What it’s like working in Crypto

What it’s like working in crypto I’ve worked in crypto professionally for the last few years and wanted to shed some light on what it’s like as I’ve seen people mentioning it’s the best thing since sliced bread. Though, true for some people, it’s not as easy a ride as what it seems to be. Be prepared to work HARD Given most companies in this space are still very new in comparison to other industries, most things you would be accustomed to at a similar company in traditional finance (software, processes, procedures, etc…) doesn’t necessarily exist in this space yet. Regardless of your role, you’ll need to understand how various other departments work. (I.e your in operations but you also need to know about legal/compliance/tech) If you don’t know how these other verticals work within the org your joining, be prepared to spend your time on the clock and off the clock learning about that. THERE IS A LOT OF TECH DEBT. If the position your going into requires tech help and your not an engineer, good luck getting that. Most of these engineers are hired to fix current systems and keep them running until someone builds up enough courage to put in the time to rebuild and/or you get a competent engineering manager/team that holds up the rest of the team. Id you know how to code and build/deploy simple systems this help a ton build doesn’t completely solve your problem. Going back to you’ll be working hard, average workday is 12hrs and you’ll constantly be playing the game of “catch-up” because chances are you’ll be short-staffed so nights and weekends are a game changer to get things done. Unlimited vacation is not unlimited because you most likely won’t be taking one because there’s too much to do. Your manager will be like you should take one but deep down they don’t want you to because they’ll be even shorter handed than when you were present. Also, companies will pay you less $ and try to compensate you with stock thinking you actually care about that but in reality, all the valuations are so inflated because everyone was raising money at 100x revenue at the peak of the bull market you need a company to IPO/exit at $10 billion to get a decent return. Nonetheless, I love this space and can’t picture myself anywhere else (call me crazy) but just wanted to set some expectations that it’s not an easy ride but it’s well worth the struggle/pain to build something great and accomplish things you couldn’t think you could do.