Getting Started in Web3

What you'll learn

• A Realistic Path Into Web3
• Building Your Web3 Portfolio
• Networking in the Web3 World
• Hackathons: Where Careers Are Made
• Bug Bounties: A Real Income Path
• Avoiding Career Scams and Predatory Practices
• The Long View
• For Deeper Reading

Key terms

Immunefi

Dominant bug bounty platform for crypto. Crossed $100 million in cumulative payouts in June 2024. 3,000+ valid reports in 3 years, 45,000+ researchers registered, $25B+ user funds estimated saved, $778M in protections in 2024 alone.

Code4rena

Audit contest platform where projects pay researchers to compete in finding vulnerabilities during fixed-duration competitions. Many top auditors built their reputations through Code4rena rankings.

Sherlock

Audit contest platform that emphasizes larger bounties for top-ranked researchers.

Cantina

Newer audit contest platform backed by Spearbit, growing rapidly.

ETHGlobal

Major Ethereum hackathon organization running events including Bangkok, Taipei, Denver, ETHOnline, and others. Tens of thousands of developers participate annually.

Solana Breakpoint 2025

Solana's annual conference scheduled for Abu Dhabi, December 11-13, 2025.

Solana Breakout Hackathon 2025

Major Solana hackathon with 10,000+ participants from 140+ countries and 1,412 projects submitted. TapeDrive won 50,000 USDC as a top prize.

Devcon

Ethereum's annual flagship conference and the most concentrated gathering of Ethereum core developers, researchers, and ecosystem builders.

CTF (Capture The Flag)

Security competition format where participants find vulnerabilities and exploit them in controlled environments. Examples include Paradigm CTF and Damn Vulnerable DeFi.

Mirror.xyz

Web3-native publishing platform popular for portfolio and analytical writing. Allows posts to be associated with crypto wallets and tokenized.

Web3 hiring trajectory

Web3 added 66,494 new roles in 2025 (+47% YoY but still below 2022 peak). Major employers include Coinbase (4,279 employees as of June 2025, +13.44% from Dec 2024), Binance (5,300+ early 2025), and Crypto.com (adding 1,400 in 2024-2025).

Wallet drainer scams

Malicious sites designed to look legitimate that drain crypto from connected wallets. Major exchanges and serious recruiters never need direct wallet access during a hiring process. A common career-related scam.