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Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

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Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#141

Post by pvg »

nemild wrote: 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…

This sounds a bit like... if there’s no baby in the bathwater, don’t just throw it away - go ahead and put a baby in!

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#142

Post by enknamel »

dlubarov wrote: post #133
enknamel wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really dislike how decentralized cryptocurrencies are. I'd be ok with how it is currently implemented as long as there was some level of central governance to guarantee the currency could continue forever. What's the point of mining bitcoin once all coins are allocated? Just for transaction fees? Or would people push to generate more coins? A central governing authority would be great in a situation like this. Righ…

Being decentralized doesn't mean that Bitcoin can't evolve, though. The process is just - Someone proposes a change to the rules, effective as of some future block number - Each miner decides whether to adopt the proposed rules - The network is forked at that block number; some miners work on the original chain with the old rules while others work on a fork with the new rules - The network converges as most miners, e…

And all of those points is why it is a poor currency. Great we can fork at any time and from any single transaction. So, we can essentially make infinite currencies. That's hugely wasteful and causes mass inflation. It makes it hard to invest, or even take seriously, a currency that may become worthless tomorrow. If you add some centralized backing, like with USD for example, you get way more clout. What would bitcoin be worth if it had government backing and insurance? I think it would be hugely more valuable and attract a lot more interest. As it is now, it is too speculative, and prone to wild swings in pricing. Also you get people who want it even more decentralized by making it ASIC resistant vs people (China) who want to keep it ASIC based to restrict access. It's just a mess right now.

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#143

Post by tootie »

cocktailpeanuts wrote: post #29

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…

I spent most of last year working on a high-paying project for a huge company that was the dumbest shit imaginable and everyone on this thread would heap scorn if they saw it. I earn more than I know what to do with and would love to work on something actually useful for a change even if it meant less money and 10 year old tech.

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#144

Post by nemothekid »

deevolution wrote: post #86
andrewstuart2 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you really want to talk shit about Bitcoin I don't. And I don't think many people do (perhaps those buying put options might). That said, it's not hard to see the cost in power usage, and thus waste heat, that is/will be spent computing hashes that match ever-growing computational requirements. You're right that I could spend a month of my time learning more about this tech that does obviously have solid implica…

Have you factored in the energy costs of running the thousands of financial institutions and associated infrastructure required to maintain them? I personally don't have time to run an energy audit of the entire financial industry, but I can tell you theres a lot more infrastructure required. factor in the engery required to: - construct giant buildings for financial offices - maintain financial offices - commute to…

>Have you factored in the energy costs of running the thousands of financial institutions and associated infrastructure required to maintain them?

I don't like this argument. It's garbage. Bitcoin does not replace the functions of the entire financial system. I can't take out a loan using the blockchain. Banks do far more then act as a ledger. Bitcoin's utility today is a little more than P2P value transfer. A centralized solution - something like Transferwise - does not use as much energy as Bitcoin.

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#145

Post by jmulho »

staunch wrote: post #134
mstade wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Get angry at banks? My response to anyone serious about competing with banks: go work for one. Banks are often portrayed as these evil faceless entities that act completely in their self interest. In reality, most banks that matter are simply too large to act as one – and not in the sense that they are too big to fail (although, that's probably true as well) but that they are huge organizations with thousands upon…

If you want to spend your time on earth helping to destroy the lives of poor people, work at a bank like Bank of America or Wells Fargo. They've got evil corruption down to a science. > A 2014 CFPB study showed that about 8 percent of bank customers pay about 75 percent of all overdraft fees. And much of the time, the purchases that trigger overdraft fees are minor. The median debit card transaction that ends in an o…

I was once hit with a $35 overdraft fee three days in a row for buying a cup of coffee at Starbucks. I was really pissed off... at myself, for not staying on top of my bank balance.

I don't consider the bank evil for enforcing terms I agreed to.

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#146

Post by acdha »

chowells wrote: post #121
Sangermaine wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it didn't. Blockchain technology is perhaps the biggest recent example of a solution in search of a problem. It's interesting but still not clear at all what it would be useful for over what already exists: >"Ten years in, nobody has come up with a use for blockchain" https://hackernoon.com/ten-years-in-nobody-has-come-up-with-...

Huh? It's a trustless timestamping service. That's a thing that some protocols benefit from. Digital notaries, for instance. That surely justifies a valuation around a few cents per bitcoin.

Before assigning a valuation you’d have to ask whether this was better than alternatives. In the case of digital notaries, PKI does the same job except for anonymity and it seems like many people – especially in legal contexts – would value the notaries not being anonymous.

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#147

Post by tobltobs »

deevolution wrote: post #86
andrewstuart2 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you really want to talk shit about Bitcoin I don't. And I don't think many people do (perhaps those buying put options might). That said, it's not hard to see the cost in power usage, and thus waste heat, that is/will be spent computing hashes that match ever-growing computational requirements. You're right that I could spend a month of my time learning more about this tech that does obviously have solid implica…

Have you factored in the energy costs of running the thousands of financial institutions and associated infrastructure required to maintain them? I personally don't have time to run an energy audit of the entire financial industry, but I can tell you theres a lot more infrastructure required. factor in the engery required to: - construct giant buildings for financial offices - maintain financial offices - commute to…

You are comparing oranges and apples.

But let us assume that all those thousands of financial institutions and their associated infrastructure are just there to handle transactions.

Bitcoin is doing about 20 tx/s and Bitcoin mining uses as much energy as the nation of Denmark.

Visa is doing about 1700 tx/s.

> Renewables! Almost free, unlimited energy!

Oh man, I should have been reading your last sentence a bit better. With all those cryptomaniacs my sarcasm detector is a bit confused.

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#148

Post by Chirael »

jmulho wrote: post #145
staunch wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to spend your time on earth helping to destroy the lives of poor people, work at a bank like Bank of America or Wells Fargo. They've got evil corruption down to a science. > A 2014 CFPB study showed that about 8 percent of bank customers pay about 75 percent of all overdraft fees. And much of the time, the purchases that trigger overdraft fees are minor. The median debit card transaction that ends in an o…

I was once hit with a $35 overdraft fee three days in a row for buying a cup of coffee at Starbucks. I was really pissed off... at myself, for not staying on top of my bank balance. I don't consider the bank evil for enforcing terms I agreed to.

It's also often possible to set up low balance alerts including text and email. It's one of the first things I look for when setting up a new bank account (at any bank) - right after turning on 2FA of course.

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#149

Post by enknamel »

nk1tz wrote: post #122
JonnyNova wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not necessarily. Lack of centralized trust is just one feature. They have other features like public (but anonymous) ledgers, irreversible transactions, smart contracts, the ability to hold them without a bank account. Features like those could definitely come from a private or central bank.

If they were centralized they would most definitely have reversible transactions, and probably NOT be anonymous.

Not necessarily. Right now cash is anonymous. It changes hands without any record. It has no provenance. And is a centralized currency. There was a joke at the top of the crypto reddit a few days ago about how cash is just more convenient than bitcoin for ordering a pizza. It doesn't have to be government but I would like to see a trusted owner actually own the governance of a crypto currency. Right now it is way too wild west to instill a lot of confidence. Which is great way to make a lot of money quickly. But over the long term I can see a lot of issues coming up.

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#150

Post by Kiro »

baby wrote: post #130
jakefuentes wrote: post #105

The crypto community is the organized religion of tech https://twitter.com/jakefuentes/status/955151552984920064

I don't see what this has to do with cryptography.

Crypto = cryptocurrency. Cryptography = cryptography. We may not like it but the public has decided and there's nothing we can do to prevent it.
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