Ask HN: Why are crypto companies and EA writer-hungry? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Why are crypto companies and EA writer-hungry?

19 pointsWritingWriter16 comments

This might be a weird question; it's coming from a person who is pretty non-technical compared to the average HN user.

I write for a living, and good-paying writing jobs are difficult to come by, so I tend to maintain a constant search even when I have work. I've noticed that - in the tech/startup world - Crypto companies and EA-related orgs are sometimes-to-often offering OK writer jobs, while tech companies at large tend to do so much more rarely.

I should note I don't mean technical writing so much; I'm more talking about outward-facing writing that seeks to communicate information to outside parties, like PR/Marketing/Employer Prop. Tech companies often hire technical writers, but that's distinct from what I do/mean.

It seems to me that it should be the case that these companies would have similar needs to each other - what am I missing?

View on HN

Cryptocurrency companies need writers because they are participating in a global pyramid scheme which is entirely based on a constant need to lure in more suckers. They need to shape the narrative and create a false aura of respectability, and hack into the emotions of gullible people.

Many crypto companies are scams/Ponzi schemes that needs users to believe in the product to have any value. They need continuous community engagement in order to maintain their fans, reinforce the idea of their value, and prevent users from jumping to the Next Big Thing. Most technology exists to solve a problem the customer already has. But crypto many times has to both convince users there is a problem, and that they are the solution. There are a million shitcoins, NFTs, and Web3 markets that need to convince users they are better than the other 999,999 crypto products out there.

Not sure what you mean by EA, so I cannot comment.

If I had to guess, EA is Effective Altruism

We (I work at a crypto startup with about 100 employees now) finally reached the size where we need both internal and external docs. Before, we lived with whatever crappy confluence page I could write. Or we just relied on word of mouth. And that works when you have fewer employees and clients. But there are more now (of both) than I can keep up with. I think a lot of crypto companies are in a similar position right now. Were actually a bit ahead of schedule

That's why we just hired out first two technical writers.

I cannot comment on EA. Do you mean Electronic Arts? Sorry for my ignorance...

Would you mind sharing what's your company? I'm looking for good crypto companies to apply to. I'm a backed SWE with 6 years of exp in total, and one year of exp in "crypto"

Drop me an email: capt.john.tyler@gmail.com

Crypto-currency companies place a premium on writers who can produce convincing fiction, it's sort of their business model.

Marketing channels.

B2C apps want to upsell, especially the freemium ones, so they hire more UX designers to get people to click the right buttons and get engaged. Game companies sell by their looks, so they hire more UI designers.

Companies like Atlassian hire more tech people, because only another tech person can sell a technical product.

Crypto tends to have very niche uses. Sometimes so niche that even the founders don't understand it. So a good writer is needed to explain the value proposition to a layman.

There are a lot of jurisdictions in which advertising online (AdWords, Facebook, etc) is restricted (to varying degrees).

I’d suggest this is a part of the need for more writing/content/communication/pr.

We’re also at the stage where it’s moving from the technical to the non-technical audience, and the methods of communicating how products and services on crypto operate requires different people/methods.

Simply put: Crypto needs good writers to help explain and educate the new burgeoning technology.

Early adopters struggle in this area.

The comments in this very post explain why. It's going on 13 years now and a lot of HN readers still think crypto is a scam. There is still a lot of educating required.

The comments in this very post explain why. It's going on 13 years now and a lot of HN readers still know crypto is a scam. There is still a lot of brainwashing required.

Fixed your comment for you. You must be one of those "writers" the OP alluded to.

it's decentralization that is the scam, crypto being merely a downstream application of this unworkable ideological position which consists of elaborately ignoring the impossibility of creating a sustained "power vacuum"

Decentralization is a nonsensical semantic mirage, a claim that this act of agency occurs without an agent. There is always a selfish motive with first-mover advantage lurking at, or plotting to usurp, maximally influential clique at center of mass in every decentralization scheme. Satoshi 'disappeared' (and bitcoin ideologues strongly condemn attempts to identify him) because it is understood that his existence would fatally undermine the bitcoin origin fable of decentralization.

You'd think programmable money would interest this crowd. But they get blinded by how scammers use it, rather than looking at the tech itself.

I wouldn't bother trying to explain anything, they aren't interested. I'll probably get replies asking for a valid use case, but it's all been explained to them before and they just plug their ears and cry about it instead.

Absolutely. The HN that hates crypto would have shutdown email due to romance scams.

But they love the value of their startup(s) && SF housing when the speculation on assets benefits them directly.

Programmable money is here to stay. Just like email.

> But they love the value of their startup(s) && SF housing when the speculation on assets benefits them directly.

This is the crux of it. The average HNer either already is a beneficiary of the legacy financial system (i.e. wealth derived from investor-provided capital, be it through investment rounds or a "successful exit") or aspires to be one. They're coming from a place of privilege - and decentralized finance threatens that privilege.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com