The Market for Crypto--A Curmudgeon's View

[Amanda Walker]

> I disagree here -- I've gotten a couple of jobs where my net 
> reputation preceded me and was the primary motivator for my getting 
> an interview.  I was also told at one of them to continue posting as I 
> did because they felt that their reputation was enhanced by mine.  

Indeed.  Every job I've had since part-time consulting in college has been 
gotten through the net, and with me electronic presentation and reputation a 
large factor in getting hired.  My official title at InterCon is "Software 
Engineer / Net Goddess", and among my official responsibilities are to 
competently and professionally represent myself and my employer on the 
Internet.  The whole reason I'm on cypherpunks, in fact, is because we're 
ramping up on supporting encryption & authentication in our commercial 
software, and this is where the ideas are.

> And "cannot make money on the net"?  How do you see this?  Much as I 
> hate the metaphor, I don't make money on the local highways either, 
> but they're a part of real life.

It would also be hard to ship things without highways & airports :).  This is 
why the net is an example of infastructure.  InterCon probably makes more 
money from people who download our demos over the net, or see reviews and 
recommendations on comp.sys.mac.*, than we do from our traditional printed 
advertising (and given the quality of a couple of our MacWeek ads, this is a 
darned good thing :)).

> Just because the reputations aren't digital yet, nor is the cash, 
> doesn't mean that the Net isn't real life.  It's as real as nearby 
> I-94.  And a lot more interesting and complex.  

I agree.  And reputations *are* becoming at least partially digital.  I've 
refused to hire people because I've seen them being twits on the net, and I've 
hired people (and been hired) because I make a generally good net.impression.  
It even got my picture in Fortune magazine this spring.

If that's not at least a start at a digital  reputation, I'm not sure what is.


Amanda Walker
InterCon Systems Corporation