The Pomp Podcast - #958 Allen Helm On How You Can Change Your Career And Work In The Crypto Industry

Episode Date: May 12, 2022

Allen Helm is an Account & Project Manager at BTC Inc. He's also one of the success stories of the Crypto Academy course that we run. In this conversation we talk about Allen's journey to change his career, why he decided to join the Crypto industry, applying for jobs in the crypto industry, and tips on how you can find a job in the Crypto Industry. ======================= Since 2018 Copper has been at the forefront of institutional digital asset development.   From award winning custody solutions, to creating the first truly off-exchange settlement function, Copper pioneers technology, products, and services, in lock-step with a rapidly changing world.    No other infrastructure provider covers as many assets, across as many exchanges, with the speed and security that Copper can offer. To learn how Copper helps the world’s largest institutional investors secure their digital assets, head over to copper.co   Copper - the unfair advantage. ======================= Compass Mining is the world's first online marketplace for bitcoin mining hardware and hosting. Compass was founded with the goal of making it easy for everyone to mine bitcoin.  Visit http://compassmining.io to start mining bitcoin today!  ======================= Bullish is a powerful new digital asset exchange built for institutions that delivers the innovations of DeFi in a regulated environment. The Bullish Hybrid Order Book pairs the high-performance of a traditional Central Limit Order Book with automated market making. Powered by deep Bullish Liquidity Pools, backed by the multi-billion dollar Bullish Treasury. So, you can trade with certainty and at scale across variable market conditions.   Learn more at Bullish.com or follow @Bullish on Twitter. Because the future belongs to the bullish.   *Not investment advice. Digital assets and cryptocurrencies are high risk products. Consult your professional advisor before dealing in them. Bullish’s services are available in select locations only and not to U.S persons.    Visit https://bullish.com/legal for important information and risk warnings =======================

What's up, everyone? This is Anthony Pompliano. Most of you know me as Pomp. You're listening to the Pomp Podcast, simply the best podcast out there. Now let's kick this thing off. Alan Helm is an accountant project manager at BTC Inc. He's also one of the success stories from the training program that we run, which you can find at thecryptoacademy.io. In this conversation, we talk about Alan's journey to upskilling himself, applying for jobs in the crypto industry, and why he was so interested in joining one of the fastest growing technology sectors in the world. I really enjoyed this conversation with Alan, and I hope you guys enjoy it as well. Before we get into this episode, though, I first want to talk about our sponsors.

Today's episode is brought to you by Copper. Since 2018, Copper has been at the forefront of institutional digital asset development. From award-winning custody solutions to creating the first truly off-exchange settlement function, Copper pioneers technology, products, and services in lockstep with a rapidly changing world. No other infrastructure provider covers as many assets across as many exchanges with the speed and security that Copper can offer. To learn how Copper helps the world's largest

institutional investors secure their digital assets, head over to copper.co. Again, Copper, the unfair advantage. Check them out at copper.co today. Next up is Compass Mining. Compass Mining is the world's largest marketplace for mining hardware and hosting. With Compass, everyone can mine Bitcoin.

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Go check them out and let me know what you think. This episode is brought to you by Bullish. Bullish is a powerful new digital asset exchange built for institutions that delivers the innovations of DeFi in a regulated environment. The Bullish Hybrid Order Book pairs the high performance of a traditional central limit order book with the automated market making. Powered by deep bullish liquidity pools backed by the multi-billion dollar bullish treasury. So you can trade with certainty and at scale across variable market conditions. You can learn more at Bullish.com or follow Bullish on Twitter because the future belongs to the bullish.

Now this is not investment advice. Digital assets and cryptocurrencies are high risk products. Consult your professional advisor before dealing in them. bullish services are available in select locations only and not to us persons visit bullish.com slash legal for important information and risk warnings go check them out at bullish.com or follow at bullish on twitter anthony pompliano runs pomp investments all views of him and the guests on his podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of pomp investments you should not treat any opinion expressed by pomp or his guests as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy, but only as an expression

of his personal opinion. This podcast is for informational purposes only. Alan, how are you? Yo, Pomp, what's going on, man? I appreciate you bringing me on today. Dude, I'm super excited about this. So you did not have a job in the Bitcoin and crypto industry. You do now have a job in the Bitcoin and crypto industry. And I figured that this would be kind of a cool success story to talk about the things that you did, what worked, what didn't work, and any advice you have for other people who are looking to find a job in the industry. First, let's start with what do you do now at BTC Inc? Yeah, that's a great question. So I'm one of the

account managers for BTC Inc. For those of you that aren't familiar with BTC Inc, we're the parent company to Bitcoin Magazine and the Bitcoin Conference. My main focus is within the Bitcoin conference itself. I handle some of our biggest relationships. So some of the companies you guys might know includes like Marathon, Blockdaemon, Cash App, so on and so forth. So yeah, I get to be best friends with some of these companies and just kind of make sure that their branding and some of the promises and deliverables that we give them are on point for the conference. Got it. And so when you think about that as a role, what were you doing before you started work at BTC Inc. from an employment standpoint? Yeah. So I was working account management,

but it was actually in insurance and I was doing a lot of cold calling and bringing in new business just for this small firm in St. Louis. So this is much better. Yeah, this is a whole lot better. Totally different scale. I don't get hung up on every other call. People are actually excited to talk to me for a change. So yeah, I definitely love it. Great change of pace. All right. Uh, by the way, people are commenting on your gun safe in the background. They're saying that, uh, that you have guns. So, uh, they, uh, they appreciate that. There's a more to self-sovereignty than just Bitcoin. So you're going to fit right in here, my friend. Uh, all right. So let's, um, let, let's talk a

little bit about your, you're at the insurance company. You know, that you want a new job. Why were you interested in the Bitcoin crypto industry? Like, well, what was it about that? Were you just spending your personal time there or what? Yeah, so a little bit of context. So this was about a year ago, right? This is like, we're in the middle of the pandemic. You know, everyone's kind of starting to get some interest in just like inflation and like some of these other crypto assets in the space. But really, like my primary introduction to Bitcoin was all the way back in 2014 when I first entered college. And it was kind of it's kind of a funny story. But I walked into like my new roommate's dorm room for the first time. And he's on this thing called Silk Road, which I think we're all kind of familiar with what Silk Road is and like kind of the illicit activities that were going on there.

But my first question really was, was like, hey, like, how do you buy stuff on here? It's like, oh, it's this thing called Bitcoin. and I was like, oh, I never heard of it. He's like, yeah, man, one goes for like 500 bucks, you know, and at the time as a broke college kid, I was like, holy crap, that's a lot of money. God, I wish I could have bought Bitcoin back then at $500. But hindsight's 20-20.

So fast forward, didn't really think too much about Bitcoin, a whole lot, 2017 rolls around. I'd just dropped out of college, found this thing called Bitcoin Twitter and really kind of got into the rabbit hole. And that's actually where I'd found you. I bought my first couple of Bitcoins, shit coined a little bit for a while, got burned. And then really like fast forward back into 2020, working for this insurance company, rekindled the spark for Bitcoin.

And so I came across a tweet that you had put out and it was like, hey, we want to hire. I think you said you want to hire like 10,000 people into the industry in a year or something like that. But you're going to do it through this crypto course that you were putting out. And I was like, hey, I'll sign up for that. I think this is a great way to network and maybe find some people in the industry that can kind of guide me towards finding a job. Because that's really what I was like passionate about at the time and still am. And yeah, I don't know, enter the course and it kind of snowballed from there. So when you went through the training program, like what did you think you needed to do the

most? I'm fascinated by this idea of like upskilling, right? You had a job, you knew account management, you obviously were personally interested in Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. So like What was the goal for you? Or what did you think you had to kind of brush up on or upskill in order to be better positioned to get a job in the industry? Yeah, the upskilling was really a big important part. Having dropped out of school, you know, my first first kind of job really was actually landscaping. And there's not a whole lot you can do, like moving up, at least from like a general perspective. There's no playbook on like, oh, I'm going to enter landscaping and then get into business or something of the sort. But I did know I was like, hey, all I got to do is just like

be the best at this job and then like get into like a management position. And then from there, I can learn some business skills and that can translate maybe over into something else. So it was kind of like a progressive step and just building on like, what's the next big thing? What's the next big thing? So through like the landscaping, then getting into State Farm and then coming across your course, I came in and like my first introduction to some of these people were like banking CEOs, presidents, like big time managers. And I'm like, oh my God, I'm just this college dropout kid working for this insurance company. Like I'm not going to like find a job in this industry, but, uh, I knew I had to shake that mentality super quick. And so essentially I

was like, Hey, I'm going to do one of two things. Either I'm going to like create my own job, um, through like a podcast or something of that sorts. Uh, or like, I'm going to get one. I mean, there's no other, there's no other options, either get a job or make my own. And so through the course, I got to meet a lot of amazing people, tons of amazing people. We started this podcast at the time. It was called Citizens of Blockchain. Everyone has a Bitcoin podcast, it seems like. So I was like, hey, I got to carve out a niche, something that's a little bit different. Nobody at the time had really done anything in terms of like figuring out what to do or the process of finding a job like in this industry, especially because this industry is so new.

Um, and for me, you know, it was really a way to kind of like network with hiring managers, network with people that have gotten the jobs. And so not only was I like learning how to like apply and get like a job in the space, but I was also teaching others at the same time. Got it. And as you went through it, like now that, uh, you've kind of had the three week experience, what was the things that you felt like were the most valuable? And then also like, what were the things that you felt like, ah, maybe this wasn't as valuable,

uh, that, uh, that I thought it was going to be. yeah so um at the time you know it was like holy crap i get to be like in front of pop i've been like following your content for a long time now you're on the show yeah now i'm on the show you know a year later it's crazy you know in bitcoin time a year feels like 10 like a decade it's crazy how like things have progressed so fast um but to answer your question yeah some of the things that um you know were really helpful for one was just uh the the coaches in the class are really really like amazing, super helpful. They help curate your resumes. They help connect you kind of with like the companies that you're interested in, right? So like if you're a Bitcoin maximalist, like

they're going to focus on Bitcoin only companies. If you're more interested in like the NFT DAO space, like they're going to push you towards those specific companies. So that in and of itself was super helpful, especially for someone like me that really wanted to work for a Bitcoin only company. Some of the things that, you know, like I didn't take advantage of too much. Uh, if I'm being honest, I didn't do any of your homework assignments, but, uh, I had a good excuse and it was doing the podcast and trying to get, uh, trying to get people on. So, yeah, I mean the hope the homework's good if you're trying to learn the content, but for me it was really like, Hey, I got to network and like meet with people. That's kind

of like more, more so beneficial to me. Got it. And then as you went through the interview process, like what are some tips or tricks that, uh, you feel like now that you've gone through interviews, you've successfully gotten a job in the industry that you would turn around and tell to other people like, hey, if you're going to try to go and interview at these companies, here's some things to know. Yeah. There's no job listing out there in the Bitcoin industry or crypto industries that's like, hey, I need 10 years of experience in crypto or Bitcoin because it's only been around a decade, but a lot of these companies have only been around three, four, maybe even five years at most. That's kind of a stretch. So what they're really looking for is people that have

put in like the proof of work and can like demonstrate from a standpoint that a, they understand like Bitcoin and the crypto community culture, but also have like a hardcore passion for the space. I mean, like if you're, if you're talking like to a hiring manager, like all the people there that have been building up those companies, especially some of the more startup focused ones, like that's a lot of people's like legitimate, like day-to-day lives. Like they're here to build something great, to build a big company. And they don't want to hire somebody that's like here to just half-ass their job or half-ass their day. So how do you do that? I mean, for me, and you know, I'm not saying like go out and like copy word for word for what I did,

because I think a couple people have done that just from talking to the course. But I did the podcast, you know, that was kind of like my proof of work to demonstrate that like, hey, I'm a Bitcoiner. I care about Bitcoin and Bitcoin only. I'm going to say all these things on this resume, but here you can go and fact check that stuff just through my podcast. But we all know hiring managers have a short attention span. And so you got to hook line and sync them in five to 10 seconds. So I turned my resume kind of into a big Bitcoin meme. I used like a lot of Bitcoin terminology, made fun of the fact and like kind of praise that I'd like dropped out of school, you know, just injected like a bunch of terms that just like really drove home to the point

that like, hey, I'm a Bitcoiner. I care about the space, so on and so forth. And then like my resume cover letter was a little bit more like formal, uh, but it still like still went, went in and like injected some of that Bitcoin, um, sprinkle on top, so to say. So when you start to think about, uh, kind of why you were successful, how much of it is just like, I'll call it hustle or enthusiasm and like effort versus you had some special knowledge that, uh, other people that they were interviewing didn't have. Yeah. Um, I'll use, I'll use a term that, uh, me and some of the other account managers and the org use, and it's just pure brute force. There's a little bit of knowledge at play for sure, but a lot of it is just like the no quit mentality. There's no other

options but win. And when you fail, it's like, what's the next avenue? What's the next path to reach my end goal? And when you reach that end goal, it's moving that bar even higher and just not being satisfied with where you're at, but always looking to grow and excel. Personally, I think that's what, uh, tell me a lot, uh, in my successes. And to be honest, like, I won't even tell you that, like, I'm successful. And so I'm at, like, I still have a lot of lofty goals. There's still a lot of things that I want to achieve, but just in the last year alone, you know, I mean, like my life has just changed so much and a lot of it has to do with just being in the industry. I'm very thankful for it, but from going, living with, uh, in-laws to moving

here to Nashville to one of the biggest Bitcoin meccas and working for one of the best companies in space. It wasn't from a lack of proof of work. I can say that. Yeah, I love it. I think that your story is so inspiring to people. Last thing I'll ask you is just, what is your goal now? Like, what are you optimizing for? Where are you shooting to over the next, you know, 5-10 years? You know, our organization truly believes in hyper Bitcoinization. And in order to do that, we got to carry the message of Bitcoin to all these companies that are Bitcoin curious, you know, and we recognize that at times they may not fall in line with Bitcoin only or the Bitcoin maximalist ideals, but it's a process and it's a journey and it's a hand we got to hold

them through. So to answer your question, really, like right now, it's trying to onboard all these legacy financial institutions, all these Bitcoin curious individuals, and just spread the word of hyper Bitcoinization to the world, because I think financial freedom and financial inclusion is one of the biggest like humanitarian rights that's necessary and needed for everybody this day and age. Yeah. It's awesome. All right. Where can we send people to find you on the internet? Yeah. Um, you can find me on Twitter at Alan Hoddle. Um, Twitter's probably the best place to find me. Uh, unfortunately I'm also a LinkedIn warrior. So if you want to find me on LinkedIn, you can just find my name, Alan Helm. Uh, pretty good at answering my DMS, but no promises that

I'll answer right away. So you got Alan Hoddle, but that's your real name. Alan Helm. It's like a couple of letters off from Adam or Alan Hoddle. Like you're like right there. It's right there. It's close enough. You know, I mean, for a while I was, I was toting myself around as a synonymous mango. And then I was like, Hey, you know what, to get in front of people, I got actually so like a face, like a real face. So, um, yeah, I, you know, there's always that discussion. Is it better to be yourself or is it better to go under a pseudonym i know you sometimes wish you uh you had done that uh but for me personally i like i like having my face out there and being forward facing with everybody i love it man you crushed it i appreciate it very much thank you so much

for coming on and we'll definitely have to bring you back as uh you continue uh growing your career and uh i appreciate all the uh the hard work you put into uh to getting there and uh obviously btc inc bitcoin magazine etc uh is doing a ton of great work conference was fantastic so keep it up Appreciate it. I'll see y'all. All right. Later, buddy. Later. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. I really hope you guys enjoyed this one.

Make sure you're subscribed on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. And if you're looking to try to transition to get a new job in the Bitcoin or crypto industry, we've got you covered. Head over to palmscryptocourse.com. We've developed a curriculum with the top teams across the industry.

It's a three-week intensive training program with over 50 events packed into that three-week time period. Go to pompscryptocourse.com to learn more and I'll meet you guys for the next episode.