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Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

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Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#41
post #10

I disagree, although the ecosystem is filled with scams, and evangelists have financial interests in promoting their believes, there are some promising advantages. Also the energy requirements for PoW systems are cheap compared to its gains as pointed out by Nick Szabo: "We need more socially scalable ways to securely count nodes, or to put it another way to with as much robustness against corruption as possible, ass…

Yeah but... the crypto algorithm chosen for Bitcoin is about as energy intensive as they come. Other algorithms which are more equipment intensive - scrypt etc - provide the same benefits but without the same disgusting externality of power consumption. I wish I grasped proof of stake better. I’m not yet convinced it can be made to work as well as PoW.

Right, and that's why Bitcoin has lost a huge amount of marketshare in the crypto space over the past couple months[1].

1. https://coinmarketcap.com/charts/#dominance-percentage

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#42

While turning down the job is just fine, here's what happened instead: - Someone else with similar capabilities as OP's probably took the job. - This person will make significantly more money than what OP will be making (as OP points out) - This person will have learned way more about the implication of the technology, whether it actually is as bad as what mainstream media says or if those are all coming from ignoran…

Instead of ranting how stupid everybody else is you could give us unenlightened souls a hint how the proof of work problem could be solved without wasting lots of energy.

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#44

While turning down the job is just fine, here's what happened instead: - Someone else with similar capabilities as OP's probably took the job. - This person will make significantly more money than what OP will be making (as OP points out) - This person will have learned way more about the implication of the technology, whether it actually is as bad as what mainstream media says or if those are all coming from ignoran…

Bitcoin mining uses as much energy as the nation of Denmark. Each transaction confirmation uses as much energy as nine American households do in an entire day. What “deep knowledge” am I lacking here?

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#45

I disagree, although the ecosystem is filled with scams, and evangelists have financial interests in promoting their believes, there are some promising advantages. Also the energy requirements for PoW systems are cheap compared to its gains as pointed out by Nick Szabo: "We need more socially scalable ways to securely count nodes, or to put it another way to with as much robustness against corruption as possible, ass…

>It allows one to seamlessly and securely work across human trust boundaries

That's not really true though. The "trust boundaries" still exist when you try to convert your tokens into spendable money. Also, blockchain enthusiasts seem to forget that blockchain tokens are built on an intricate house-of-cards that can easily collapse under disaster circumstances. There is an implied trust that is always taken for granted that the government will continue to maintain internet infrastructure and allow citizens the free-use thereof. How far will bitcoin take you as a resident of puerto-rico? It is also trivial for any government to prohibit or disrupt the use of blockchain tokens (either through the legal system or through draconian internet restrictions). At the end of the day you are trusting that the federated financial systems of the world tolerate blockchain tokens.

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#47
He turned down a much higher salary AND "REMOTE WORK!" just because he didn't want to be "associated" with the current state of bitcoin. Remote work possibilities are extremely rare, especially high paying ones.

My advice would be, take the job and enjoy it while it lasts.

He didn't say much about the company. But, just watch out for scams. If it's not a real company, they might just be trying to get your bank account information or something in which case you definately want to stear clear

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#48

While turning down the job is just fine, here's what happened instead: - Someone else with similar capabilities as OP's probably took the job. - This person will make significantly more money than what OP will be making (as OP points out) - This person will have learned way more about the implication of the technology, whether it actually is as bad as what mainstream media says or if those are all coming from ignoran…

Bitcoin mining uses as much energy as the nation of Denmark. Each transaction confirmation uses as much energy as nine American households do in an entire day. What “deep knowledge” am I lacking here?

> What “deep knowledge” am I lacking here?

The cognitive dissonance associated with having money at stake on Bitcoin.

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#49

While turning down the job is just fine, here's what happened instead: - Someone else with similar capabilities as OP's probably took the job. - This person will make significantly more money than what OP will be making (as OP points out) - This person will have learned way more about the implication of the technology, whether it actually is as bad as what mainstream media says or if those are all coming from ignoran…

> lets you explore a new edge technology

A little bit off-topic, I find very interesting how blockchain is regarded as a new technology. All the underlying technology has been available for ages: cryptographic hashes, Merkle trees (patented in 1979!!), peer to peer protocols. It's crazy how putting together some already established technologies/techniques/mathematical instruments can generate such a big movement. A lot of people refer to it as a cutting edge technology that will.. disrupt (I hate this buzzword) the current status quo. In my opinion it's just a very elegant solution to a problem (decentralised trust) that's been put together with already existing simple blocks.

It would be good if we could cut down on the uninformed hype and just appreciate the elegance in it.

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#50

While turning down the job is just fine, here's what happened instead: - Someone else with similar capabilities as OP's probably took the job. - This person will make significantly more money than what OP will be making (as OP points out) - This person will have learned way more about the implication of the technology, whether it actually is as bad as what mainstream media says or if those are all coming from ignoran…

Bitcoin mining uses as much energy as the nation of Denmark. Each transaction confirmation uses as much energy as nine American households do in an entire day. What “deep knowledge” am I lacking here?

Agreed. I see rejecting a job in Bitcoin for environmental reasons as quite similar to rejecting one working for an oil company. Most people don't care that much, but for some it makes sense.
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