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> No they do not. I am an engineer in a technology heavily used by crypto projects and they have a really hard time recruiting. Absolutely not true and this is

by dvt 5y ago

> No they do not. I am an engineer in a technology heavily used by crypto projects and they have a really hard time recruiting. Absolutely not true and this is very typical HN bubble-speak. Been helping with hiring engineers for a stealth crypto startup for the past 6 months, and getting some of the best applicants I've ever seen, most coming from FAANG. To add to this anecdote, one of my friends (FB product manager) was telling me ~Oct last year that a lot of engineers are leaving her team or churning for either TikTok or crypto startups.

insulfrable 5y ago
That says a lot more about Facebook and the type of people it attracts than it does about the crypto industry.
- Karrot_Kream 5y ago
  Facebook is a huge employer, it makes it hard to believe that if they're losing folks to crypto companies that it's somehow localized to Facebook. What does this have to do with Facebook and the "type of people it attracts"? Are you arguing somehow that Facebook hires a very particular type of engineer despite common knowledge that the folks that work at one FAANG will usually be willing to work on other FAANG companies? Or do you deny that FAANG companies have the number of people to make the original statement true?
  - insulfrable 5y ago
    Facebook is a company with shady ethic that attracted people willing to look the other way because the money is too good. But they just lost 37% on the "too good" money. So where do you think these people are going next?
    - Karrot_Kream 5y ago
      Yes and? The original statement was that crypto is having a hard time hiring, the GP rebutted that saying they're seeing FAANG engineers leave. You then try to make an ethical argument. So? What does that have to do with the reality that FAANG, who employes lots of engineers, is losing engineers to crypto? Or do we need to move the goalposts and scope this discussion to "ethically-approved" (TM) companies?
      - throwaway423342 5y ago
        You work for FB or something?
  - espadrine 5y ago
    Facebook literally made a cryptocurrency, a crypto wallet, and a number of associated products. Following regulatory response, they have been downsizing it to a tiny speck of its former size. Them losing folks to crypto companies is the most obvious result of the past five years, but it has more to do with their strategy struggles than the overall mindset of the engineering population.
frankbreetz 5y ago
Are thr salaries much higher? You group yourself with TikTok and think the engineers are leaving for something other then money?
- dvt 5y ago
  Token offers (which a lot of crypto companies give), often have more upside than RSUs (especially if you're bullish on crypto as a whole), and definitely have more upside than early "traditional" startup equity (which is basically worthless).
  - forbiddenvoid 5y ago
    In both crypto tokens and startup equity, you are literally gambling that there will be a liquid market for your asset. Tokens _are_ worthless if no one wants to buy them, and pretending that is somehow different than startup equity is ignorant at best and downright predatory in the worst cases. Crypto growth overall does not mean _your_ token is going to gain value anymore than the general growth of the economy means that startup equity is going to grow in value.
    - dvt 5y ago
      > Tokens _are_ worthless if no one wants to buy them, and pretending that is somehow different than startup equity is ignorant at best and downright predatory in the worst cases. Fundamentally not true. Unlike traditional markets, crypto exchanges work by leveraging AMM liquidity pools. Obviously, a token can go up/down based on supply and demand, but if there's liquidity you can literally always sell. Confusing early-stage startup equity is by far more predatory than giving someone some shitcoin with a vesting schedule. Any argument to the contrary is either disingenuous or misinformed. With traditional equity offerings, you need to worry about: what class of stock did you get, what's the vesting preference, will you get diluted, what if you get fired, etc. I'm hardly a crypto bro, but imo startup equity is one of the biggest scams around that often takes advantage of young and inexperienced engineers that don't quite understand its financial underpinnings.

by dvt 5y ago

insulfrable 5y ago

That says a lot more about Facebook and the type of people it attracts than it does about the crypto industry.

Karrot_Kream 5y ago
Facebook is a huge employer, it makes it hard to believe that if they're losing folks to crypto companies that it's somehow localized to Facebook. What does this have to do with Facebook and the "type of people it attracts"? Are you arguing somehow that Facebook hires a very particular type of engineer despite common knowledge that the folks that work at one FAANG will usually be willing to work on other FAANG companies? Or do you deny that FAANG companies have the number of people to make the original statement true?
- insulfrable 5y ago
  Facebook is a company with shady ethic that attracted people willing to look the other way because the money is too good. But they just lost 37% on the "too good" money. So where do you think these people are going next?
  - Karrot_Kream 5y ago
    Yes and? The original statement was that crypto is having a hard time hiring, the GP rebutted that saying they're seeing FAANG engineers leave. You then try to make an ethical argument. So? What does that have to do with the reality that FAANG, who employes lots of engineers, is losing engineers to crypto? Or do we need to move the goalposts and scope this discussion to "ethically-approved" (TM) companies?
    - throwaway423342 5y ago
      You work for FB or something?
- espadrine 5y ago
  Facebook literally made a cryptocurrency, a crypto wallet, and a number of associated products. Following regulatory response, they have been downsizing it to a tiny speck of its former size. Them losing folks to crypto companies is the most obvious result of the past five years, but it has more to do with their strategy struggles than the overall mindset of the engineering population.

frankbreetz 5y ago

Are thr salaries much higher? You group yourself with TikTok and think the engineers are leaving for something other then money?

dvt 5y ago
Token offers (which a lot of crypto companies give), often have more upside than RSUs (especially if you're bullish on crypto as a whole), and definitely have more upside than early "traditional" startup equity (which is basically worthless).
- forbiddenvoid 5y ago
  In both crypto tokens and startup equity, you are literally gambling that there will be a liquid market for your asset. Tokens _are_ worthless if no one wants to buy them, and pretending that is somehow different than startup equity is ignorant at best and downright predatory in the worst cases. Crypto growth overall does not mean _your_ token is going to gain value anymore than the general growth of the economy means that startup equity is going to grow in value.
  - dvt 5y ago
    > Tokens _are_ worthless if no one wants to buy them, and pretending that is somehow different than startup equity is ignorant at best and downright predatory in the worst cases. Fundamentally not true. Unlike traditional markets, crypto exchanges work by leveraging AMM liquidity pools. Obviously, a token can go up/down based on supply and demand, but if there's liquidity you can literally always sell. Confusing early-stage startup equity is by far more predatory than giving someone some shitcoin with a vesting schedule. Any argument to the contrary is either disingenuous or misinformed. With traditional equity offerings, you need to worry about: what class of stock did you get, what's the vesting preference, will you get diluted, what if you get fired, etc. I'm hardly a crypto bro, but imo startup equity is one of the biggest scams around that often takes advantage of young and inexperienced engineers that don't quite understand its financial underpinnings.