run like hell dude, this is a really really bad time to join Gemini.
+1 tbh
Compliance is one of the focus areas as of late considering all the FTX stuff going on. Gemini likes to "ask for permission, not for forgiveness", so the execs tend to be interested in regulations and staying compliant. That said, I haven't worked in those areas, so hard to know what those team's day-to-day is like.
Yeah, compliance becomes a big deal after you lose 1 billion fucking dollars
This didn’t age well
Gemini has had a lot of really smart people in its lifetime and was a truly great place to work at. Smart people came in and saw opportunities to fix inefficiencies and problems and did great work on solving specific things. The problem is that these people got burnt out from disconnected leadership, across all teams, and left the company. So while the work done was great it was not done in a holistic sense and with that knowledge being, largely, siloed it created new problems as team members with little context had to take on that work. This created new problems tossed into the ever growing to be fixed eventually pile. Since the layoffs there has been such a drastic drop in company culture and happiness. The work has always been hard but it used to be enjoyable. With our new pivot to become a micro mirror of Amazon the work has lost its reward knowing leadership could, and would, turn on you in a moments notice. While compliance may not be touched as directly by the new tech leadership I would still be weary of the heavy Amazon culture being brought on the company. Within compliance and honestly the entire company there has been increased turnover. That’s not to say the original members of the company had the only or right vision, I think a lot of the good employees saw warning signs and looked for safer jobs elsewhere. If you are really looking to get into the crypto space, the pay is good and you will have no shortage of work.
Very well said! I’d add to that, the issue of diversity being a big issue in the context that if you haven’t worked for Amazon before you will potentially be shunned and your voice and input dismissed. I’ve witnessed this a number of times and this has been a source of turnover in my operating group. Additionally, I’ve witnessed the “Amazon disciples” make numerous execution mistakes and not take ownership and so much as acknowledge their miss. All of this, combined with the downturn in the crypto market makes for a perfect storm that I believe will sink the ship. There’s simply no way in my opinion that they will continue to attract good talent with their current culture in place.
This was exceptionally informative. Good news is that I'm not really looking to stay for 3+ years. The move to Gemini will be transitory, just to get some crypto compliance experience under my belt before moving onto bigger companies when crypto winter passes. I greatly appreciate you sharing your experiences.