updates, and in headhunters’ phone calls.

Some began searching for “exit paths for programmers” after a performance review; others clicked on the keyword “Web3 job hunting” for the first time after seeing a remote job posting; and others started to understand what the industry actually does only after friends said, “Your background is a great match.”

However, their starting points were not the same.

Some, just past thirty, are worried about the stability of mid-level positions; others are tired of process-oriented work rhythms and hope for more voice and involvement; and still others crave the new lifestyle brought by freedom, remote work, and globalized projects.

For independent developers, the motivation for such a transition is even more straightforward: the Web3 field has numerous projects, new technology choices, clear task boundaries, and allows simultaneous participation in multiple collaborations, exchanging code quality for USDT or Tokens—a level of freedom almost unimaginable in traditional industries.

But before truly beginning to “transition to Web3,” almost everyone gets stuck on several key questions:

“Without industry experience, how should I enter the field?”

“Are crypto-denominated salaries and remote collaboration really the work style I want?”

“Can this industry wait a few more years, or is now the best opportunity?”

They are uncertain and wish to hear how those who understand the industry better make judgments.

What Questions Should Be Considered Before Transitioning?

Taking programmers as an example, before truly stepping into Web3, several fundamental questions are unavoidable:

• Can my past technical capabilities be transferred?

• Do I need to supplement basic on-chain development skills, such as Solidity, wallet interactions, and contract deployment?

• Official documentation is all in English; is my language proficiency sufficient?

• The project entity is overseas, and salaries are settled in USDT or Tokens; how can I receive payments safely? Will this touch upon domestic regulatory red lines?

Many people have already considered these questions when making career choices. However, what is truly hidden are the legal risks you may not be aware of.

I once represented a case involving “operating a casino.” The client was a backend development engineer holding a core technical position at a Web3 trading platform, having just been promoted to a technical management role before the incident.

During a meeting at the detention center, he said to me, “Our platform is located overseas, and the servers are abroad. We do not target users in mainland China, so I shouldn’t bear any responsibility, right?”

I asked him, “Did you implement KYC? Can you see user information in the backend?”

He said, “We can only see the IP addresses used for user logins, nothing else.”

I asked again, “What if users log in using a VPN?”

He paused, “We cannot identify whether they are mainland China users.”

I continued to ask if he understood the platform’s promotional methods, and he replied, “We in tech barely communicate with operations, so I’m not quite sure.”

The problem lies here—

• He did not realize that even if the platform is overseas, as long as he works within China and has access to backend data, he could potentially fall within the “jurisdictional scope” of domestic judicial authorities.

• He did not analyze the differences between the platform’s trading logic and mainstream contract structures, nor whether it constituted high risk;

• He was unaware of the company’s external promotional strategies and did not pay attention to the compliance boundaries of the system he developed.

• Furthermore, as a developer with access to user login data, he did not realize what the absence of a KYC mechanism might imply.

• And, as the technical lead, he was surprisingly unclear about whether the platform had truly implemented anti-money laundering mechanisms and real-name verification.

This programmer had a prestigious educational background and experience at major tech companies, originally hoping to achieve a career leap through Web3. However, due to a lack of compliance awareness, he became entangled in a criminal case while in a technical management position, resulting not only in damage to his career but also immense public opinion and family pressure.

Conclusion

The Web3 industry indeed offers different opportunities: more flexible work styles and higher income ceilings. It attracts some developers who are tired of the traditional workplace rhythm and stimulates the desire for advancement among product managers, architects, and independent developers who are sensitive to new technologies and models.

However, at the same time, the fast pace, unclear rules, and blurred responsibility boundaries are the flip side of this reality.

Before taking this step, perhaps you should first ask yourself:

Facing the unknown, am I truly ready?