I'm not sure why I didn't take to stacker.news sooner. It's been on my radar for a while, but I've been inundated with other inputs, priorities, etc., and I’ve spent most of the past year going down the nostr rabbit hole, but here I am giving it another go.
So a couple of weeks ago, I was laid off from yet another fiat job. My third one in three years, in fact! An old friend, in fact the guy who offered me my first real job, reached out to me on LinkedIn to ask me what happened, and what my “ideal scenario” would be.
I replied with one word: Bitcoin.
His response: Yeah right.

I wrote back: A little disappointed in your lack of confidence. 😅
His answer, unsurprisingly: Not in you but in Bitcoin.

Of course, I’m sure he thought I was going to become a trader or something, because when most people hear the word bitcoin, they only think about the price. They have no idea what’s being built right now.
I told him my ideal scenario would be to work in the industry. I’ve been thinking about this for a while. I spend most of my time online immersed in a world of new possibilities, ways to connect, share value for value, and build stronger community bonds. This is where I want to take my career next, and to finally make a break from a world of “serious professionals” who think bitcoin is a joke.
He never replied, of course.
Let them laugh.
Lol for sure, I don't even bring it up with my normie connections anymore, I just let them laugh and have their opinions, I am sure they are going to tell me I just got lucky when this thing finally starts to click but thats a pain I am happy to deal with
I think the inertia of the status quo is hard to break, people will do something familiar even when it shows diminishing results and with fiat, people can't always see the diminishing results because they are so focused on the nominal unit and not the relative purchasing power
All the best with the next step in your career and enjoy the journey, we will all look back on it and laugh
reply
That's how I have been. Totally avoiding the subject. Now I just make short, positive statements and drop it unless they initiate further conversation. I just want to make my opinion clear to everyone. People who respect you might do their own research. At worst, the word "bitcoin" is heard in a positive light.
reply
I keep dropping Bitcoin here and there into conversations and most of the time the other party takes it as a joke. But once in a while there is someone who comes back and asks me for example how they can get some. imho, merchants should be the key driver. Even if they will not receive sats payments, they should still allow for this option in their shops and slowly, but surely the momentum will pick up.
reply
You're so right. Back in 2021 everyone wanted to talk to me because I was the guy who knew about Bitcoin. Now when I mention Bitcoin everyone is just awkwardly silent like they feel bad for me or something. But they don't know. They think Bitcoin was just a scam to part fools with their money. They're in for a surprise when the dollar fails and there's a mad scramble for Bitcoin
reply
Win in silence. Let them think you're losing.
reply
If it helps, the same thing happened with many other new technologies including the cell phone, Internet, automobile, telephone, electricity, probably the wheel. People always laugh until a tipping point is reached.
reply
The more I learn about Bitcoin makes me realize I have a lot more to learn. I could be interested in a Bitcoin job but finance was never my background. Probably like a lot of us here, I'm a self taught techie that has a job somewhere between writing code, writing security standards for how to minimize that chances of our products being pwned, running DevSecOps infrastructure, and solving customer issues. But, hey, I'm learning.
I'm not sure why I didn't take to stacker.news sooner.
Never too late!
(Also, I just wanted to test SN's new 'quote reply' feature on mobile. It works!)
reply
It's hard to explain Bitcoin sometimes, it's something one often has to experience themselves first.
reply
it’s been over 2 years and I still can’t explain bitcoin mining.
I also can’t explain the internet or how a car works 😅
reply
😆 I was embarassed to admit that for a while myself. Then I figured I'd better get wise because I really had no business talking about bitcoin without a better understanding the how the protocol works. When you read articles in MSM about it, it's always the same thing. "Miners are solving CoMpLiCaTeD pUzZleS."
No, they're not. They're literally brute forcing a random number that's made up from the hashing all the pending transactions and yeeting it repeatedly until they find the first acceptable hash. The energy and computing power required to do this prevents double-spends and secures the network from hostile actors.
Andreas Antonopolus was my teacher.
reply
thanks bro!
i've got The Internet of Money series saved on @fountain app
@aantonop is the goat educator
reply