Select your current position

Pick a role and level — we'll show the growth path, skills and gap analysis.

Development path

Junior

0-2 years

Current

Responsibility: Completing tasks under the guidance of senior colleagues. Learning the codebase, standards, and team processes. Writing code to spec, fixing simple bugs, writing tests.

Key skills:

Consensus Mechanisms: PoW, PoS, BFT Need
DeFi Protocols: AMM, Lending, DEX Need
Layer 2 Solutions: Rollups, Sidechains Need
Smart Contract Testing: Foundry, Hardhat Need

Middle

2-5 years

Next

Responsibility: Independently developing features from decomposition to deployment. Participating in code review. Optimizing performance. Mentoring junior developers. Taking part in architecture discussions.

Key skills:

Consensus Mechanisms: PoW, PoS, BFT Need
DeFi Protocols: AMM, Lending, DEX Need
Layer 2 Solutions: Rollups, Sidechains Need
Smart Contract Testing: Foundry, Hardhat Need

Senior

5-8 years

Responsibility: Designing the architecture of components and services. Solving complex technical problems. Managing technical debt. Code review as a quality gatekeeper. Mentoring middle developers. Choosing technologies for new tasks.

Key skills:

Blockchain Fundamentals Need
Blockchain Indexing: The Graph, Subgraph Need
Consensus Mechanisms: PoW, PoS, BFT Need
Cross-Chain Bridges Need
DeFi Protocols: AMM, Lending, DEX Need
E2E Testing Need
Ethereum Ecosystem Need
Event Sourcing Need
GraphQL Design Need
IPFS & Decentralized Storage Need
Layer 2 Solutions: Rollups, Sidechains Need
NFT Development Need
Node.js Frameworks Need
OWASP & Application Security Need
React Core Need
Smart Contract Security & Auditing Need
Smart Contract Testing: Foundry, Hardhat Need
Solidity Need
Tokenomics Design Need
Unit Testing Need
Wallet Integration: MetaMask, WalletConnect Need
Web3 Frontend: ethers.js, wagmi Need
Async Programming Need
Integration Testing Need
Threat Modeling Need
Secure Coding Practices Need
Applied Cryptography Need
OOP & SOLID Principles Need

Lead / Staff

7-12 years

Responsibility: Technical leadership of a team or area. Designing system architecture. Coordinating with other teams. Establishing standards and best practices. Participating in hiring. Planning the technical roadmap.

Key skills:

Blockchain Fundamentals Need
Blockchain Indexing: The Graph, Subgraph Need
Consensus Mechanisms: PoW, PoS, BFT Need
Cross-Chain Bridges Need
DeFi Protocols: AMM, Lending, DEX Need
E2E Testing Need
Ethereum Ecosystem Need
Event Sourcing Need
GraphQL Design Need
IPFS & Decentralized Storage Need
Layer 2 Solutions: Rollups, Sidechains Need
NFT Development Need
Node.js Frameworks Need
OWASP & Application Security Need
React Core Need
Smart Contract Security & Auditing Need
Smart Contract Testing: Foundry, Hardhat Need
Solidity Need
Tokenomics Design Need
Unit Testing Need
Wallet Integration: MetaMask, WalletConnect Need
Web3 Frontend: ethers.js, wagmi Need
Async Programming Need
Integration Testing Need
Threat Modeling Need
Secure Coding Practices Need
Applied Cryptography Need
OOP & SOLID Principles Need

Principal

10+ years

Responsibility: Technical strategy at the company or domain level. Cross-organizational influence. Solving systemic business problems through technology. Mentoring lead engineers. Publicly representing the company.

Key skills:

Blockchain Fundamentals Need
Blockchain Indexing: The Graph, Subgraph Need
Consensus Mechanisms: PoW, PoS, BFT Need
Cross-Chain Bridges Need
DeFi Protocols: AMM, Lending, DEX Need
E2E Testing Need
Ethereum Ecosystem Need
Event Sourcing Need
GraphQL Design Need
IPFS & Decentralized Storage Need
Layer 2 Solutions: Rollups, Sidechains Need
NFT Development Need
Node.js Frameworks Need
OWASP & Application Security Need
React Core Need
Smart Contract Security & Auditing Need
Smart Contract Testing: Foundry, Hardhat Need
Solidity Need
Tokenomics Design Need
Unit Testing Need
Wallet Integration: MetaMask, WalletConnect Need
Web3 Frontend: ethers.js, wagmi Need
Async Programming Need
Integration Testing Need
Threat Modeling Need
Secure Coding Practices Need
Applied Cryptography Need
OOP & SOLID Principles Need

Gap analysis: skills to develop

To reach the next level you'll need to develop:

Consensus Mechanisms: PoW, PoS, BFT

Analyzes trade-offs of various consensus algorithms: finality time, throughput, decentralization. Configures and monitors validators in production networks. Understands slashing conditions and validator economics.

DeFi Protocols: AMM, Lending, DEX

Integrates DeFi protocols into blockchain infrastructure: event indexing, price feed aggregation, liquidity monitoring. Implements backend for DeFi position monitoring and health factors.

Layer 2 Solutions: Rollups, Sidechains

Configures and operates L2 nodes in production. Implements cross-layer messaging infrastructure (L1<->L2). Understands fraud proofs, validity proofs, and sequencer architecture.

Smart Contract Testing: Foundry, Hardhat

Writes integration and fork tests for contract interaction with DeFi protocols. Uses Foundry fuzz testing to find edge cases. Tests upgrade paths and cross-contract calls.