This past July, NoDesk turned five.

As part of this milestone, I want to reflect on how and why NoDesk came to be, what’s changed over the years, and talk about what’s next as we all look towards the future of work.

The beginning

I created NoDesk to be a free and accessible resource on digital nomads and remote work.

I had transitioned to remote work and felt there was a need for a resource that provided curated information, resources, and job opportunities for digital nomads and remote workers.

As I’m a proponent on learning by doing, this became an opportunity to continue my learning to code journey that had begun a few months earlier.

When I look back, three factors worked in my favour: I was working on something I found exciting, I enjoyed the learning process, and I only focused on the features that were needed to build NoDesk.

Perhaps counterintuitive, but being a novice can be an advantage as it forces you to focus on what matters instead of the nice to have features or over-engineering solutions.

I launched NoDesk in July, 2015.

A few weeks later, NoDesk had its public launch when it was posted on Product Hunt by a community member. It was an important event as the community embraced NoDesk — all the upvotes and comments were by new friendly faces — and it marked the start of my maker journey.

Following the Product Hunt launch, traffic has increased over the last few years, thanks to community support and the increased attention that has been on digital nomads and remote work.

Supporting the digital nomad and remote work communities

I actively maintain NoDesk, and have created several new sections, launched a newsletter, worked with companies of every size to help grow their remote teams through the job board, and connected with hundreds of friendly people from across the world.

A question I get asked often is how I do the curation on NoDesk. All links are curated by hand from around the web. No bots. No computer algorithms.

In summary, I’ve curated over 9,000 articles, remote jobs, resources, and tools, and published 131 issues of the newsletter — all for free and accessible to all.

But the most rewarding part of this journey has been all the stories that you’ve shared on how NoDesk has helped you find remote work and improve your quality of life.

These personal stories have been the main motivation behind the new NoDesk that I’m excited to share with you today.

NoDesk 2.0

The new NoDesk is the same, but different.

During these five years, it’s become clear that NoDesk does the most good and delivers outsized returns for everyone by helping to empower individuals and companies to work together remotely.

Our mission is to enable talented humans and companies to work together remotely.

With this latest release, it’s all about remote work.

Remote Jobs

I have redesigned and updated the job board.

You can search for remote jobs by title, company and keyword, and filter results by location — because some remote roles have geographic restrictions.

If you’re not sure what to search for, then head over to Job Collections, and browse remote jobs by role, job type and remote location.

I have also redesigned each job listing to make it easier for you to get an overview of the role, and improved the tags used to categorise each job.

Remote jobs are added daily.

As an aside, I’ve noticed an increase in attempts by people to post remote jobs on NoDesk that are scams. Most of these get stopped by Stripe’s fraud detection system, but a few have made it through.

However, as I review each job before it gets published on the job board, I’ve been able to deal with these scams directly, and so you will not have seen these roles on the job board.

It takes time and effort, but it works and helps keep you safe.

NoDesk should be a place that you trust in your remote job search.

Remote Companies

I have redesigned and updated the Remote Companies section.

Discover over 750+ remote-first and remote-friendly companies and startups. View a company’s profile, learn about their mission, culture and values, and the work they do.

This section is a work in progress, and profiles are continuously updated.

Articles

I have redesigned and updated the Articles section.

This section features the best articles, stories, and big ideas about digital nomads, remote work, and the future of work from across the web, sorted chronologically. Since 2015, I’ve curated 2,803 articles, written by 2,946 authors from 740 publishers.

You can now browse articles by topic. Articles are added daily.

Blog

Welcome to Intrinsic, the NoDesk Blog. This is where I share my thoughts on life and work, and surface stories and ideas from the remote work community as a whole.

Why Intrinsic?

Self-determination theory holds that human beings need three basic things in order to be content: they need to feel competent at what they do; they need to feel authentic in their lives; and they need to feel connected to others. These values are considered “intrinsic” to human happiness and far outweigh “extrinsic” values such as beauty, money, and status.

– Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger

If you’d like to contribute a story, please click here.

Books

I have redesigned and updated the Books section.

Great books inform, entertain, and inspire. Here you’ll find more than 100 great books to read. Browse recommended books, curated reading lists, and discover your next read.

Newsletter

I send a newsletter every Thursday with the latest remote jobs, stories and ideas from the remote work community, and the occasional offbeat pieces to feed your curiosity.

The newsletter is available for free to everyone.

However, if you’d like to support my work and have the opportunity to do so, please consider joining as a paid subscriber at $5/month.

You can subscribe here.

These are the main highlights, but there’s much more on NoDesk to discover so, I invite you to browse.

The rebuild

The journey to reimagine and rebuild NoDesk has been challenging.

In contrast to the original build, there were three factors that worked in my disfavour:

• How do you improve something that already works without breaking it? The constraints associated with this rebuild did impact the project’s direction and timeline.
• I have more experience building projects which may have led to some over-engineered solutions.
• Too many known unknowns and unknown unknowns, but that’s life.

In review, I have rewritten all code, changed much of the site structure, and redone the design.

Another question I get asked often is about the tech stack.

I built NoDesk with Hugo, an open-source static site generator, Tachyons, a CSS framework, and I host the site on Netlify.

The icons, Heroicons, are designed by Steve Schoger. The colour palette is from Refactoring UI, and much of the design inspiration is from Tailwind CSS and Tailwind UI, designed and created by Adam Wathan and Steve Schoger.

I use system fonts. The NoDesk logotype uses a font called Noto by Google that aims to support all languages with a harmonious look and feel, which feels just right for remote work.

Stripe manages all payments, and Substack powers the NoDesk newsletter.

What’s next?

As I continue to build and expand NoDesk, I remain committed to make this a friendly place for people everywhere, and all content will remain open and accessible to all.

But it’s not just what you build that matters, it’s who you build it with.

To all the remote work curious, newsletter subscribers and members, contributors, supporters, and friendly visitors thank you for your continued support and for making all this possible.

To all the companies that have trusted NoDesk with their hiring needs, advertisers and community sponsors, thank you for your support.

NoDesk is bootstrapped and independent, and that’s because of you.

Here’s to the next five years.

-Daniel

NoDesk is on Product Hunt today. Come by and say hello!

Originally published at https://nodesk.co.

Last year, the crypto job market felt different, but overall it was a good different.

2019 was characterized by a volatile cryptocurrency market, a succession of high-profile layoffs, but also the creation of new blockchain jobs, the growth of Decentralized Finance, and increased awareness of Bitcoin.

Cryptocurrency Layoffs

There were high-profile layoffs at cryptocurrency companies that began at the end of 2018 and continued throughout 2019.

The reasons cited for the layoffs were regulatory concerns, market conditions, and the need to streamline operations to refocus on profitability.

ConsenSys, a blockchain venture production studio, announced a strategy shift to streamline its business, which led to a 13 percent reduction in its team. Steemit, a blockchain-based social media platform, laid off 70 percent of its staff, and Shapeshift, a digital asset exchange, reduced the size of its team by a third.

In November 2019, New York-based blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis laid off 39 employees, about 20 percent of its workforce, and Circle reported layoffs in May and a new round in December.

At the end of December, Bottle Pay, a custodial bitcoin wallet provider, shut down operations in response to the EU’s Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD) that comes into effect on 10th January 2020. The 5AMLD introduces stricter regulatory controls across more sectors, including cryptocurrencies. Several other European firms have shut down in response to the new Directive.

Cryptocurrency mining company Bitmain closed its Israel-based research and development arm and laid off more than 50 percent of its employees. Recent reports suggest that Bitmain has plans to further reduce its workforce this year before the Bitcoin block reward halving that is likely to occur in May.

Many smaller firms also closed during the year.

Market Volatility and Cryptocurrencies

The volatility in cryptocurrency prices continues to affect the blockchain job market.

Devin Banerjee, a Senior Financial Services Editor at LinkedIn, plotted the proportion of new hires that are blockchain developers according to LinkedIn data, with the monthly price of bitcoin.

The data shows how the hiring market for blockchain developers tends to follow BTC prices.

In LinkedIn’s recent US Emerging Jobs Report, which identifies the top 15 jobs that have emerged over the last five years, Blockchain Developer, is no longer present. Last year, it topped the list.

The report cites that this “may not come as a surprise given the rapid decline in popularity of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.”

As the Emerging Jobs analysis is based on LinkedIn members with a public profile, I should mention that many within the crypto space do not have a LinkedIn profile for security reasons, and several crypto profiles on the professional networking site have been found to be fake.

Jesse Powell on Twitter

@lawmaster @BITMAINtech @coinbase @HuobiGlobal @ConsenSys @krakenfx @cz_binance @Ripple Closer to 800 but not on LinkedIn for security reasons.

CZ Binance on Twitter

Scammers impersonating Binance team on LinkedIn: 1,500+ Binance actual team size: 600 Binance teams that actually have a profile on LinkedIn: 30 Welcome to #Crypto & LinkedIn https://t.co/Km6TimEkJk

LinkedIn’s report is an interesting data point, but it does not reflect the overall state of the blockchain and crypto hiring market.

Based on Cryptocurrency Jobs data, despite the bear market and volatility in cryptocurrency prices, demand for blockchain talent and interest in working in the crypto space has remained strong throughout 2019.

Although the LinkedIn Report states that there has been a rapid decline in the popularity of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, a survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Blockchain Capital presents a different picture.

Despite the bear market, the data shows that Bitcoin awareness, familiarity, perception, conviction, propensity to purchase and ownership all increased/improved significantly — dramatically in many cases. The results highlight that Bitcoin is a demographic mega-trend led by younger age groups.

In Electric Capital’s Developer Report H1 2019, which focuses on developer activity from June 2018 to June 2019, the authors conclude:

• Despite market downturns in 2018, Full Time developers increased 13% year-over-year in June 2019 and are consolidating around high network value projects.
• Code commit volume is consistent but total monthly active developers are down 10% Y/Y.
• 80% of developer loss came from One Time per month and Part Time developers.
• The biggest developer drop-off came from projects outside of the Top 100 by network value.
• Smart Contracts, Infrastructure, and DeFi ecosystems continue to gain Full Time developers.
• Overall crypto ecosystems are approaching the size of well known open source projects such as Apache, but still has plenty of space to grow.

The crypto space is also global, and there has been much activity outside the US.

In LinkedIn’s Emerging Jobs 2020 report for India, Blockchain Developer tops the list of emerging jobs.

The country is seeing a rise in digital transactions, and therefore industries are ramping up investments in blockchain. This strong demand for blockchain tech talent puts ‘blockchain developer’ on top of the list.

— Ruchee Anand, head of talent and learning solutions at LinkedIn India

Key Findings from Cryptocurrency Jobs

During 2019, 1135 crypto and blockchain jobs at 472 companies and startups were posted on Cryptocurrency Jobs.

As in previous years, the crypto space continues to be dominated by engineering roles.

Here’s a breakdown of blockchain jobs distributed across roles:

• Customer Support: 7%
• Design: 10%
• Engineering: 31%
• Marketing: 13%
• Operations: 17%
• Other: 13%
• Sales: 9%

With the refocus on profitability and bringing products to market, there has been an increase in blockchain design, marketing, and sales roles.

Compliance, legal and regulatory related roles have also seen an increase in demand, which reflects the changing regulatory environment for cryptocurrency companies.

Regulators have also had to increase their digital asset teams.

During the year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission posted job openings for a Digital Asset Expert and a Securities Compliance Examiner (Blockchain Expert).

The US Federal Reserve has been looking to hire a manager to oversee its traditional payments section and research “digital currencies, stable coins, distributed ledger technologies, and broadly financial/digital innovation in retail payments.”

The major employers continue to be cryptocurrency exchanges. Research by The Block found that 42% of blockchain industry employees work for cryptocurrency exchanges, with another 10% for mining hardware manufacturers.

2019 was also the year of Decentralized Finance (DeFi). The explosive growth in DeFi contributed to many new job openings.

Most crypto job opportunities are in San Francisco and New York. In Europe, the main hubs are London and Berlin, and in Asia, it’s Singapore and Hong Kong. In Latin America, it’s Buenos Aires.

An exciting trend in 2019 was the increase in crypto job opportunities in Africa.

Many will be looking at Africa this year as Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square Crypto and Twitter, has announced plans to move temporarily to the continent following a month-long visit to entrepreneurs.

The Cryptocurrency Job Market is Maturing

In addition to the growth in blockchain job openings, another sign that the crypto industry has matured is the high-profile executives that have entered the space.

During 2019, there were many notable hires from Wall Street, the tech industry, government, and beyond.

• Coinbase hired LJ Brock as Chief People Officer from Citadel
• Cred hired Joe Podulka, a former PayPal executive as its Chief Financial Officer
• Bakkt hired Erik Haas, who previously headed the regulation department at ICE, as Director of Compliance
• Tradewind Markets hired Leon Shklar, a former Managing Director of Technology at BNY Mellon, as its Chief Technology Officer
• Amber Group hired Jeffrey Wang, a former Head of Derivatives Trading for Asia at Morgan Stanley
• Square Crypto hired former Google Director Steve Lee as Head of its newly formed team
• Gemini hired Julian Sawyer, former co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Starling Bank, to manage its European operations
• C Labs hired Jai Ramaswamy, former Head of Enterprise Risk Management at Capital One, to head up its global regulatory, risk and compliance matters
• Blockchain hired Howard Surlof, former Deputy General Counsel of Blackrock and Global Chief Operating Officer of Blackrock’s iShares and Index business, as General Counsel

Crypto Optimism

Since I launched Cryptocurrency Jobs in 2017, I’ve interacted and helped many people that want to transition into the crypto space.

Despite the bear market, company layoffs, and uncertainty in the space, job seekers remain optimistic. From the high school teacher to the corporate professional to the undergraduate, they’re all looking for an opportunity to join the crypto industry.

Although they express many reasons for why they want a career in crypto, a common factor is that it presents them with the opportunity to work on something that has never been done before; to build a better system, a decentralized future.

You must work on something that inspires you and others, you must work on something with a significant impact, and you must do it in a way that makes getting where you want to go as easy as possible and keeps you there as long as possible.

— Fred Wilson, Partner at Union Square Ventures

Unfortunately, two common myths continue to come up in my conversations with job seekers that I want to dispel.

You don’t need to be a developer to work in this space. Over 40 percent of jobs on Cryptocurrency Jobs are non-technical.

You also don’t need prior blockchain work experience. Although some companies require previous experience, many are more interested in your prior work experience and that you are passionate about working in the space. This is true across roles.

If you are interested in working in crypto, please apply. Do not self-reject.

A Call for Internships and Entry-Level Opportunities

There are still too few entry-level roles and internships available.

With the rise of crypto in higher education and the recognition that Bitcoin is a demographic mega-trend led by younger age groups, there needs to be more job opportunities for these young, creative, and talented individuals.

In 2020, I’d love to see more entry-level and internship opportunities across roles, ideally, that are remote so everyone can apply.

If you’re hiring interns or offer entry-level opportunities, get in touch, and I will help you.

While it’s still early days, I’m excited about cryptocurrency and what’s possible as more talented people of all demographics and backgrounds from around the world join forces and leave their mark on this space.

If you are currently hiring or plan to do so this year, get in touch as I want to help you grow your team.

Originally published at Cryptocurrency Jobs.

Over the past few years, a few nonprofits have been early adopters and accepted donations in cryptocurrency.

Save the Children was one of the first nonprofits to accept cryptocurrency in 2013, and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution was the first major charity in the UK to accept bitcoin donations.

Fidelity Charitable began to accept cryptocurrency in 2015, and donors have contributed $106 million since then.

It’s also been two years since the Pineapple Fund was created by an anonymous donor, Pine, as an experiment in cryptocurrency philanthropy. Pine donated 5104 bitcoins, at a value of $55 million, to 60 charities. Their generosity and role in cryptocurrency giving should not be forgotten.

As cryptocurrency donations continue to grow, more nonprofits across sectors — financial inclusion, environment, education, health, human rights, open-source software, democracy and governance — now accept donations in cryptocurrency.

With Donate in Crypto, I want to raise awareness of the benefits of cryptocurrency giving and showcase the innovative nonprofits that embrace this transformative technology.

I also hope this project can help ongoing efforts and change the narrative that the use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are only for illicit activities.

The benefits of accepting cryptocurrency donations for nonprofits

More nonprofits are beginning to accept donations in cryptocurrency. The potential benefits include:

• Lower transaction fees, faster processing times and payment transparency. Cryptocurrency donations have lower transaction fees than traditional payment methods. This means more funds can be used for aid. Donations can also be traced from donor to recipient.
• A new source of funding. Cryptocurrencies unlock a new community of donors and give a new generation of supporters the opportunity to help people in need. In a survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Blockchain Capital:

Younger demographics are leading in terms of Bitcoin awareness, familiarity, perception, conviction, propensity to purchase, and ownership rates.

• Marketing and brand awareness. A nonprofit can position itself as innovative and forward-thinking by accepting donations in crypto, and help increase transparency and trust in philanthropy.
• Access to global funding. In crypto, there are no geographic borders. Anyone, anywhere in the world can donate cryptocurrency to support the causes they care about. Crypto also helps nonprofits move money more easily across borders, and in time-sensitive missions, crypto offers faster transfer times than traditional methods.
• Easy to use platforms. There are several platforms that nonprofits can use to accept cryptocurrency donations. The most popular platforms are BitPay, Coinbase Commerce and The Giving Block.

Amy Pirozzolo, Fidelity Charitable:

It is one of the fastest growing assets that we are seeing wanting to be contributed to charity. Many people who own bitcoin or other forms of cryptocurrency do want to be philanthropic.

Stevan W. Gibson, Lupus Foundation of America:

We recognize the benefit of accepting cryptocurrency and the groundbreaking nature of blockchain technology. With this new capability, we are also looking forward to expanding into accepting more cryptocurrencies as well as how we can leverage blockchain to elevate our impact as we see more individuals and organizations using this technology.

Royal National Lifeboat Institution:

Bitcoin is an innovative new kind of currency and we believe that accepting Bitcoin will result in donations we may not otherwise receive, as well as connecting us with new types of supporters.

Ettore Rossetti, Save the Children USA:

We hope that accepting bitcoin demonstrates our willingness to innovate and evolve in order to stay contemporary and to inspire new donors to donate to us who may never had done so before.

Trevor Timm, Freedom of the Press Foundation:

If cryptocurrencies can lead to more awareness about anti-censorship, and also make it easier for potential supporters to support non-profits like Freedom of the Press Foundation, then I hope many other similar organizations follow suit in the coming months and years.

In addition to the benefits of accepting donations in crypto, the use of blockchain, the technology that enables the existence of cryptocurrency, has the potential to transform charitable giving and aid distribution.

In the report, Blockchain for Social Impact: Moving Beyond the Hype, the authors conclude:

While Blockchain is unlikely to completely disrupt philanthropy and aid in the short term, the potential for it to do so in the long term is very promising. As the existing organizations and initiatives mature and new pilot projects enter the field, blockchain will continue to help drive innovation and transparency in the sector and open up new possibilities for funding models. Over time this could lead to enhanced trust in nonprofits and new mechanisms for giving that result in an increase in funds raised and significant impact on the lives of individual beneficiaries.

The benefits of donating cryptocurrency to nonprofits

As a donor, there are several potential benefits when you donate in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to a nonprofit. These include:

• Maximize your impact. Give crypto directly to a nonprofit, and more of your donation can go to the causes you care about as transaction fees are lower than traditional payment methods, such as by credit card or Paypal.
• Donate more, pay less in taxes. In the United States, and many other jurisdictions, cryptocurrency donations are treated as property. This means they are not subject to capital gains tax and are tax deductible.
• Donate anonymously. Most nonprofits offer you the ability to donate crypto anonymously. Support the causes you care about and maintain your privacy. The Pineapple Fund donated more than $55 million worth of bitcoin to charities anonymously.
• Donate across borders. Anyone, anywhere in the world can donate crypto to support the causes they care about. Nonprofits accept donations in bitcoin and other digital currencies.
• Encourage adoption and transparency. When you donate in crypto, you help promote transparent giving and encourage wider adoption as nonprofits share the benefits of cryptocurrency with their supporters. Most nonprofits have a dedicated page on their website where they educate their supporters on cryptocurrencies and the benefits of cryptocurrency giving.

Donate in Crypto: Key findings

As more nonprofits now accept cryptocurrency donations, I’d like to share some observations about the organizations that I have featured on Donate in Crypto.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies

All nonprofits accept donations in bitcoin.

After bitcoin, ether is the most accepted cryptocurrency followed by Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin.

22% of nonprofits only accept bitcoin while 78% accept multiple cryptocurrencies. The most popular include bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and ether. Zcash followed by Monero are the most accepted privacy cryptocurrencies.

Most nonprofits also use bitcoin as a marketing term. You will often see Donate with bitcoin rather than Donate with cryptocurrency on their dedicated crypto donation page even though they accept multiple cryptocurrencies.

Ease of donating in cryptocurrency

Few nonprofits have integrated the ability to accept cryptocurrency donations into their standard donation pages.

Instead, you will often find the option to donate in cryptocurrency under the headings Other Ways To Give, Frequently Asked Questions or Get Involved.

Unfortunately, this means you may need to spend a few minutes navigating a nonprofit’s website to find out if they accept donations in cryptocurrency.

Crypto payment providers

Most nonprofits use a third party platform to accept cryptocurrency donations. The most popular platforms include BitPay, Coinbase Commerce and The Giving Block. Some nonprofits provide wallet addresses for each currency they support while a few require that you contact them if you want to donate in crypto.

From cryptocurrency to cash

Nearly all nonprofits do not hold cryptocurrencies. Through their payment providers, they immediately convert donated cryptocurrencies into fiat money.

One notable exception is GiveCrypto. GiveCrypto is a nonprofit that distributes cryptocurrency to people living in poverty.

UNICEF have also announced that it will be able to receive, hold and disburse donations of cryptocurrencies ether and bitcoin, through its newly-established UNICEF Cryptocurrency Fund.

Globally recognized nonprofits

Many of the nonprofits that accept donations in cryptocurrency are well-established organizations that are globally recognized. A few examples include the American Red Cross, Greenpeace, Save the Children, Human Rights Foundation, and the Wikimedia Foundation.

Feature: 5 nonprofits that accept donations in cryptocurrency

I’d like to take this opportunity to showcase some of the nonprofits that accept donations in cryptocurrency, and the important work that they do.

Thorn

“Every new platform and new technology could enable an abuser. It can also be our best weapon against them. We are dedicated to ending child sex trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children. And we won’t stop until every child, can just be a kid.”

Team Rubicon

“Team Rubicon is a 501©3 nonprofit that utilizes the skills and experiences of military veterans with first responders to rapidly deploy emergency response teams. Founded in 2010, Team Rubicon has deployed across the United States and around the world to provide immediate relief to those impacted by disasters and humanitarian crises.”

Electronic Frontier Foundation

“The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF champions user privacy, free expression, and innovation through impact litigation, policy analysis, grassroots activism, and technology development.”

GiveCrypto

“GiveCrypto’s mission is to financially empower people by distributing cryptocurrency. We’re dedicated to helping people in developing countries gain more control over their economic circumstances. We believe a combination of crypto and an approach rooted in experimenting, iterating, and learning is the way to do it.”

Khan Academy

“Our mission is to provide a free, world‑class education for anyone, anywhere. Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. We tackle math, science, computer programming, history, art history, economics, and more.”

Get in touch if you’d like to add your nonprofit to Donate in Crypto, and get your organization in front of the crypto community.

Get involved

In addition to giving the gift of crypto, there are many ways that you can get involved and support the causes you care about.

• Take action and use your time and talent to create change.
• Encourage the nonprofits you support to accept cryptocurrency. Several nonprofits, such as Charity Navigator, began to accept donations in crypto due to requests from their community.
• Share this article and Donate in Crypto to help raise awareness about cryptocurrency giving.

It may be too early to tell how prolific the growth and adoption of blockchain applications for social impact will be, but our initial catalog and analysis showed that beyond the hype, potentially transformative blockchain applications for social impact are already emerging.

— Blockchain for Social Impact: Moving Beyond the Hype

While it’s still early days, I’m excited about cryptocurrency and what’s possible as more talented people of all demographics and backgrounds from around the world join forces and leave their mark on this space.

This article is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be, and should not be construed as legal or tax advice. Please consult a tax advisor about the legal or tax consequences of donating in cryptocurrency.

Originally published at Cryptocurrency Jobs.

The demand for blockchain talent is still strong. Despite the bear market and recent industry layoffs, the number of blockchain job postings have been on the rise, and searches for roles involving Bitcoin, Ethereum, blockchain and cryptocurrency have increased.

Startups are offering top compensation packages, in particular for blockchain developers, as they compete for talent in an industry where supply is limited. The demand for blockchain talent has also grown as established companies, such as Amazon, Facebook and IBM, launch new teams to work on blockchain technology, and explore blockchain use cases.

Blockchain salaries have risen to be among the highest in the tech industry.

Key Findings

We looked at all the blockchain jobs that have been listed on Cryptocurrency Jobs to estimate the average base salary for technical and non-technical roles in the blockchain industry across Asia, Canada, Europe, and the U.S. We created a separate category for remote blockchain jobs.

We excluded salary data points that were either a lot lower or higher than expected. All average base salaries are listed in U.S. dollars. These estimates do not factor in variable compensation, such as equity, signing bonus or any perks a company may offer.

The data also showed that the highest paid salaries are found in New York and San Francisco. This is also where the majority of blockchain jobs are found.

The Big Picture: Blockchain Developer Salaries

How much does a blockchain developer make?

• The average base salary for a blockchain developer in Asia is $87,500 per year, with a low base salary of $60,000 and a high base salary of $120,000.
• The average base salary for a blockchain developer in Europe is $73,300 per year, with a low base salary of $55,000 and a high base salary of $91,000.
• The average base salary for a blockchain developer in the U.S. is $136,000 per year, with a low base salary of $70,000 and a high base salary of $200,000.
• The average base salary for a remote blockchain developer is $123,750 per year, with a low base salary of $70,000 and a high base salary of $200,000.

You can explore salary ranges for all job titles listed in this article by clicking here.

Transparency in the Blockchain Industry

We have provided these salary estimates to help you know your worth so you can make more informed career decisions. But this is also an initiative to bring transparency into the blockchain industry and help create pay equity in the workplace.

The dataset used to estimate average base salaries is limited, but this starts the conversation. If you would like to contribute, you can share your salary anonymously by filling out this form.

As the dataset grows, more job roles will be added. Salary estimates will also be updated regularly.

These salary estimates are estimates, and are presented as such. Please use these estimates for informational purposes only as the dataset is limited. We do not guarantee the accuracy of these estimates.

How Much Do Blockchain Jobs Pay? was originally published in HackerNoon.com on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Last year on NODESK, I featured 448 articles on digital nomads and remote work, as well as the occasional offbeat piece. These were the favourites as measured by a combination of what the NODESK audience most enjoyed reading and sharing, and which stories I found most interesting.

Much of 2018 was about the digital nomad lifestyle going mainstream and the rise of remote work and fully distributed teams, a direct response to the modern workplace.

We’re squandering human health and potential on an epic scale by forcing the vast majority of people who dislike or hate the open office into that configuration. Their work deteriorates, their job satisfaction declines. And for what? Because a minority of people kinda like that configuration? Because it’ll look good in a few photos? Because it’ll impress strangers who visit the office? Get outta here.

— DHH

There were personal stories written by digital nomads about their lifestyle and the benefits of remote work. Take, for example, Charles Patterson’s account on how working remote was the best decision they’ve made.

Designing remotely — The best decision I’ve made in my life

Another interesting read was Felix Krause decision to go nomad and reduce his belongings to one suitcase, one carry-on bag and a backpack. Felix followed up with a one year review, and concluded:

Today one year ago I decided to get rid of my belongings and live out of a suitcase. It started as an experiment I didn’t expect to be doing for long. However after 365 days without a permanent home, I have no intentions on changing my current setup.

With all these newly minted adventure-seeking digital nomads in foreign lands, came novel problems, such as how do you use a squat toilet.

OK we're all adults here, so really, how on earth should I use a squat toilet?

Beyond digital nomads, there were articles written on some of the most innovative and leading companies with distributed teams, such as GitLab and InVision.

• GitLab's Secret to Multi-Million-Dollar Success: All 350 Employees Work Remotely
• This Software Company Has a $1 Billion Valuation, 800 Employees, and Zero Offices

GitLab and InVision are prime examples that remote work works at scale. But there are many pitfalls with working remotely, and too often the idea of remote work gets blamed when a company fails with its implementation. Fortunately, Andreas Klinger put together a crash course on how to manage remote teams.

Managing Remote Teams - A Crash Course

With the rise of remote work, the issue for job seekers has been on how to find a remote job — the NODESK remote job board was the most visited section this year — but also on how to land a remote job when you’re competing alongside hundreds, or even thousands of applicants from across the world.

Alexis Ohanian Sr. 🚀 on Twitter

Remote work is the future of work.

Andrew Gobran’s article sums up the biggest mistakes to avoid when applying for a remote job with advice from hiring experts at Doist, Buffer, InVision, Toggl and Timely.

The Biggest Mistakes to Avoid When Applying For a Remote Job

For job seekers, it has not only been about finding a remote job, but also on how to pick a career and make the right career decisions which Wait But Why writes about in this long-form article.

How to Pick a Career (That Actually Fits You) - Wait But Why

Stories about the positive aspects of being a digital nomad and working remotely were plentiful in 2018. But with the increase in attention on nomads, emerged personal accounts about the darker side of the lifestyle. These were the most powerful stories of 2018 and I hope aspiring nomads will learn from them.

Amir Salihefendic shared his personal story about isolation, anxiety, and depression in the remote workplace. A must read.

What Most Remote Companies Don’t Tell You About Remote Work

And Martin De Wulf writes that despite the benefits of working remotely, it was stressful and took a toll on their mental health as well as on relationships.

The Stress of Remote Working

There was also the question of whether working remotely or being a digital nomad can harm your career, and the impact digital nomads have on communities at home and abroad, as Paris Marx discusses in Digital Nomads Are Not the Future.

Digital Nomads Are Not the Future

Building on these themes, I have found there are two kinds of digital nomad. There are those who are coming to something, and those who are getting away from something. The former seek to satisfy their spirit of adventure, while the latter seek to create a better life for themselves. Both kinds of digital nomad may experience hardships with the lifestyle, but the latter group should take note, as More To That points out, travel is not a cure for discontentment of the mind.

Travel Is No Cure for the Mind

The point of all these stories is this: being a digital nomad or working remotely is not without its difficulties. As with everything in life, when you pray for rain, you gotta deal with the mud too. That’s a part of it.

The Equalizer on Twitter

When you pray for rain you gotta deal with the mud, too!" #TheEqualizer

One of the favourite offbeat pieces featured on NODESK was Naval Ravikant’s Twitter thread on how to get rich (without getting lucky).

Naval on Twitter

How to Get Rich (without getting lucky):

And lastly, this piece, The Last Curious Man, on the enormous life of Anthony Bourdain was a must read.

The Enormous Life of Anthony Bourdain, According to Those Who Knew Him Best

I’m sure I’ve missed a few things, but if you’re curious to learn more about digital nomads and remote work, all 448 articles featured in 2018 including previous years can be viewed here.

You can also subscribe to the NODESK Newsletter and have the best of NODESK delivered straight to your inbox every two weeks.

If you’re looking for a new opportunity this year, I curate the best new remote jobs at leading companies and startups that offer you the freedom to work remotely from home or places around the world on the NODESK job board. You can also visit Cryptocurrency Jobs for remote jobs in the blockchain and crypto space.

Please let me know if you have any feature requests, suggestions or general feedback by reaching out via email or on Twitter. My DMs are always open. Let me know how I can assist you as a digital nomad, remote worker or in your search for a remote job.

Best wishes for 2019. I hope you’re only a few days away from your next adventure!

The Best Digital Nomad and Remote Work Reads was originally published in HackerNoon.com on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

1/ Blockchain and crypto jobs are in great demand despite prices being down from their all time highs. Demand is actually growing. This seems to indicate that people are interested in the technology and ecosystem, not just prices.

2/ Since launch, Cryptocurrency Jobs has featured over 1100 blockchain and cryptocurrency jobs at 400+ companies and startups across 100+ cities and 50+ countries.

3/ Jobs distributed across roles:

• Customer support: 8%
• Design: 6%
• Engineering: 47%
• Marketing: 10.5%
• Operations: 12%
• Other (finance, product): 11%
• Sales: 5.5%

4/ Most popular technical roles:

Blockchain Engineer, dApp and Smart Contracts Developer, Protocol Engineer, Solidity Developer and similar.

These roles are usually the most difficult to fill due to limited supply. If you’re a developer or engineer, you’re in high demand.

5/ Most popular non-technical roles:

Customer Support and Community Manager roles.

The rise of the Community Manager is interesting. Applicants sometimes misunderstand the nature of the role, and view it as an entry-level social media type job. Equally some companies seem to make the Community Manager a catch-all job title for multiple responsibilities and the role loses value.

Spencer Noon 🕛 on Twitter

I believe community is the most important characteristic of any cryptocurrency and most projects are underestimating the importance of community." 👏🏼👏🏼 https://t.co/89BFe2gxZ4

6/ Top cities for blockchain and cryptocurrency jobs:

1. San Francisco
2. New York
3. London
4. Berlin
5. Boston
6. Toronto
7. Tel Aviv
8. Hong Kong
9. Singapore
10. Los Angeles

7/ Cryptocurrency Jobs has had visitors from 6560 cities and 185 countries.

8/ Despite all the talk about decentralisation, only about 25% of jobs offer the option to work remotely. This is better than I have seen across other tech sectors, but I hope we see more companies transition to remote work in the future. Remote jobs are in very high demand.

9/ A quick detour of why you should consider remote work:

• Access to talent outside tech hubs
• Increase diversity
• Improve work-life balance
• Improve productivity
• Decrease operating costs

10/ Remote work works. Have a look at Basecamp, InVision, Buffer, Doist etc. In crypto, there’s Kraken, Status, Aragon, Zeppelin, ConsenSys, Origin and many others.

11/ Two common misconceptions that need to be corrected.

1. You don’t need to be a developer to work in the space. 35% of jobs on Cryptocurrency Jobs are non-technical.
2. You also don’t need to have prior blockchain and crypto work experience.

12/ As Taylor Monahan wrote, The Decentralized Future is People.

The Decentralized Future is People

And that includes writers, marketers, lawyers, economists, community managers as well as developers. This industry is for everyone.

13/ Although some companies require n years of crypto experience, many are more interested in your prior work experience and that you are passionate about working in the space. This is true across roles.

14/ How do you find a blockchain job?

Apart from applying directly to a job listing there are a few alternatives.

1. Contribute to a project

This is how Tyler Yasaka was hired by Origin.

Top Open-Source Contributor Joins Full-Time: Welcome Tyler Yasaka

2. Volunteer

Several Messari community analysts have been hired by great teams.

Dan Zuller on Twitter

Said it before & will say it again... if you are trying to get into #crypto, volunteering at @MessariCrypto is a great place to start. Join the movement! https://t.co/kot5MglUyi

3. Build

Austin Thomas Griffith recently started working on crypto full-time after a year of building products on Ethereum in his spare time. Here’s Austin’s story on how he got his big break.

My Big Break Into Ethereum

4. Network

Alex Felix on Twitter

Cold email pitches are not needed in crypto. There are so many ways to network virtually (slack, twitter, reddit, telegram, etc) or in person at events and meetups.

5. Write

6. Cold-email

15/ A note to hiring companies.

There are too few entry-level and internship roles available. With the rise of crypto in higher education, there is a growing applicant pool of young, creative and talented individuals. Open your doors and you will be rewarded.

16/ Let’s talk diversity.

Given that Bitcoin aims to challenge some of the most powerful institutions in our society, perhaps we should also challenge the way we hire and build teams. Wouldn’t it be great if the startups and companies building this new future were equal and diverse?

A great starting point is to review your job descriptions. Read through this thread to learn how you can make them more inclusive.

Consider reaching out to groups such as CryptoChicks, Diversity in Blockchain, she256, Women in Blockchain etc.

17/ As a side note, here’s a great list of women speakers for blockchain/crypto events.

18/ Lastly, thank you.

Thank you for supporting Cryptocurrency Jobs, in particular all the startups and companies that have worked with us.

If you’re looking to hire, we’re here to help!

Cryptocurrency Jobs on Twitter

👨‍💻 Learned to code 🏗️ Made a few web apps 📗 Took the Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency Technologies course on Coursera 🚀 Made Cryptocurrency Jobs to help you find opportunities at startups that use blockchain technology Check it out on @ProductHunt: https://t.co/KXLPNKW8gq

Follow Cryptocurrency Jobs on Twitter and subscribe to our newsletter for job updates.

If you enjoyed this post, please click the 👏 a few times so other people can see it too.

State of the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Job Market in 2018 was originally published in HackerNoon.com on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

This is the second part in a two-part series. You can read the first part here.

A year has now passed since I learned to code.

My goal was never to transition into a developer, but to acquire a skill-set that would enable me to understand code and actualise my ideas. It has been as much a process of demystifying technology — “How does that work? Is it difficult to build something like this? What technology do I need to do that?” — as learning how to learn.

The process of learning to code has been challenging, and at times self-defeating, but it was never a burden or felt like a chore. Instead I have thoroughly enjoyed the logic and problem solving involved. I think this is key, there needs to be something that intrigues you about the learning process and the subject matter to overcome the inevitable challenges you will encounter. In particular, when you transition from online tutorials that are excellent introductions to code that help you at each step, to facing a blank screen as you start working on your idea without any ‘get a hint’ button to guide you. You end up feeling like:

The only certainty is that I was a foundling abandoned in the middle of the ocean. My earliest memory is of being afloat in rough seas, naked and alone in a walnut shell, for at first I was very, very small. — The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers

But what happens if you stick with it and you make it over to the other side? Everything changes. Code becomes fun and things start to make more sense. Documentation becomes more accessible and you begin to understand your limitations so you can set more realistic goals. You develop a keener sense of how to solve a problem and are no longer, at least most of the time, applying brute force, just randomly changing stuff in your code or copy-pasting code hoping that something might work. Instead, you rely on your problem solving abilities to figure out what’s going on. But the best part is the realisation that you can now create and actualise your ideas.

I launched my first web app, 972VC — mapping the Israeli startup funding ecosystem, about a year ago and it is still actively maintained. Since launch, I have redesigned the website, added over 200 companies to the database and improved the search functionality, added a section for Israeli startups that seek funding, and on the back-end, I have rewritten most of the code.

972VC has had 5,000+ unique visitors from 120 countries with an average session duration of 03:46 minutes and a bounce rate of 46%. Since September, 972VC has averaged 580 unique visitors per month. Most visitors visit 972VC through a direct link or search engine.

These are not stats that will make your day, but on a positive note, 972VC is now ranked on the first page of Google for the following searches: accelerators Israel; incubators Israel; coworking Israel; private equity Israel; startup communities Israel; tech for good Israel; angel investor groups Israel; crowdfunding platforms Israel; venture debt Israel; and venture builders Israel. You will also find 972VC on page 3 for searches of foreign investors Israel and venture capital Israel on page 5.

But the bottom line is that 972VC is not profitable, and has not garnered any media attention, any mentions by influencers or been featured on the sites that matter. So is this project a write off? Was it a complete failure and waste of time? The answer is a resounding no. I built 972VC to learn code, which I have, and it has also contributed to showcasing the amazing Israeli startup ecosystem to a global audience as well as helped entrepreneurs in search of funding. It has also led me to write an article on how I learned to code which has inspired others. And that’s pretty cool if you ask me. Right?

Hi Daniel, I love this read. I’ve have been thinking about learning to code for many years but keep putting it off. I too had a tech idea as a non techie and went down the out source path. I had many false starts and wasted $1000’s of dollars. Yes $1000’s. Probably spent $15k-$20K USD before I found the right guys. It was a hard lesson to learn. I would still prefer to be able to code but I finally think I am on the right track. However, your article has inspired me to have another look in to learning to code. — Rod Clarke

972VC also did something else, it made me want to continue creating. And in July, I decided it was time to build another side-project.

As I have become increasingly interested in how life and work are changing — the impact of technology, the growth of the gig economy and rise of the freelancer, health and mismatch diseases — this was something I wanted to look at more closely. I enjoy research and content curation, so my idea was to build a curated collection of resources along those themes. I wanted to keep things simple and create something more lightweight than 972VC, which took 3 months to build so I decided to use Hugo, a static website engine created by Steve Francia.

Two weeks later on Monday, 20 July, NoDesk — a curated collection of resources for digital nomads, freelancers and remote workers, was built and online. The site averaged around 20 visitors a day, nothing spectacular, but it did receive 600+ visitors from Reddit at the end of July after someone posted a link to the site, and this raised the daily average to 50 visitors a day. I was pleased with these stats as I had done no outreach or marketing; all traffic was occurring organically and there were even returning visitors. My sole focus was on curating high quality articles and resources.

Then something happened on Wednesday 5 August. I woke up and saw Google Analytics showing what I assumed to be incorrect traffic data for NoDesk. I refreshed the page a few times and looked at the acquisition data, but it was all legitimate referral traffic. Charlie Irish had hunted NoDesk and posted it on Product Hunt.

Here’s the data following the NoDesk feature on Product Hunt.

The truth is that posting NoDesk on Product Hunt had never crossed my mind. And it is not because I was unaware of the platform, rather I did not think the fit was right, that my site was good enough. NoDesk was something I just built for fun during a two-week period and hoped others might find it useful.

But then something else happened which was even more awesome; NoDesk resonated with the Product Hunt community and was featured in the Daily Top 10.

“It’s like a better Google for nomads entrepreneurs — that’s awesome! I love how it goes from articles and blogs to chat groups and coworking places.” — Rutger Teunissen

And as the day came to a close, Product Hunt offered one last gift.

Since NoDesk has been featured on Product Hunt it has also been picked up by global media outlets and bloggers, and even more importantly a dedicated community has grown around the site.

I don’t know who you are, but thank you for NoDesk! It’s an awesome resource, just what I needed as I’m stepping up as a freelancer in Guatemala. — Daniela M.

Love your curated articles. — Aaron R.

I use NoDesk as a go-to resource whenever someone wants to get into remote work. I always send them to NoDesk first. — Rachel Andrea Go

NoDesk is still going strong. During September to November, there were 17,000+ unique visitors from 138 countries, with an average duration of 02:43 and a bounce rate of 43%.

I actively maintain the site — I usually post 3–5 new articles a day — and I have created several new sections, including a remote jobs board, and a newsletter due to interest from visitors. NoDesk is also profitable and I have had the privilege to have worked with some great sponsors such as Code School.

The truth is that Product Hunt has done much more for NoDesk than traffic, it has been a stamp of approval and paved the way for the site to get noticed and picked up by media. An interesting question is, would NoDesk have been as successful without Product Hunt? Probably not. Does this matter? No, as I built NoDesk for fun and to learn. But it goes without saying that being featured on Product Hunt has been a morale booster and validated that I’m building stuff that others also enjoy.

Although I shared several lessons learned in my previous article which still hold true, I want to take this opportunity to highlight a few things that have especially helped me learn code and launch my ideas as well as dispel a few myths.

Don’t learn code if you’re just not into it

I enjoy code and building for the intellectual challenge, but it also provides a creative outlet from all the daily paperwork. In fact, after I launched NoDesk, I spent a weekend coding and designing an old blog that I had created on a microblogging platform, just because now I could and I wanted to make it my own. So if you’re just not into code, but still want to actualise your ideas, there are alternatives that do not require you to start from scratch, such as Squarespace, Wix and many others. And remember learning to code is hard and just isn’t for everyone, which is fine. At present, I am certainly not skilled enough to be a full-time developer, but that is not my goal. I’ve just acquired a particular set of skills that let me hack things together and build simple apps.

“I don’t have any friends that can help, a large network to promote my app, I’ve never done it before so there’s no point, it’s too hard…”

Often when you’re starting out, learning to code can feel futile, like there’s no point putting yourself through all that trouble for an app that you may never end up building. But if you really want to learn code then there really are no excuses. And this applies to most things in life. Sometimes you just need to embrace the suck, dig deep and follow through to make things happen. 972VC and NoDesk are perfect examples that you can build an app, and yes that includes the code, design, content and everything in between, by yourself with no outside help and reach a global audience.

Take full advantage of the amazing online (and free) resources that are available.

A ‘dirty hands’ approach to learning

The best way I have found to learn code and new technologies is with a ‘dirty hands’ approach. If doing lots of tutorials and reading books cover to cover, basically a more theoretical approach to learning, works for you, awesome. But if it doesn’t, than it’s time to try something different and use those other resources at a later stage.

…what we would term the ‘dirty hands’ approach to learning, just like you did when you took apart your bicycle when you were a kid, or your dad’s lawnmower or his radio. One of the best ways to learn as an engineer, or in anything, is to take it apart, study it, ask questions. – Tom Williams, director of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center’s Propulsion Systems Department, on how NASA brought the monstrous F-1 “moon rocket” engine back to life

So what does this all mean? Say you have just copy-pasted some code into your project and it does what it’s supposed to, but you have no idea how it works and why. Using a ‘dirty hands’ approach to learning, start taking the code apart line by line, delete something, see what happens, add something, see what happens and repeat. It’s time well spent to learn how things work, and, hey, if it’s good enough for NASA…

Launch quickly, keep it simple and add features incrementally

I have found that launching quickly, and adding features and making improvements as I go along has been the best approach. It would be awesome to launch a project with pixel perfection and beautifully written code, but the reality is that then 972VC and NoDesk would never have seen the light of day. As long as your app functions well enough it’s good to go. It’s better to get user feedback and be responsive. As an example, this is what 972VC looked like when I first launched.

Perhaps this was too early as it was brushed off immediately by many because of its appearance even though the functionality was similar to the current version. I’ve rewritten most of the code for 972VC on the back-end, which no one has noticed, but the new design has been appreciated. So a lesson learned is that design is king. You can get away with bad code, but not bad design.

Lastly, keep things simple. Figure out if you really need to automate everything or if you can get away with doing things manually to save time and focus on more important issues. 972VC still does not have a content management system; the entire database is handled manually by loading a CSV file.

And when all else fails, build for fun.

If you enjoyed this story, please click the 👏 a few times so other people can see it too.

As a non-technical founder, you can easily persuade yourself that your knowledge is the core product and technology is only a vehicle, and thus can be outsourced. Unfortunately, this reasoning will more often than not create an undesired outcome — months of interviewing software development houses, lots of paperwork, high costs, undiversifiable risk, unforeseen delays and quality control issues, and a working relationship where you are dependent on the availability and goodwill of your developer until you find someone else to takeover. And in the end, you may end up with nothing or a product that’s not what you envisioned, and as you failed as a result of your reliance on others, and not on your own accord, it makes it even worse.

In September 2014, I decided to teach myself Ruby on Rails and create a web application. I had a simple idea, to map out the entire Israeli funding ecosystem to help startups find potential funding and promote the Startup Nation. I focused on three things:

1. Israeli investors and investors with a representative based in Israel;
2. Completeness of data; and
3. Search granularity to allow startups to find investors that match their location, industry, market and/or investment stage. For example, find venture capital companies in Tel Aviv that invest in early stage cyber security startups.

I created a spreadsheet and designed the schema: column headings (e.g. name, location, investment stage) and attributes (e.g. seed, early stage). I then began to curate the data and populate the spreadsheet, constantly refining the schema to keep it minimal and relevant. By the end of September, I had curated data for 250+ companies. I had intentionally begun with the data instead of learning how to code primarily because that way if I failed to build the app, I could at least open source the spreadsheet and provide a meaningful contribution to the startup community.

Now, it was time to learn how to code.

Step 1: HTML and CSS

I spent a weekend going through Codecademy’s tutorials on HTML and CSS. These exercises allow you to develop a basic understanding and quickly learn how to create layouts and style a web document. The objective is to understand what you can do with HTML and CSS, and get a feel for the syntax. Do not spend too much time on these tutorials.

Step 2: Command line interface

I began to familiarise myself with the command line interface on my computer (Terminal on a Mac). I learned a few basic commands: how to create directories; move, delete and rename files; navigate from one directory to another. The objective here is to demystify the command line interface and use it on a daily basis so that you’re comfortable with the tool once you start coding.

Step 3: Learn a programming language

There are several articles and in-depth forum posts that discuss which programming language you should learn and why. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you which language to learn, except that it probably doesn’t matter. If you choose to learn PHP or Ruby, that’s fine, or if you want to learn Swift or Objective-C to create iPhone apps, that’s fine too. Don’t spend time trying to find the optimal language for your project as most languages will do. Instead, focus on what you want to build in order to narrow down your options, review the syntax, read some material and start learning the language that resonates most with you. My only suggestion is that you select a language that has a sizeable online community and robust learning material. If you have a developer friend, seek their advice and listen.

I chose Ruby and spent a few days learning on Codecademy. These tutorials are nice and easy, and provide a good introduction to the language. You will even notice that with no prior knowledge, you will still be able to understand some of the language. Your objective should be on application and understanding rather than memorising syntax. For instance, you will learn different ways to create loops, but focus on why you may want to create a loop in the first place. The list of companies you see on the 972VC homepage pass through a loop. Again, think about application.

Step 4: Set up your coding environment

I found this to be the hardest step; it took several attempts over a weekend to get it right. I recommend you backup your hard drive as you might unintentionally remove system files or mess something up when installing the technologies you need for your project. I also suggest you install Homebrew, a software package management system, which will make installation easier if you’re on a Mac. This is where you’ll likely need a helping hand the most, so be sure to reach out if you have a developer friend or perhaps attend a Meetup.

You’ll also need to download a code editor. Choose the tool your friend uses or pick the editor you prefer.

Step 5: Learn Rails

After I set up my coding environment, I spent the next few days on the Blogger tutorial by Jumpstart Lab, which teaches the four basic functions — create, read, update and destroy (CRUD) — that you need to build a simple Ruby on Rails app.

The objective is similar to the other tutorials — focus on application and understanding, not on memorising syntax. Consider if you created any functionality during the tutorial that you can use for your project. It’s also important that you accept that it will take time before you understand what you’re doing during these tutorials. Just go with the flow and embrace uncertainty. Don’t get discouraged and give up.

Step 6: Start building your application

At this point, you’ve learned the basics: HTML, CSS and the language of your choice. You will also have familiarised yourself with the command line interface and set up your coding environment.

In October, I started working on 972VC by myself after I had completed the above tutorials and by the end of November, the app was live.

Lessons Learned

Learn how to search

During the first few days of development, I was unable to perform even the most basic tasks; in fact, I ended up spending more time on Google than coding. The same will happen to you, which is why you shouldn’t spend your time memorising syntax. Learn how to search effectively and be resourceful as this will be your most important skill.

Lean startup principles

You’re at a distinct advantage compared to an experienced developer. Since you have no coding knowledge or experience, you will need to strip your app idea down to its bare necessities. Focus on the core of your product and simplify wherever possible.

No strain, no gain

Don’t rely on others to develop your app for you.

You need to be persistent and tenacious. If you’re a non-techie, learning to code requires a different mindset than you’re used to, so of course it will be difficult. But by tinkering with a problem for several hours, you will gradually start to understand how everything (sort of) works. This will be the most valuable lesson during development. As your learning progresses, you will no longer be content with the first solution you find — you will start to look for better ways to solve your coding problems.

Stack Overflow

Stack Overflow is an online community and one of the best resources there is when you’re learning to code. Ask lots of questions, but don’t expect others to solve every problem. In order to advance your learning, you should be revisiting the issues you’re experiencing even if you’ve posted these on Stack Overflow. You might even end up answering some of your own questions and contributing to the community.

Coding is like a jigsaw puzzle

At a basic level, you can think of coding as an interactive jigsaw puzzle. Break your idea down into smaller manageable pieces that can be put together to build the app.

Tutorials

Don’t spend weeks or months ploughing through books, tutorials and screencasts. Instead, focus on understanding the programming language and the developer mindset, and learn by doing. This is why it’s important that from the start you have a clear idea of what you want to build. Use tutorials, blogs and other resources when you need to learn how to do something specific. And be sure to check out and learn from open source projects as well.

Open source

Open source can be the most wonderful discovery for non-techies learning to code as the functionality you seek has probably been open sourced so you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. If you need a content management system, you can find robust open source software that is freely available.

Consequently, you will often be engaged in a ‘dirty hands approach’ to learning: you’ll find code that solves your problem, try and get it to work in your app, and then take it apart, ask questions, and modify the code to your purpose.

Code daily and deploy frequently

Try to work on your app on a daily basis, even if it’s only for a few minutes, especially in the beginning of your project as it’s important to become comfortable with your coding environment. Don’t worry about best practices and conventions. In the beginning that’s just noise, but you’ll want to learn those principles as you progress.

I’d also suggest that you deploy your app on Heroku, AWS or another hosting service as soon as possible in order to avoid future issues. Deploying frequently will save you time when you’re finally prepared to launch your app.

Technologies

Be prepared to learn multiple technologies as it will (probably) not be enough to learn only a programming language in order to build your app. You might end up using technologies such as Git, Heroku, JavaScript and PostgreSQL.

Celebrate small victories

Learning how to code is hard and it’s even harder if you’re doing it by yourself. Therefore, you need to consider each step forward, regardless of how small, as a legitimate success.

Should you learn how to code even if you don’t want to be a developer?

By following the steps above and adapting them to fit your needs, you may end up building a simple application over a few months. But, more importantly, you’ll have empowered yourself, and become a more valuable member in your workplace. You’re no longer the clueless non-technical founder or team member, but someone who understands code at a basic level and can communicate with developers and web designers. You’ll also have the ability to execute your own ideas without spending large sums on outsourcing. In the case of 972VC, the total cost to build and launch the app was $9 (a RailsCasts pro subscription) plus the domain. Furthermore, if you then choose to outsource the technology to build an MVP, you’ll be in a stronger position to negotiate and oversee development.

And if you decide to take your MVP and go big (i.e., the do-it-yourself approach), you’ll learn all the different roles of a startup: how to incorporate a company, accounting, sales and marketing, engineering, UX/UI design, product management, business development and administration.

Today: 972VC

Since I launched 972VC, it has become one of the most comprehensive resources for Israeli startups that seek funding in relation to private equity and venture capital, and accelerator and incubator programmes. In addition, it offers information on angel investor groups, crowdfunding platforms, coworking spaces and nonprofits that embrace ‘Technology for Good’ and help startups and entrepreneurs that focus on social technology.

If you’re part of the Startup Nation funding ecosystem and not on 972VC, join the community!

On a side note, if you’re a startup looking for Israeli angel investors, have a look at Eden Shochat’s crowdsourced spreadsheet, and if you’re interested in the Israeli startup ecosystem, see Ben Lang’s Mapped in Israel.

Projects I’m currently working on:

• Cryptocurrency Jobs: the leading job board for blockchain and cryptocurrency jobs
• NODESK: a curated collection of resources, including a job board, for digital nomads and remote workers

Resources

I’ve compiled a list of resources to further help you on your journey to learn how to code and build your app. These are resources I either used or came across in building my app, and ultimately made 972VC possible. I hope they will be of equal benefit to you.

• Command line interface: Terminal Cheatsheet for Mac
• Installation guide: GoRails, thoughtbot
• Software package manager for OS X: Homebrew
• Code editor: Atom, Sublime Text, Vim
• Tutorials: CSS-Tricks, Code School, Codecademy, Jumpstart Lab, RailsCasts, RubyMonk, Tealeaf Academy, The Ruby on Rails Tutorial, Try Ruby, Tuts+, UT on Rails
• Ruby on Rails open source projects: Open Source Rails
• Authentication: Devise
• Autocomplete: jQuery UI, Select2, Selectize, typeahead.js
• CMS: Active Admin, RailsAdmin
• Front-end frameworks: Bootstrap, Foundation
• Full text search: Algolia, Elasticsearch, PgSearch, Solr, Thinking Sphinx
• Icons: Font Awesome
• Pagination: Kaminari, will_paginate
• Pretty URLs: FriendlyId
• Database: MongoDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL
• Forums: SitePoint, Stack Overflow
• Code editors in your browser: CodePen, JSFiddle
• JavaScript to CoffeeScript compiler: Js2coffee
• Web based office suite: Google Docs
• Ruby style guide: Community-driven Ruby coding style guide
• Version control: Git
• Repository hosting service: GitHub
• Web hosting services: AWS, Engine Yard, Heroku (Nezumi for mobile and Adminium for your database backend), OpenShift, Rackspace
• DNS and domain management: DNSimple
• Browser testing: BrowserStack
• Website security scanner: Detectify
• Load testing: Loader.io
• Analytics: Google Analytics, Segment
• Newsletter: MailChimp, TinyLetter
• Privacy policy generator: iubenda
• UI/UX tool: Sketch
• Domain generators: Domainr, NameMesh, NameRobot, Naminum, Panabee

This is the first part in a two-part series. You can read the second part here.

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How a Non-Techie Learned to Code from Scratch was originally published in The Startup on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.