I first encountered Bitvocation at the Les Femmes Orange women’s event during the BTCHEL conference in Helsinki. Over several years of teaching myself everything I could online, Bitcoin had become my passion, but this was my first in-person event. It made a deep impression on me, and I was inspired by the numerous women there who have already built their professional lives in Bitcoin. For the first time, I began to consider that maybe this could be possible for me too.

The timing couldn’t have been better. Like many language professionals, I’ve felt AI reshaping my industry and have begun to reconsider my future. I spotted an opportunity to go even deeper into my passion and maybe even make it into a career. And so, taking a leap of faith, spurred by the momentum of the women’s event, I decided to join Bitvocation’s POW Lab.

What is the POW Lab? It’s not a course, where you are given defined steps to achieve a certain outcome; nor is it a recruitment agency, where you wait passively to be hooked up with an employer. Rather, the POW Lab is a six-month membership that gives you access to a supportive community of like-minded people and helps you to build your visibility in the Bitcoin space.

Benefits include a LinkedIn growth guide, opportunities to work on real-world projects via the Talent Exchange, and inclusion in the talent pool, from which you might be recommended to employers. But just to be clear: there are no cookie-cutter solutions, shortcuts or guarantees. Instead, it’s all about growing your network, standing out and showing Proof of Work.

What is Proof of Work? In technical terms, proof of work is the consensus mechanism by which Bitcoin transactions are validated on the blockchain. But in the Bitcoin community, it has also come to mean something else: demonstrating one’s skills and abilities by creating something of value for others.

In practice, this might mean writing educational articles, designing visuals, coding tools or organizing events—for example, one POW Lab member, Jim Shanahan, was inspired to create the website Bitcoin Node Builder to help Bitcoiners build their own nodes.

Think of proof of work as your personal marketing strategy: you not only become visible to potential employers and clients, but also provide concrete evidence of your capabilities. Unlike traditional CVs, proof of work allows you to display your talents through real contributions and results, giving others a clear, tangible way to assess the value you can bring.

Who is the POW Lab for? The POW Lab is for people who, like me, want to work on something they truly believe in. They are ready to make Bitcoin their full-time vocation, and more importantly, to take action. Not technical? No problem—your skills are still valuable in the Bitcoin economy. But no matter what your professional background, you should come prepared to put in the work and showcase what you can do with real projects.

Inside the Lab After sending my payment of 88,888 sats (of course) to join the POW Lab, I was promptly invited to the POW Lab Telegram group. The first thing I did was introduce myself and fill out a detailed questionnaire of 21 questions about myself and my interest in pursuing a career in Bitcoin. My responses will be used to match me with potential employers.

Inside the Telegram group are chats on different topics, where members can share what they’re working on and get support with projects, job applications and interviews. There’s a lot to be learned simply by reading other participants’ questions and answers. I also found help with my own questions. For example, I wanted to know how I could start publicly posting about Bitcoin on LinkedIn while still working with translation clients.

Founder Anja is active in the group and quick to offer support; her thoughtful and encouraging responses set the tone for the community. Another useful feature are Anja’s weekly findability prompts, which offer food for thought that can be turned into social media posts to increase one’s visibility.

A shift in mindset Since joining the POW Lab, I have already experienced a strong shift in mindset. The ideas are flowing, and my focus has sharpened. For example, I have started creating my own educational content for Instagram @breakfreewithbitcoin with the aim of reaching women who are in the same place I was a few years ago and teaching them how to use Bitcoin as a tool for financial success.

I have also taken on my first real-world writing project (this article) and have already connected with a Bitcoin company about offering my expertise as a localisation specialist for an upcoming project. Meanwhile, I am having fun learning to use Nostr and building a social media presence there. It’s still early, but I feel excited to be getting involved in the Bitcoin space and can’t wait to see what unfolds.

What’s next? If you too have been considering a career in Bitcoin, there could hardly be a better time to start, as Bitvocation is about to launch Jobtober: a 21-day challenge to help you build your reputation, share your proof of work, expand your network and establish your unique value proposition in the Bitcoin space. Daily prompts sent on Telegram will help you boost your findability.

And the good news is you don’t have to be a member of the POW Lab to join—the challenge is open to everyone. For me, the POW Lab has already sparked new opportunities and given me a sense of direction. Perhaps Jobtober could be the beginning of your journey too.

If you are ready to get started, you can join Jobtober on Telegram here. And if you want to take it one step further… see you inside the POW Lab!