Web3 skills shortage creates project backlog until 2024

While the emerging Web3 sector has picked up incredible traction this year, the talent shortage is presenting a barrier to businesses who are looking to capitalise on Web3 technologies.

In a Web3 panel at the recent CRN Pipeline event on the Gold Coast, Kristin Boesenberg, director at KPMG Insights Centre insisted that businesses need support from Web3 developers, which is increasingly becoming harder to come by.

“You can't do this necessarily off the side of a desk. You need some dedicated people who understand what is happening, you need that first. You also need some type of R&D hub, POC environment if you like, which is how you test use cases. Because you need to play with it to understand it and then advise,” said Boesenberg.

“If I wanted to do my brand in the metaverse, I need someone to buy the land. I need someone to design it, maybe a 3D model. I need somebody maybe with Unity or Unreal Engine experience or otherwise.”

Boesenberg pointed to Tennis Australia’s NFT drop earlier this year as an example of the breadth of experience required for a Web3 project.

“Even when Tennis Australia released their NFT tennis balls, there's about 10 different vendors that helped produce that, including somebody to help with a carbon offset for that entire project,” he said.

“There's not one person delivering on this. You need a group to help deliver a project.

Panellist and keynote speaker at CRN Pipeline Nick Abrahams, global co-leader digital transformation at Norton Rose Fulbright suggested that the talent shortage is concerning for businesses looking to capture Web3 opportunities.

“No organisation has the technology to run one of these,” said Abrahams.

“What I see, and frankly, it's somewhat disturbing for me, is people come in and they're like, ‘Well, we want to do an NFT drop,’ for example. And I know who the organisations are who can do NFTs in Australia - there's not that many of them. And one of them I contacted and I said, ‘I've got a client who wants to do an NFT drop’, and they said, ‘Yeah, we're not taking on any new work till the end of 2024’.”

According to panellist Brad Bond, head of emerging technologies at Mantel Group, the organisation has over 700 consultants and developers, and even across that large talent pool, Web3 skills are severely lacking.

“I could name on one hand the people that actually understand Solidity and Rust and these new languages that you need to be able to write smart contracts. So, we're going through a big education and uplift program at the moment,” said Bond.

“There is no big pool of current skills. We've already got a skill shortage, and then you add Web3 technologies into that and you're down to a very small pool.”

Mantel Group has seen over 45 developers opt into their Web3 education program he said.

To improve the understanding of Web3 technologies among c-suite executives and board directors, Digital Nation Australia is running a bootcamp, designed to provide leaders with hands-on practical experience in the metaverse. If you are a non-executive director who is interested in how Web3 can affect your business, register here.