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
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
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
Consensus Mechanisms: PoW, PoS, BFT Need
Cross-Chain Bridges Need
DeFi Protocols: AMM, Lending, DEX Need
Ethereum Ecosystem Need
NFT Development Need
OWASP & Application Security Need
Property-Based Testing Need
Smart Contract Security & Auditing Need
Smart Contract Testing: Foundry, Hardhat Need
Solidity Need
TDD & BDD Need
Tokenomics Design Need
Unit Testing Need
Vyper Need
Wallet Integration: MetaMask, WalletConnect Need
Web3 Frontend: ethers.js, wagmi Need
Async Programming Need
Integration Testing Need
Threat Modeling Need
Mutation Testing Need
Secure Coding Practices Need
Applied Cryptography Need
Dependency Vulnerability Scanning Need
Type Safety & Type Systems 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
Consensus Mechanisms: PoW, PoS, BFT Need
Cross-Chain Bridges Need
DeFi Protocols: AMM, Lending, DEX Need
Ethereum Ecosystem Need
NFT Development Need
OWASP & Application Security Need
Property-Based Testing Need
Smart Contract Security & Auditing Need
Smart Contract Testing: Foundry, Hardhat Need
Solidity Need
TDD & BDD Need
Tokenomics Design Need
Unit Testing Need
Vyper Need
Wallet Integration: MetaMask, WalletConnect Need
Web3 Frontend: ethers.js, wagmi Need
Async Programming Need
Integration Testing Need
Threat Modeling Need
Mutation Testing Need
Secure Coding Practices Need
Applied Cryptography Need
Dependency Vulnerability Scanning Need
Type Safety & Type Systems 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
Consensus Mechanisms: PoW, PoS, BFT Need
Cross-Chain Bridges Need
DeFi Protocols: AMM, Lending, DEX Need
Ethereum Ecosystem Need
NFT Development Need
OWASP & Application Security Need
Property-Based Testing Need
Smart Contract Security & Auditing Need
Smart Contract Testing: Foundry, Hardhat Need
Solidity Need
TDD & BDD Need
Tokenomics Design Need
Unit Testing Need
Vyper Need
Wallet Integration: MetaMask, WalletConnect Need
Web3 Frontend: ethers.js, wagmi Need
Async Programming Need
Integration Testing Need
Threat Modeling Need
Mutation Testing Need
Secure Coding Practices Need
Applied Cryptography Need
Dependency Vulnerability Scanning Need
Type Safety & Type Systems Need

Gap analysis: skills to develop

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

Consensus Mechanisms: PoW, PoS, BFT

Analyzes how consensus mechanisms affect smart contract design: block time variability, reorg resistance, MEV extraction. Adapts contracts for different consensus models.

DeFi Protocols: AMM, Lending, DEX

Implements DeFi contracts: custom AMM with fee distribution, lending pool with collateral management, yield aggregator with auto-compound. Integrates Chainlink price feeds for oracle data.

Smart Contract Testing: Foundry, Hardhat

Writes fork tests, fuzz tests, and integration tests for complex DeFi flows. Tests edge cases with Foundry cheatcodes. Achieves 95%+ coverage with meaningful test scenarios.