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这个前沿领域,成为大批年轻人就业首选

这个前沿领域,成为大批年轻人就业首选

Yihui Xie, Coindesk 2022-07-07
传统的科技大厂正被抛弃。

2022年6月23日,第四届纽约NFT大会期间,位于纽约市的万豪侯爵酒店(Marriott Marquis)内的NFT项目贴纸。图片来源:NOAM GALAI—GETTY IMAGES

林川(音译)是北京大学计算机科学专业的一名研究生,明年他就要硕士毕业了。虽然目前全球经济仍然疲软,但他还是决定把就业方向放在下一代的互联网技术上——也就是基于区块链的Web 3技术。

2

3岁的林川曾经在百度和纪源资本(GGV Capital)实习过。不过目前,Web 2领域的机会已经越来越少,林川对Web 3的前景更感兴趣。林川是一名很有冒险精神的青年,他不想像多数同学一样,选择一家传统的科技大厂就业。

“找一份稳定的工作,然后结婚、买房……这些并不是我想要的。我想要的是灵活、自由和更快的职业发展……而Web 3就是这样的,Web 3没有那么多的办公室政治和裙带关系,而是更注重个人能力。你能够做到什么,就可以得到什么。”

作为科技行业的前沿领域,Web 3吸引了全世界技术青年的目光。他们都是区块链技术的支持者,他们全身心地投入到了Web 3的开发中。至于就业市场不景气也好,虚拟币价格波动也好,都不会让他们产生任何波澜。

投资者对Web 3并不感冒

不过,随着比特币(Bitcoin)和以太币(ETH)的暴跌,以及Terra稳定币和Luna币的崩盘,加上Three Arrows Capital虚拟币主题对冲基金的违约,以及Celsius Nework的借贷平台禁止提币,投资者们对待Web 3的态度也变得更加谨慎了。

与此同时,宏观经济环境也在进一步恶化,美国的通胀率已经达到40年来的最高水平,能源价格持续飙升,全球供应链也遭遇了严峻挑战。不过,这些宏观经济上的坏消息似乎并未影响年轻毕业生投身Web 3的决心。

20岁的拉丹·卡利亚尼是加州大学伯克利分校(University of California, Berkeley)的一名大四学生,但他现在已经在一家DEX(去中心化交易所)基础设施初创公司找到了一份全职工作。和他一起进军区块链行业的还有来自“伯克利区块链”(Blockchain at Berkeley)的不少同学,“伯克利区块链”是一个学生组织,也是一家区块链咨询公司。

最近币圈的大气候也并未影响这位曾经的Coinbase实习生对区块链的热情。

“当你投入到一件事情上面,你就会想最大限度地探索它。”当被问道如何兼顾这份工作与大四的学业时,他笑道:“我估计会非常忙。”

24岁的赛义夫·乌丁·马哈穆德是孟加拉人,拥有新加坡国立大学(National University of Singapore)的计算机工程学士学位。他曾经在新加坡的一家医疗初创公司担任技术负责人,不过最近他做出了一个大胆的决定——与朋友共同创办一家Web 3主题的公司。

对Web 2的强势暴击

卡利亚尼和赛义夫都对虚拟币很有信心,因为虚拟币是以区块链作为底层技术的,从而实现了权力的去中心化。这项技术对致力于寻找某种使命感的青年人特别有吸引力。而且它也是对当前的Web 2体系的一记强势暴击,因为很多人都批评Web 2涉嫌剥削用户的免费劳动力,这些利益变现后肥了科技公司,而给用户没有带来任何好处。

有人认为,币圈近期的崩盘只是一次正常的牛熊周期转换。而包括赛义夫在内的一些人更是认为,这次暴跌有助于过滤掉那些想挣快钱的投机者。“杂音会稍微小一些,这意味着会有更多人真正对这项技术感兴趣。”他说。

尽管币圈一片风雨如晦,但是来自各个专业的区块链爱好者还是很希望在区块链领域找到工作。他们很多人并不是学软件工程的,还有不少是学金融、商业甚至法律的,但他们也对区块链有浓厚兴趣。

25岁的来运(音译)刚刚在新加坡国立大学获得金融学本科学位。他起初想当一名理财经理,但是金融界的成功标准太苛刻了,现在的他更想开辟一条属于自己的道路。

为了实现梦想,他在一家区块链基金会的数字资产管理部门找了一份投资分析师的工作,但同时他也创办了一家NFT公司。他于今年6月从新加坡坐了18个小时的飞机来到美国,参加纽约NFT大会,希望能够与这个行业建立起联系。

另一名中国学生萨布丽娜·李(音译)今年8月就将获得新加坡国立大学的会计学硕士学位。小李目前正在虚拟币交易所Bybit实习。她认为虚拟币是一个很有吸引力的就业机会。今年24岁的她很希望成为Bybit的全职员工,她也正在努力学习区块链方面的知识。

她说:“如果我可以进入这个市场并扎下根来,那么我的职业成长速度就将比在金融公司快得多,因为金融公司非常制度化。”

一些警告

当然,区块链仍然是一项新兴技术,并非所有20多岁的年轻人都适合这样一个充满不确定性的市场。

本杰明·派克也是一名新加坡人,即将在新加坡的耶鲁-NUS学院就读法律与人文科学双学位。他目前正在一家初创公司实习,这家公司是做虚拟币交易基础设施的,这也是他第一次接触区块链相关工作。虽然他对虚拟币的前景很乐观,但这位未来的律师在求职上还是持较为谨慎的态度。

“没有多少虚拟币公司能够证明自己是盈利的,是有抗风险能力的,是可以产生广泛影响的。”他还表示,如果他要在虚拟币领域就业,首先那家公司的业务就要具有可持续性。

而在美国湾区,一名卡耐基梅隆大学(Carnegie Mellon University)软件管理学硕士学生也表达了他对虚拟币领域就业问题的担忧。这位不愿意透露姓名的学生表示,他从14岁起就在东欧老家跟着父亲用从中国进口的矿机挖比特币和以太币。这种兴趣一直持续到他上大一,有时他宁可缺课也要去买矿机挖币。而上了研究生后,他已经开始在做一些与NFT有关的研究工作了。

尽管他很早就接触了虚拟币技术,并且一直对区块链有兴趣,但他并不想在这个领域就业。他认为,该领域的就业安全是一个很大的问题。再过半年左右,他就将完成硕士学业,毕业后他想留在美国工作。他最不希望的就是自己还没毕业,工作就跟公司一起没有了。

“虚拟币是有未来的,但你必须正确利用它。”他说。

21岁的新加坡青年谭建真(音译)则显得更加谨慎,他甚至怀疑整个行业有没有未来。谭建真拥有新加坡义安技术学院(Ngee Ann Polytechnic)的大专文凭,过去五年里,他一直试图创办一家自己的区块链公司。

“我认为区块链的一些具体用途很有趣,但这并不是一个可持续的领域。”谭建真主要担心的是虚拟币不受监管的性质。“社会是需要监管的,如果没有监管,混乱就会发生。”

“我会一直从事科技创业公司,但未必一定是做区块链。”他说,“做虚拟币的以为他们能够改变世界,实际上他们并不能。”

但也有很多人不同意他的观点。比如中国的计算机科学家林川认为,区块链的去中心化和反审查特性,使它足以使其成为一股强大的力量,但它“很难与大政府和大公司共存”。

正是因为区块链的这种庞大潜力,它必然会引起中国政府的关注。林川认为,中国将对Web 3技术出台更多监管措施。林川出生在中国杭州,这座城市也是阿里巴巴和一些大型Web 2公司的诞生地。林川目前已经将眼光投向了国外,希望可以找一个更支持这项创新技术的地方。他保留了出国工作的选项,并表示他仍将致力于Web 3技术,并想构建他真正热爱的东西。(财富中文网)

译者:朴成奎

林川(音译)是北京大学计算机科学专业的一名研究生,明年他就要硕士毕业了。虽然目前全球经济仍然疲软,但他还是决定把就业方向放在下一代的互联网技术上——也就是基于区块链的Web 3技术。

23岁的林川曾经在百度和纪源资本(GGV Capital)实习过。不过目前,Web 2领域的机会已经越来越少,林川对Web 3的前景更感兴趣。林川是一名很有冒险精神的青年,他不想像多数同学一样,选择一家传统的科技大厂就业。

“找一份稳定的工作,然后结婚、买房……这些并不是我想要的。我想要的是灵活、自由和更快的职业发展……而Web 3就是这样的,Web 3没有那么多的办公室政治和裙带关系,而是更注重个人能力。你能够做到什么,就可以得到什么。”

作为科技行业的前沿领域,Web 3吸引了全世界技术青年的目光。他们都是区块链技术的支持者,他们全身心地投入到了Web 3的开发中。至于就业市场不景气也好,虚拟币价格波动也好,都不会让他们产生任何波澜。

投资者对Web 3并不感冒

不过,随着比特币(Bitcoin)和以太币(ETH)的暴跌,以及Terra稳定币和Luna币的崩盘,加上Three Arrows Capital虚拟币主题对冲基金的违约,以及Celsius Nework的借贷平台禁止提币,投资者们对待Web 3的态度也变得更加谨慎了。

与此同时,宏观经济环境也在进一步恶化,美国的通胀率已经达到40年来的最高水平,能源价格持续飙升,全球供应链也遭遇了严峻挑战。不过,这些宏观经济上的坏消息似乎并未影响年轻毕业生投身Web 3的决心。

20岁的拉丹·卡利亚尼是加州大学伯克利分校(University of California, Berkeley)的一名大四学生,但他现在已经在一家DEX(去中心化交易所)基础设施初创公司找到了一份全职工作。和他一起进军区块链行业的还有来自“伯克利区块链”(Blockchain at Berkeley)的不少同学,“伯克利区块链”是一个学生组织,也是一家区块链咨询公司。

最近币圈的大气候也并未影响这位曾经的Coinbase实习生对区块链的热情。

“当你投入到一件事情上面,你就会想最大限度地探索它。”当被问道如何兼顾这份工作与大四的学业时,他笑道:“我估计会非常忙。”

24岁的赛义夫·乌丁·马哈穆德是孟加拉人,拥有新加坡国立大学(National University of Singapore)的计算机工程学士学位。他曾经在新加坡的一家医疗初创公司担任技术负责人,不过最近他做出了一个大胆的决定——与朋友共同创办一家Web 3主题的公司。

对Web 2的强势暴击

卡利亚尼和赛义夫都对虚拟币很有信心,因为虚拟币是以区块链作为底层技术的,从而实现了权力的去中心化。这项技术对致力于寻找某种使命感的青年人特别有吸引力。而且它也是对当前的Web 2体系的一记强势暴击,因为很多人都批评Web 2涉嫌剥削用户的免费劳动力,这些利益变现后肥了科技公司,而给用户没有带来任何好处。

有人认为,币圈近期的崩盘只是一次正常的牛熊周期转换。而包括赛义夫在内的一些人更是认为,这次暴跌有助于过滤掉那些想挣快钱的投机者。“杂音会稍微小一些,这意味着会有更多人真正对这项技术感兴趣。”他说。

尽管币圈一片风雨如晦,但是来自各个专业的区块链爱好者还是很希望在区块链领域找到工作。他们很多人并不是学软件工程的,还有不少是学金融、商业甚至法律的,但他们也对区块链有浓厚兴趣。

25岁的来运(音译)刚刚在新加坡国立大学获得金融学本科学位。他起初想当一名理财经理,但是金融界的成功标准太苛刻了,现在的他更想开辟一条属于自己的道路。

为了实现梦想,他在一家区块链基金会的数字资产管理部门找了一份投资分析师的工作,但同时他也创办了一家NFT公司。他于今年6月从新加坡坐了18个小时的飞机来到美国,参加纽约NFT大会,希望能够与这个行业建立起联系。

另一名中国学生萨布丽娜·李(音译)今年8月就将获得新加坡国立大学的会计学硕士学位。小李目前正在虚拟币交易所Bybit实习。她认为虚拟币是一个很有吸引力的就业机会。今年24岁的她很希望成为Bybit的全职员工,她也正在努力学习区块链方面的知识。

她说:“如果我可以进入这个市场并扎下根来,那么我的职业成长速度就将比在金融公司快得多,因为金融公司非常制度化。”

一些警告

当然,区块链仍然是一项新兴技术,并非所有20多岁的年轻人都适合这样一个充满不确定性的市场。

本杰明·派克也是一名新加坡人,即将在新加坡的耶鲁-NUS学院就读法律与人文科学双学位。他目前正在一家初创公司实习,这家公司是做虚拟币交易基础设施的,这也是他第一次接触区块链相关工作。虽然他对虚拟币的前景很乐观,但这位未来的律师在求职上还是持较为谨慎的态度。

“没有多少虚拟币公司能够证明自己是盈利的,是有抗风险能力的,是可以产生广泛影响的。”他还表示,如果他要在虚拟币领域就业,首先那家公司的业务就要具有可持续性。

而在美国湾区,一名卡耐基梅隆大学(Carnegie Mellon University)软件管理学硕士学生也表达了他对虚拟币领域就业问题的担忧。这位不愿意透露姓名的学生表示,他从14岁起就在东欧老家跟着父亲用从中国进口的矿机挖比特币和以太币。这种兴趣一直持续到他上大一,有时他宁可缺课也要去买矿机挖币。而上了研究生后,他已经开始在做一些与NFT有关的研究工作了。

尽管他很早就接触了虚拟币技术,并且一直对区块链有兴趣,但他并不想在这个领域就业。他认为,该领域的就业安全是一个很大的问题。再过半年左右,他就将完成硕士学业,毕业后他想留在美国工作。他最不希望的就是自己还没毕业,工作就跟公司一起没有了。

“虚拟币是有未来的,但你必须正确利用它。”他说。

21岁的新加坡青年谭建真(音译)则显得更加谨慎,他甚至怀疑整个行业有没有未来。谭建真拥有新加坡义安技术学院(Ngee Ann Polytechnic)的大专文凭,过去五年里,他一直试图创办一家自己的区块链公司。

“我认为区块链的一些具体用途很有趣,但这并不是一个可持续的领域。”谭建真主要担心的是虚拟币不受监管的性质。“社会是需要监管的,如果没有监管,混乱就会发生。”

“我会一直从事科技创业公司,但未必一定是做区块链。”他说,“做虚拟币的以为他们能够改变世界,实际上他们并不能。”

但也有很多人不同意他的观点。比如中国的计算机科学家林川认为,区块链的去中心化和反审查特性,使它足以使其成为一股强大的力量,但它“很难与大政府和大公司共存”。

正是因为区块链的这种庞大潜力,它必然会引起中国政府的关注。林川认为,中国将对Web 3技术出台更多监管措施。林川出生在中国杭州,这座城市也是阿里巴巴和一些大型Web 2公司的诞生地。林川目前已经将眼光投向了国外,希望可以找一个更支持这项创新技术的地方。他保留了出国工作的选项,并表示他仍将致力于Web 3技术,并想构建他真正热爱的东西。(财富中文网)

译者:朴成奎

Lin Chuan is on track to graduate next year with a master’s degree in computer science from Peking University. The weak global economy notwithstanding, he plans to start his career working in the next iteration of the internet, blockchain-based Web3.

The 23-year-old has interned at Baidu, China’s internet search behemoth, and at global venture firm GGV Capital. He is disappointed by the dwindling opportunities in Web2 amid China’s tech crackdown and fascinated by the growing potential in Web3. An adventurer in spirit, he doesn’t want to settle down at a traditional tech company, like most of his computer science peers do.

“Finding a stable job, getting married, buying a house … these are just not my thing,” he said. “I look for flexibility, freedom and a faster career path … and this space is just like that, and with little office politics or nepotism. It is about your individual abilities—you get rewarded for what you can do.”

A new frontier in the tech industry, Web3 draws students and fresh graduates all over the world who have technical know-how and whose skills are readily applicable to blockchain development. These young crypto believers are often fully committed to working in the sector, attracted by the idea of decentralization and their faster career advancement potential. They are unfazed by the battered job market and volatile cryptocurrency prices.

Investors’ reluctance to embrace Web3

Yes, investors are thinking twice about putting money in this heated industry, with steep drops of bitcoin and ETH as well as the collapse of the terra stablecoin and its corresponding luna token, default of the Three Arrows Capital crypto hedge fund and freezing of withdrawals from Celsius Nework’s lending platform.

Meanwhile, the macroeconomic climate is getting worse, with inflation at a 40-year high, soaring energy prices and global supply chain logjams. Still, the bad economic news doesn’t appear to be dampening young job seekers’ determination to jump into Web3.

In the Bay Area, Ratan Kaliani, 20, a rising senior at the University of California, Berkeley, is already working full time in a DEX (decentralized exchange) infrastructure startup. He got into crypto with peers from Blockchain at Berkeley, a student-run organization and blockchain consultancy.

The recent crypto climate doesn’t daunt this ex-Coinbase intern’s passion for crypto.

“When you are committed to something, you want to be able to explore it the fullest,” he said. When asked how he will finish his senior year while working full time, he chuckled. “I am probably going to be pretty busy.”

Saif Uddin Mahmud, 24, is a Bangladeshi with a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from the National University of Singapore. Having worked as the technical lead in a Singapore-based health-care startup, he recently took a leap of faith and is in the planning stages of a Web3 startup he is co-founding with friends.

A radical response

Kaliani and Saif share a faith in crypto, specifically admiring that it is a blockchain-powered system with decentralized authority. The emerging technology seems to speak to young adults looking for a mission—a radical response to the current Web2 system that has been criticized for exploiting the free labor of users that is then monetized to enrich the corporation.

The recent crypto crash is seen as part of a normal cycle of bull and bear markets. In fact, some, such as Saif, believe that the crash will filter out opportunist traders who want to make quick money: “The noise will quiet down a bit, which means that there will be more people who are genuinely interested in the technology,” he said.

Even amid the uncertainty, young crypto enthusiasts of all disciplines are seeking jobs, not just software engineers. Finance, business and even law students are also taking an interest in crypto.

Lai Yuen is a 25-year-old Singaporean who just finished his undergraduate study in finance at the National University of Singapore. He initially aspired to be a portfolio manager, but grew disillusioned by the rigid metrics of success in finance and wanted to carve out a path of his own.

That path means starting an NFT (non-fungible token) company while working as an investment analyst for the digital-asset management arm of a foundation that supports open-source crypto projects. He took an 18-hour flight from Singapore to New York this month to attend the NFT.NYC conference, seeking to build connections in the industry.

A Chinese student who will graduate with a master’s in accounting from National University of Singapore this August, Sabrina Li is interning at crypto exchange Bybit. She still sees crypto as an attractive career opportunity. Hoping to convert to a full-time employee at Bybit, the 24-year-old is doing all she can to learn about crypto.

“If I can enter the market and take root, then I will be growing much faster in my career than in a financial firm, where things are very much institutionalized,” she said.

Some caution

Of course, not all twentysomethings are ready to jump into an uncertain market in an emerging technology.

Benjamin Peck is another Singaporean who is about to start the penultimate year of his double-degree program in law and liberal arts at Yale-NUS College in Singapore. His first foray into crypto-related work is his current internship at a Singapore-based startup that is creating a payment infrastructure for crypto trading. While inspired by what cryptocurrencies promise, the future lawyer is cautious about seeking a career there.

“Not a lot of crypto companies have proven themselves to be profitable, resilient and able to generate impact,” he said. Peck added that his career interest in the crypto industry would hinge on where there are sustainable businesses.

In the Bay Area, a student pursuing a master’s program in software management at Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley expresses his concern about embarking on a crypto career. The student, who wishes to be anonymous, had been involved in crypto since the age of 14. In Eastern Europe, where he lived, he would import crypto mining machines from China and with his father mine bitcoins and ETH. This interest continued into his freshman year in college, when he would miss lectures to try to buy more mining rigs. In his current school, he has been doing a few research projects working with NFTs.

Despite his early exposure and consistent interest, he doesn’t want to get a job in crypto, citing job security as the main concern. In around half a year, he will finish his master’s degree, after which he hopes to continue working in the U.S. The last thing he wants is to have his job offer rescinded just before he graduates.

"There is a future in crypto but you have to leverage it correctly,” he said.

Singaporean Tan Jian Zhen is even less enthusiastic. The 21-year-old is highly skeptical of the crypto industry. A holder of a diploma in information technology from Ngee Ann Polytechnic, a post-secondary institution in Singapore, the startup enthusiast has been trying to start a crypto company of his own for the past five years.

“I think some specific use cases are interesting, but this is not a sustainable field,” Tan said. A major part of his skepticism comes from crypto's unregulated nature. “Society needs regulation. If not, chaos ensues.

“I will remain in the tech startup space, but it doesn’t have to be crypto,” he added, “Cryptocurrencies feel like they can change the world, but they are not.”

But many others would disagree. The decentralized and anti-censorship nature of crypto and blockchain-based organizations is enough to make it a potent force, said Lin, the Chinese computer scientist, as it is “difficult to be with big government and corporations.”

In fact, it is powerful enough to keep the Chinese government on its toes. Lin expects more regulatory oversight in his home country. A native of Hangzhou, the birthplace of Alibaba and some of the biggest Web2 firms, he looks abroad for a place more supportive of this novel technology. He leaves that choice open, but remains dedicated to Web3 and building what he is passionate about.

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