October 7, 2026
Morteza Shojaei went from a self-taught freelancer in Iran to a blockchain developer at MoonPay in London - through a six-stage interview process and a company-sponsored visa. Read to the end for his advice on what actually makes a company take a chance on hiring you remotely.
Q: You started freelancing during university in 2018. How did you find clients back then?
A: My first freelance project came through friends. While I was at university, I made an effort to get to know people who were already working in the industry. Those connections led to introductions and, eventually, projects I could take on alongside my studies. At the time, I mostly knew HTML and CSS, with a little JavaScript. I understood the basics and could build a website, but I was still far from an experienced developer. What helped was knowing how to look things up, find answers and turn what I learned into something that worked. A lot of my learning happened while I was doing those early projects.
Q: Diploma or experience: what actually opened the doors to international companies?
A: The degree itself didn't make a huge difference, but university did. It helped me build valuable connections and gave me a grounding in the fundamentals that I needed later on. When it came to getting work, my portfolio and practical experience mattered much more. Being able to show what I had built helped me get the next opportunity. Each project added to my experience and made it easier to find the next one.
Q: Your career took you from Iran to remote work for European and American companies, and then to London. Was that the plan from the beginning?
A: It evolved naturally. I had a good experience working in Iran and learned a lot, but as the rial kept losing value, the financial difference between local jobs and international remote work became hard to ignore.
There was also a technical side to it. I wanted to work on problems with a global reach and get closer to the cutting edge of technology. That combination of better financial opportunities and more challenging work pushed me to look abroad for remote roles. At that point, I wasn't seriously thinking about emigrating. I wasn't even applying for jobs that offered relocation. Working remotely from Iran was what I wanted at the time.
Q: How did you land your first international remote job at Shard Labs in Zagreb? Where did the contact come from, and what did the process look like?
A: I applied for different roles through LinkedIn, which led to interviews with several companies. In the end, I received two offers, and I accepted the one from Shard Labs. Their process started with an HR screening, where we talked about me and my background. Then they gave me a take-home technical task with two days to complete it. I worked through it independently, using the skills I had at the time. After that, we had a technical interview where they went through my solution in detail and asked about what I had built. They also asked deeper technical questions beyond the task to get a better sense of my knowledge.
Q: How comfortable were you working and interviewing in English at that stage?
A: My English was very basic. I could introduce myself and talk about my work in simple terms, but I wasn't fluent. I had enough English to communicate, even though I couldn't always express myself as well as I wanted to. It was enough to get started, and improving it became very important as my career progressed.
Q: Working remotely from Iran comes with challenges around payments, sanctions and time zones. How did you handle those?
A: Internet restrictions and sanctions were frustrating. But the financial difference compared with local work was significant enough that, for me, dealing with those difficulties was worth it. The time difference wasn't a major issue. I simply started my working day later and finished later. As for payments, I was paid in crypto, specifically stablecoins. Working in blockchain also made a difference in my experience. There were people working under pseudonyms, and the teams I encountered were more interested in what I could contribute than where I came from or lived. That openness mattered a lot to me. The restrictions were still there, but I found that my location was less of a barrier in this field.
Q: After several years of remote work, what made you decide to move to an in-person role?
A: It happened quite unexpectedly. I wasn't planning to relocate, but MoonPay reached out to me. When I eventually received the offer, I looked at it carefully and felt that accepting it made sense. It was a chance to take on a new challenge and work with a team in person. It also meant leaving behind many of the difficulties I had experienced working remotely from Iran. Moving abroad wasn't a long-term plan I had been working towards; it became something I wanted to do when this particular opportunity came along.
Q: How did you come across MoonPay, and why did you choose them?
A: They contacted me through LinkedIn. I wasn't actively looking for a relocation opportunity, so that conversation was what started the process. What appealed to me was the opportunity as a whole: the offer made sense, I could experience working with a team in person, and the move would remove some of the practical obstacles I'd been dealing with. Taken together, those things made it a challenge worth accepting.
Q: What did their hiring process look like?
A: There were six stages, including several technical interviews and non-technical conversations. I worked my way through those over time and eventually received an offer.
"Having skills that are harder to find gives them a stronger reason to consider you"
Q: Did MoonPay support the visa process, or did you handle it yourself?
A: MoonPay handled the visa process and arranged my initial accommodation. They supported me through the practical side of the relocation and helped me make the move.
Q: How long did the relocation take, from the offer to moving to London?
A: It could have happened in around a month, but I needed more time before relocating. In the end, the whole process took roughly two to three months.
Q: What was the hardest thing to organise when moving with your wife?
A: The hardest part was getting settled during the first few months, especially finding a home and setting up our life together in a new place. There was also a different way of life to get used to compared with Iran. It took time to get the practical things sorted and find our routine.
Q: What surprised you most about London, good or bad?
A: There wasn't one big surprise. I already had friends here who helped me settle in, which made the transition easier. The main difference was the lifestyle, and most of the adjustment was about getting used to everyday life in a new place.
Q: What would you tell someone looking for their first international remote job? Where should they start?
A: Don't give up, and expect it to take time. Finding your first international remote role can be difficult. In my experience, trust is a big part of that: a company needs to feel confident hiring someone who is far away and whom they may never have met in person. I would also focus on building expertise in a specialised, technically demanding area—something fewer people know how to do or are willing to take on. If a company can easily find the same skills locally, it may have less reason to hire someone remotely from another country. Having skills that are harder to find gives them a stronger reason to consider you.
Q: Why blockchain specifically? Was it a conscious bet on the future, or did you follow the money?
A: When I was choosing between my first two international offers, they were financially the same. The difference was the work. The other role was similar to things I had already done, while Shard Labs offered a way into blockchain. It was a newer field, closer to the cutting edge of technology, and there were fewer developers specialising in it. I saw an opportunity to learn something different and more room to grow. Looking back, entering the field at that stage helped me progress in my career.
Q: What's the one skill or decision that made the biggest difference in your career?
A: If I had to choose one skill, it would definitely be English. The better my English became, the better I could communicate and connect with people. That makes a huge difference in remote work, where so much of your communication happens online and, in international teams, in English. My English was basic when I got my first international role, but improving it has been one of the most valuable things I've done for my career.
Q: Did you ever take a job you regretted, and what did you learn from it?
A: Not really. I'm quite selective about the roles I accept and take time to think them through before committing. So far, I haven't taken a job that I later regretted.
This interview is part of Entireless's look at how people build remote and international careers in AI, Web3, and blockchain. If you're exploring a similar path, browse current remote blockchain and Web3 roles on https://www.entireless.com/.