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Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

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Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#91
post #39

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…

The author rejected the offer on principle, which is a very good reason to do so.

I see that the author has done significant open source work, so it's possible he just received an offer. But I'm thinking the more likely path was that the company reached out with a pitch and asked him to interview, and I wonder why his principles didn't stop him then.

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#92

> Everyone who is talking positively about cryptocurrencies and making hyperbolic claims seems to have invested in them. I thought this was an interesting claim to use as a disqualifier. If you see the promise of blockchain, why wouldn't you invest in them?

Because investing in coins is non-productive, those coins don't generate anything besides demand. If one believes in the technology, one should be investing in companies working on expanding blockchain tech. Also blockchain != coins.

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#93
post #24

The danger in a space like this is throwing the baby out with the bath water. - Yes, there are an insane amount of scams, and lots of dumb money flowing in - Yes, many use cases of blockchains should really be databases - Yes, many blockchain job posts are just PR initiatives for companies who want to differentiate themselves That said, it's an early time to have a tremendous amount of impact. Don't like "proof of wo…

>Go figure out ways to remove custodial risk, so that we may not need as onerous financial regulations that stifle innovation. Demonstrating the value of, and rationale for, those "onerous financial regulations" has been the one actual good result of this blockchain nonsense. The endless tsunami of scams and fraud that has been the blockchain space has been useful in wiping away the original idiot libertarian impulse…

> Demonstrating the value of, and rationale for, those "onerous financial regulations" has been the one actual good result of this blockchain nonsense.

It's also helped demonstrate that plenty of financial regulations have nothing to do with preventing scams and fraud and everything to do with deputising the financial system to act as a law-enforcement body that goes after violations of awful laws such as drug prohibition.

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#94
post #6

I just accepted a generous blockchain job offer with a fortune 500 company. But they are not interested in building a new blockchain implementation, but rather exploring smart contracts and their possible relevance to their business.

More likely, they want to be able to show their investors that they're exploring blockchains so that they aren't seen as dinosaurs missing out on the hottest new tech

For those of you doubting that this type of market signalling happens, look at Kodak: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-09/kodak-sto...

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#95
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one has seriously mined Bitcoin using GPUs since like 2013. By 2014, everyone was using FPGAs or ASICs. Now, only ASICs are used.

I thought there was a change to the protocol that prevented ASICs from being as effective? Perhaps I misunderstood in the context of Bitcoin, but in the context of the investment in GPUs providing support to pricing, I think that is validated just from the news a few days ago that GPU pricing because of crypto demand was causing pricing issues in PC-gaming. And the same principle should apply to whatever "effort-base…

A lot of altcoins have come up that are ASIC-resistant. A lot of these use memory as a bound, but GPUs sill have the memory bandwidth to make mining fast.

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#96
post #13

The benefits of blockchain outweigh the initial costs involved in kickstarting the ecosystem. The same initial flurry of investment happened when the internet was created. Look how that turned out.

Which benefits exactly? I've yet to see a problem where Blockchain is the best solution except doing ICOs which is not a problem. Also comparing the internet (having utility form the start) to blockchain (since 10 years nothing but gambling) does not make any sense...

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#97
The whole post sounds more like virtue signalling than any serious critique to me.

While the hype surrounding the space may be a nuisance, especially for idealistic people like the author, it's a necessary add-on to the jumpstart of anything groundbreaking.

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#98
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one has seriously mined Bitcoin using GPUs since like 2013. By 2014, everyone was using FPGAs or ASICs. Now, only ASICs are used.

I thought there was a change to the protocol that prevented ASICs from being as effective? Perhaps I misunderstood in the context of Bitcoin, but in the context of the investment in GPUs providing support to pricing, I think that is validated just from the news a few days ago that GPU pricing because of crypto demand was causing pricing issues in PC-gaming. And the same principle should apply to whatever "effort-base…

Bitcoin is still using (and probably will always use) SHA-256 as the proof of work problem, which ASICs are great for since it takes negligible memory.

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#100
I accepted an offer to join a top cryptocurrency project recently. I worked for many companies in different industries as a software engineer in the past and this job feels more meaningful than all of them.

Cryptocurrency is like banking, venture capital, social networking and religion all rolled into one.

Before, startups used to get traction by joining popular accelerators like YCombinator, from now on, startups will get traction by affiliating themselves with popular cryptocurrency projects. It's funding by the people, for the people; nobody is locked out, everyone can participate.

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