Today’s a Tough Day

I was shocked by today’s announcement of mass layoffs at Coinbase. I can’t say I’m completely surprised; it’s been a rough couple of months in the crypto market.

Honestly, this is my very first experience in dealing with layoffs. And needless to say, I’m a little freaked out.

And the company had already taken a number of cost cutting measures leading up to this, from a hiring freeze to rescinding job offers.

I woke up to messages from my family and friends checking in on me and freaking out. I anxiously waited for the email telling me if I still had a job. Would I still need to go into work today? Which coworkers would be there with me (albeit virtually)?

I saw accounts get deactivated for several brilliant colleagues, many of whom I admired. I had some colleagues DM me expressing their happiness at seeing a green light on my Slack profile.

Why did I get to keep my job? I’ve only been there for 6 months at this point. Honestly, I think I got lucky. I was in the right part of the organization at the right time.

I was fortunate to not be part of that 18%. But I don’t feel very fortunate. If anything, my imposter syndrome is even worse now. There’s a lingering feeling that I’ll eventually get exposed and join the rest of my fallen colleagues. Hell, I’m scared to publish this given how Brian Armstrong reacted to a petition last week.

The layoffs themselves are bad enough, but that’s to be expected from tough economic conditions. But it raises the question: What assurances do we have? What’s the chance that there’s more layoffs in 2-3 months?

Frankly, I’m not afraid of being laid off. I’m young, healthy, and have a fairly good support network. And where one door closes, another opens. But it doesn’t feel good to not be in control of that decision.

Cryptocurrency is a chaotic space. Things can quickly go from very good to very bad. That’s the risk that comes with working in this industry. And I don’t regret being in this space. I do think Coinbase will survive this crypto winter, and will thrive on the other side of it, however long that takes.

At the end of the day, I’m in it for the learning. And cryptocurrency full of the most fascinating learnings.