Bitcoin isn’t exactly en vogue in 2020, but its underlying technology (blockchain) is apparently still cool.

At least, that’s according to employment service LinkedIn, which listed “blockchain” as tech’s most sought after “hard skill” this year.

A LinkedIn blog published last week notes that “blockchain” is the most in-demand skill in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, France, and Germany — more popular than cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and UX design.

“Blockchain has emerged from the once shadowy world of cryptocurrency to become a business solution in search of problems,” said LinkedIn. “Which means that you don’t have to be in financial services to be seeking new hires who have background and expertise in putting blockchain to use.”

The Microsoft-owned company then urged recruiters to start familiarizing themselves with how “blockchain” works and what its perceived benefits are.

“[…] Companies seem to be saying that the potential [of blockchain] is worth the gamble,” LinkedIn continued. “Blockchain has become a line of business for a who’s who of the corporate world — IBM, Oracle, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft (LinkedIn’s parent company), Amazon, and American Express, to name just a few.”

LinkedIn says devs should learn Solidity to work in blockchain

LinkedIn explains that there are two different kinds of skills: hard and soft.

Hard skills are those that pertain to an employee’s aptitude for executing specific tasks, mostly technical abilities and specialized knowledge. For software developers, proficiency in the C++ programming language would be a “hard” skill.

Soft skills relate to the way in which those employees perform those tasks. How one behaves, how they think, and their cognitive skills are all examples of soft skills.

While soft skills are difficult to measure, and perhaps harder to learn, LinkedIn did offer some advice to those looking to break into blockchain this year: learn the programming language used to write Ethereum smart contracts, Solidity.

In November last year, Hard Fork reported that job vacancy site Indeed had noted decreasing candidate interest in blockchain-related roles, but that employer demand in the industry had skyrocketed.

So, while it might be relatively difficult to make money from investing in or trading cryptocurrency this year, working with its underlying tech still seems mighty lucrative — for now.

[H/T Bitcoin News]