Solana ‘memecoin frenzy’ prompts uptick in Rust dev demand

The Solana memecoin mania that began in the first half of 2024 has  contributed to an increase in demand for Rust engineers, according to the chief executive at a cryptocurrency jobs board.

It’s likely been driven by the “Solana memecoin frenzy, where Rust is the primary programming language,” Raman Shalupau, CEO and founder of CryptoJobsList told Cointelegraph, adding:

“It's also driven by the broader tech trend, where Rust is becoming a popular systems programming language, and many blockchain companies are adopting it for writing performant distributed systems.”

Solana memecoins currently boast a combined market cap of $6.28 billion — significantly larger than Ethereum layer 2 Base’s $1.2 billion memecoin market cap, CoinGecko data shows.

Rust started to take some attention away from Ethereum’s Solidity as a programming language to write smart contracts since the Solana blockchain launched in March, 2020.

CryptoJobsList’s website shows 99 Rust developer roles are vacant, compared to 45 for Solidity.

“We saw 32 Rust programming language related jobs in the last 3 months alone,” Shalupau noted.

The rise in Rust roles has contributed to a 12-month record 564 crypto jobs posted on CryptoJobsList in July — marking a 109% increase from the previous month.

Kevin Gibson, founder cryptocurrency recruitment firm, Proof of Search, said he has also seen more demand for Rust engineers and developers:

“We are seeing a lot more demand for Senior Full Stack developers with experience in Rust, Python and Ruby on Rails as well as Senior Engineers who have the ability to step into a hands on CTO role.”

Gibson believes “FOMO” (Fear of Missing Out) hiring will kick off when Bitcoin hits $100,000.

Those who have held their positions throughout the bear market will have multiple offers between 30-50% higher than their current salaries as budgets are still very tight, Gibson noted.

CryptoJobsList’s salary data shows the average cryptocurrency employee is making $88,000, while those in the top 10% percentile are making $165,000.

Meanwhile CryptoRecruit’s founder Neil Dundon told Cointelegraph his firm has seen slightly less demand for developer roles but an uptick in sales-related roles.

“This is still a competitive market for jobs right now but it’s very reassuring to see how sticky web3 candidates are. They really want to work in this exciting space.”