<story><title>Ask HN: Feel bad about working in crypto, what to do?</title><text>I work for a DeFi protocol that has a token. I joined in 2021.&lt;p&gt;I would describe myself as having neutral stance towards the crypto industry, DeFi&amp;#x2F;Ethereum more specifically. I am not a fan of most other alternative chains or Bitcoin. I understand that the majority of tokens and services are scams and markets caps are a bubble driven by speculation, but I also see true potential in the technology and ideology. Both of these opinions kind of cancel each other out leading to me being neither fully pro- nor fully anti-crypto.&lt;p&gt;However, the constant backlash from the public is nagging me. All the hate for crypto, even though much of it is uninformed, makes me question my decisions. I am also worried about future employability. If crypto fails, which is a real possibility in my mind, will I be unemployable because I spend several years in the scammy crypto industry?&lt;p&gt;Just feeling a bit lost. Anyone else in a similar position?</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>jeroenhd</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m one of the &amp;quot;haters&amp;quot;. I see no value in crypto in 99.99% of crypto and in the cases that do make sense the actual use for it is borderline money laundering or tax evasion. All the &amp;quot;enthusiasts&amp;quot; seem to want to get rich by getting as many people as they can in their greater fool scheme of choice in the hopes of becoming a Bitcoin billionaire. The obnoxious fan base and practical scams coming out of the marketing department are what I despise most about the whole thing.&lt;p&gt;However, I don&amp;#x27;t foster any negative feelings towards developers per se. A job&amp;#x27;s a job, and crypto isn&amp;#x27;t exactly as easy as your run of the mill CRUD application development.&lt;p&gt;By working in the ethereum space you&amp;#x27;ve proven you can work with&amp;#x2F;around obscure tools, learn strange jargon, probably have some knowledge of cryptographic algorithms, and a willingness to do a deep dive in what you believe in. I&amp;#x27;m no hiring manager, but to me that all seems like a bunch of skills that will transfer to many businesses outside crypto.&lt;p&gt;There&amp;#x27;s more to a person than what areas of business they have experience in. You can work for Big Oil, Facebook&amp;#x2F;Google&amp;#x2F;UmbrellaCorp, or Nestlé and be a perfectly good person just doing their job. Anyone refusing you simply because you worked in crypto at some point is short-sighted.&lt;p&gt;Even if you are a crucial part in the next big rug-pull-sold-as-ending-world-hunger, I honestly doubt you&amp;#x27;ll run into too many ethical qualms unless you screw up enough to actually break the law and get caught. It&amp;#x27;s not like Meta or Wells Fargo suddenly care about ethics if you can talk things straight enough, most big companies are morally bankrupt anyway.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>popcorncowboy</author><text>&amp;gt; I don&amp;#x27;t foster any negative feelings towards developers per se. A job&amp;#x27;s a job&lt;p&gt;Nah. This line of reasoning excuses &lt;i&gt;any&lt;/i&gt; activity one might be involved with because &amp;quot;it&amp;#x27;s just my job&amp;quot;. Doesn&amp;#x27;t work like that. The idea that you carry zero moral (or ethical or even legal) culpability because you&amp;#x27;re drawing a paycheck and being &amp;quot;told&amp;quot; what to do is what every person working for the companies that are deeply damaging our society tells themselves. Because the alternative (the reality) is really hard to deal with.&lt;p&gt;GP is right to be concerned.</text></comment>
<story><title>Ask HN: Feel bad about working in crypto, what to do?</title><text>I work for a DeFi protocol that has a token. I joined in 2021.&lt;p&gt;I would describe myself as having neutral stance towards the crypto industry, DeFi&amp;#x2F;Ethereum more specifically. I am not a fan of most other alternative chains or Bitcoin. I understand that the majority of tokens and services are scams and markets caps are a bubble driven by speculation, but I also see true potential in the technology and ideology. Both of these opinions kind of cancel each other out leading to me being neither fully pro- nor fully anti-crypto.&lt;p&gt;However, the constant backlash from the public is nagging me. All the hate for crypto, even though much of it is uninformed, makes me question my decisions. I am also worried about future employability. If crypto fails, which is a real possibility in my mind, will I be unemployable because I spend several years in the scammy crypto industry?&lt;p&gt;Just feeling a bit lost. Anyone else in a similar position?</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>jeroenhd</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m one of the &amp;quot;haters&amp;quot;. I see no value in crypto in 99.99% of crypto and in the cases that do make sense the actual use for it is borderline money laundering or tax evasion. All the &amp;quot;enthusiasts&amp;quot; seem to want to get rich by getting as many people as they can in their greater fool scheme of choice in the hopes of becoming a Bitcoin billionaire. The obnoxious fan base and practical scams coming out of the marketing department are what I despise most about the whole thing.&lt;p&gt;However, I don&amp;#x27;t foster any negative feelings towards developers per se. A job&amp;#x27;s a job, and crypto isn&amp;#x27;t exactly as easy as your run of the mill CRUD application development.&lt;p&gt;By working in the ethereum space you&amp;#x27;ve proven you can work with&amp;#x2F;around obscure tools, learn strange jargon, probably have some knowledge of cryptographic algorithms, and a willingness to do a deep dive in what you believe in. I&amp;#x27;m no hiring manager, but to me that all seems like a bunch of skills that will transfer to many businesses outside crypto.&lt;p&gt;There&amp;#x27;s more to a person than what areas of business they have experience in. You can work for Big Oil, Facebook&amp;#x2F;Google&amp;#x2F;UmbrellaCorp, or Nestlé and be a perfectly good person just doing their job. Anyone refusing you simply because you worked in crypto at some point is short-sighted.&lt;p&gt;Even if you are a crucial part in the next big rug-pull-sold-as-ending-world-hunger, I honestly doubt you&amp;#x27;ll run into too many ethical qualms unless you screw up enough to actually break the law and get caught. It&amp;#x27;s not like Meta or Wells Fargo suddenly care about ethics if you can talk things straight enough, most big companies are morally bankrupt anyway.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>itsoktocry</author><text>&amp;gt;&lt;i&gt;A job&amp;#x27;s a job&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;But most people involved in the scam claim to be &amp;quot;just doing their job&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;If you&amp;#x27;re working for an employer or in an industry that &lt;i&gt;you yourself&lt;/i&gt; consider a bit shady, you are morally obligated to leave.  Society can&amp;#x27;t function otherwise.</text></comment>