Hey Hackers! I’m Grant Bartel and I’m a freelance fintech writer.
First of all, a huge thank you to the HackerNoon community and staff for nominating me for a 2021 Noonies award! I’ve been nominated in the following categories please do check out these award pages and vote:
Smart Contractor: https://noonies.tech/award/2021-hackernoons-smart-contractor-of-2021
As someone in the tech industry, I believe that the most exciting technology of the present is Bitcoin mining because it allows anyone to participate in the long-term sustainability, security, and infrastructure of one of the most important decentralized technologies while also earning a living. Learn more about my thoughts and opinions on mining and my journey in the tech industry via the interview below.
1. What do you do and why do you do it? (tell us your story)
I mostly write code and mine Bitcoin!
When it comes to coding, I started out as a .NET developer writing a lot of C#, but in recent years my focus has been Python. I love being able to create tools that I want to use and hopefully others want to use too.
In terms of Bitcoin mining, it’s given me a way to deeply invest in a project I truly believe in with real skin in the game while supplementing my income. This has been a game changer for me since I can now focus on spending time with the people I care about and working on projects I enjoy.
2. Tell us more about the things you create / write / manage / build!
Well right now my main focus has been on building out plebalytics, which is an analytics platform for Bitcoin miners built using Python/Django.
The problem is there aren’t a lot of solutions that help relatively small Bitcoin miners (like myself!) to manage cash flows, evaluate collateralized loan financing strategies, and monitor important performance and risk metrics regarding their BTC holdings and ASIC inventory. Unless you can afford custom, enterprise-level software, you’ll probably be knee deep in the spreadsheets which can be error prone and can take up a lot of time.
3. How did you end up on your current career path? Do you like it?
I started my career as an electrical engineer, but I didn’t like that so much so I slowly moved more toward tech. Since then I’ve worked in the US (I’m from Seattle) and throughout Europe as a software developer, quantitative analyst, AI engineer, technical recruiter and vetter, and finally as a remote freelancer/business owner.
I love where I’m at in my career. I get to write code for myself, the community, and clients while taking an active part in the next phase of the world’s information and value network. Can’t complain.
4. What tech are you most excited or passionate about right now and why?
Apart from Bitcoin mining, I’m actually really excited about layer-2 technology in the cryptoverse. It’s probably the most important innovation at the moment because layer-1 technology is either too slow or too expensive, which arguably reduces adoption and network activity.
For example, the Lightning Network has grown a lot over the years and gives Bitcoiners the ability to spend/transfer BTC permissionlessly, instantaneously, and at virtually zero cost.
I used to be excited about Ethereum layer-2s, but it’s been mostly disappointing. The problem for me is that none of them are denominated in ETH, which means I’m forced to take on more risk by holding some other native token like MATIC or AVAX. I’d definitely be excited to see this resolved in the future.
5. What tech are you most worried about right now and why?
Definitely artificial intelligence. While I’m a huge fan of AI and it’s made my life better (like most of us), some of it’s gotten creepier and creepier over the years. Have you seen those robot dogs by Boston Dynamics? And how will our society look when AI does nearly everything for us? Star Trek, ok. Black Mirror, not ok.
6. If we gave you 10 million dollars to invest in something today, what would you invest in and why?
I’d invest it all in Bitcoin mining because Bitcoin is the future of money and Bitcoin mining can deliver 80-90% returns depending on electricity costs.
- Convert the $10 million into Bitcoin
- Put 50% of the Bitcoin into cold storage
- Use the other 50% to open a collateralized loan
- Buy ASICs with loan money
- Use ASICs to mine Bitcoin
- Keep original 50/50 allocation balanced using mined Bitcoin
- Refinance collateralized loan to buy more ASICs whenever possible
7. What are you currently learning?
This is completely unrelated to tech, but I’ve been learning a lot about Roman history lately. It’s pretty interesting to learn about because the history rhymes so will with what’s going on today. If you’re interested, definitely check out 1) The Storm Before The Storm, 2) Rubicon, and 3) SPQR.
8. What’s the best advice you’ve ever given someone?
I don’t know if this is the best advice I’ve ever given someone, but for most people I’d say:
This could be working on a side hustle outside of your 9-to-5. This could be buying an online course that teaches you something new. Whatever adds to your personal/professional toolkit, do that. It’ll pay dividends; for you and those around you.
9. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
That’s a hard question. I’d say one of the best pieces of advice I ever got was early in my career from one of my ex-managers, which went something like
Connect with Grant on LinkedIn and check out his fintech writer website. And Don’t forget to Vote for him as Smart Contractor of the Year!
About HackerNoon’s 2021 Noonie Awards
The annual Noonie Awards celebrate the best and brightest of the tech industry, bringing together all who are making the Internet and the world of tech what it is today. Please be sure to check out our award categories, nominate, and vote for the people and companies who you think are making the biggest impact on the tech industry today.
The 2021 Noonies are sponsored by: bybit, Dottech Domains, and Avast. Thank you so much to these sponsors who are helping us celebrate the accomplishments of all our nominees.