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I left earlier this year, and worked in the space for a couple of years. I started with a neutral position on crypto, I didn't even think about it much. More li

I left earlier this year, and worked in the space for a couple of years. I started with a neutral position on crypto, I didn't even think about it much. More like, its easy and pays well. But if people want to waste their money on tokens, go for it, but its not my cup of tea. Then I started to recognize that its predatory and actually not benign or harmless. It is taking advantage of people. It started to become gross, and nobody I worked with shared any views or skepticism that I had. They all pretty much treated it like a religion across the board. Glad I left. I turned down money that most would not get a chance at in their lifetime, but where that money came from did not sit right with me, nobody in that company deserved any of it. I guess I was not cutthroat enough ... seems like this space is reserved only for snakes, and fools.

papito 4y ago
Good man/woman :) I understand that some people just need a job to pay rent, and we all need to be a little selfish, making decisions that are right for us, but tech employees have a choice. You can afford to not work for a sector of tech that is involved in predation on the gullible, or harvesting and selling personal data for profit, or trying to "hack" your brain by developing "addictive" technologies.
dandanua 4y ago
I've worked at a crypto startup few years ago, on a quite high technical position, essentially a co-founder (one of many). The team ended up bullying, abusing and gaslighting me, because I didn't fit the narrative, I guess. Cryptosphere is certainly a place for predators, that don't give a slightest f*ck about where the money come from.
- threeseed 4y ago
  > Cryptosphere is certainly a place for predators, that don't give a slightest f*ck about where the money come from. No many do care where it comes from. They deliberately seek and out target vulnerable people e.g. third world countries, retirees who they know will be susceptible to their scams.
walrus01 4y ago
> It started to become gross, and nobody I worked with shared any views or skepticism that I had. They all pretty much treated it like a religion across the board. When a description such as that starts to sound like a 1:1 Venn diagram overlap with multi level marketing, yeah, it's time to bail.
bko 4y ago
> Then I started to recognize that its predatory and actually not benign or harmless. It is taking advantage of people. Can't this be applied for most jobs in social media, advertising, lending and discretionary spending?
- papito 4y ago
  Absolutely. I vowed over a decade ago to never work for social media. The data is coming in, and boy, was that the right decision. I've read in the last year: * An Ugly Truth * The Coddling of the American Mind * Stolen Focus It is horrifying what this does to us.
- rozenmd 4y ago
  Sure can, many of us avoid jobs in social media, ads and lending for that reason
- csomar 4y ago
  A fairer comparison will be gambling, sports games and drugs.
  - bko 4y ago
    Sure I guess since they're voluntary. Much harder to opt out of big social media or ad agencies. But that makes my point even stronger since no one is forcing cryptocurrencies down your throat.
    - codegeek 4y ago
      Social media has benefits (as much as we love to hate it) whether you agree or disagree. Crypto at this point is scams and get rich quick schemes. Not the same comparison.
      - bko 4y ago
        Crypto has benefits. It's entertaining and some projects are kind of clubs which is fun for the participants. Also the technology is interesting at least to me. I learned a lot playing around with smart contracts and writing bots. Some people get hurt and you could think the scammer portion outweighs the benefits. But saying there are no benefits is wrong
csomar 4y ago
Indeed. It's not like you can't work on Crypto with good intentions (I have been following the Namecoin project for a while, they are under-funded and the team refuses to do any marketing; as a result, their currency have little value and they can't afford to pay the astronomical expenses other crypto projects pay) But if you are going for any of these non-shiny companies (some of them are doing really hard engineering work), the pay and the benefits will be normal and maybe over below market-rates.
codegeek 4y ago
I don't get the point of crypto and so far I have understood it to be a gambling machine and get rich quick scheme. Honestly, I will be a bit skeptical if I was hiring a crypto developer. But I wouldn't make a blanket decision. I would carefully analyze on a case by case basis but by default I will surely be less trusting initially. Sorry but this industry is full of scammers.
marginalia_nu 4y ago
This is my experience with fintech in general, very much an "are we the baddies?"-sort of a place. Although the institutional side is better (even if the money isn't).
2rsf 4y ago
> It is taking advantage of people I also don't find crypto very useful but how does it take advantage of people? do companies developing for crypto gain from someone using their services?

papito 4y ago

Good man/woman :) I understand that some people just need a job to pay rent, and we all need to be a little selfish, making decisions that are right for us, but tech employees have a choice. You can afford to not work for a sector of tech that is involved in predation on the gullible, or harvesting and selling personal data for profit, or trying to "hack" your brain by developing "addictive" technologies.

dandanua 4y ago

I've worked at a crypto startup few years ago, on a quite high technical position, essentially a co-founder (one of many). The team ended up bullying, abusing and gaslighting me, because I didn't fit the narrative, I guess. Cryptosphere is certainly a place for predators, that don't give a slightest f*ck about where the money come from.

threeseed 4y ago
> Cryptosphere is certainly a place for predators, that don't give a slightest f*ck about where the money come from. No many do care where it comes from. They deliberately seek and out target vulnerable people e.g. third world countries, retirees who they know will be susceptible to their scams.

walrus01 4y ago

> It started to become gross, and nobody I worked with shared any views or skepticism that I had. They all pretty much treated it like a religion across the board. When a description such as that starts to sound like a 1:1 Venn diagram overlap with multi level marketing, yeah, it's time to bail.

bko 4y ago

> Then I started to recognize that its predatory and actually not benign or harmless. It is taking advantage of people. Can't this be applied for most jobs in social media, advertising, lending and discretionary spending?

papito 4y ago
Absolutely. I vowed over a decade ago to never work for social media. The data is coming in, and boy, was that the right decision. I've read in the last year: * An Ugly Truth * The Coddling of the American Mind * Stolen Focus It is horrifying what this does to us.
rozenmd 4y ago
Sure can, many of us avoid jobs in social media, ads and lending for that reason
csomar 4y ago
A fairer comparison will be gambling, sports games and drugs.
- bko 4y ago
  Sure I guess since they're voluntary. Much harder to opt out of big social media or ad agencies. But that makes my point even stronger since no one is forcing cryptocurrencies down your throat.
  - codegeek 4y ago
    Social media has benefits (as much as we love to hate it) whether you agree or disagree. Crypto at this point is scams and get rich quick schemes. Not the same comparison.
    - bko 4y ago
      Crypto has benefits. It's entertaining and some projects are kind of clubs which is fun for the participants. Also the technology is interesting at least to me. I learned a lot playing around with smart contracts and writing bots. Some people get hurt and you could think the scammer portion outweighs the benefits. But saying there are no benefits is wrong

csomar 4y ago

Indeed. It's not like you can't work on Crypto with good intentions (I have been following the Namecoin project for a while, they are under-funded and the team refuses to do any marketing; as a result, their currency have little value and they can't afford to pay the astronomical expenses other crypto projects pay) But if you are going for any of these non-shiny companies (some of them are doing really hard engineering work), the pay and the benefits will be normal and maybe over below market-rates.

codegeek 4y ago

I don't get the point of crypto and so far I have understood it to be a gambling machine and get rich quick scheme. Honestly, I will be a bit skeptical if I was hiring a crypto developer. But I wouldn't make a blanket decision. I would carefully analyze on a case by case basis but by default I will surely be less trusting initially. Sorry but this industry is full of scammers.

marginalia_nu 4y ago

This is my experience with fintech in general, very much an "are we the baddies?"-sort of a place. Although the institutional side is better (even if the money isn't).

2rsf 4y ago

> It is taking advantage of people I also don't find crypto very useful but how does it take advantage of people? do companies developing for crypto gain from someone using their services?