Rob Paone: Proof of Talent CEO Discusses Careers in the Cryptocurrency Industry

In this episode of the Finding Career Zen podcast, special guest Rob Paone joins Pete Newsome to share his journey into the staffing side of cryptocurrency.

Rob discovered cryptocurrency in December 2013 but became temporarily uninterested when the market tanked. The crypto industry tends to move in cycles, so when prices began to increase again in 2017, Rob made a commitment to himself that he wouldn’t walk away again when the inevitable occurs. Like many in this space, Rob believes in the long-term viability of the cryptocurrency space and ultimately bet his career on it.

In 2019, Rob Paone founded Proof of Talent, a recruiting agency focused on career opportunities in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industries. He explains each of these systems and offers several resources for those interested in learning more after today’s episode. Rob also shares advice to those interested in entering the crypto space and discusses different careers with the biggest need in the industry right now.

Whether you’re interested in learning more about crypto or wondering how you can turn your passion for crypto into a career, you’re going to want to tune in!

Connect with Rob on LinkedIn here!

Rob’s Recommended Resources:

For employment- Proof of Talent

For daily information- CoinDesk & The Block 

For specific projects and prices- CoinGecko & Messari 

Podcasts- What Bitcoin Did & Bankless

Tips

Advice for those interested in entering the crypto space:

• Do as well as you can in school, but build up experience outside of the classroom. If you are interested in the crypto space, figure out what is most interesting to you and just hack around as much as possible.
• Most times, the crypto industry doesn’t care who you are or what your background is. Thanks to technology, you don’t always need to go to college to have a good career. If you have the talent and are willing to put in the work, you can be successful.
• Determine what skill set you currently have and how it could match up with an opportunity within the industry. You need to have value to add to an organization, so work to build up a complementary skill set.
• Build up your crypto specific knowledge base as much as possible. You don’t have to be an expert, as nobody is, but as strong as you possibly can be through research and education 
• Indicate your interest on LinkedIn. Crypto keywords are always helpful to be found. Add a sentence or two in your bio to help with your overall discoverability.
• Get on twitter and start interacting with people. This is a great place to network and people have been hired based solely on their accounts and contributions to Twitter.