I never planned on working in a crypto job. But here I am and I’m loving it.

Disclaimer: This article may contain dry humor and cheesy Dad jokes. Enjoy at your own risk.

In this article

How did I get here?

Not like that one time I woke up alone on a beach in Mexico — shirtless, with one shoe, no wallet, and a bad headache… If it wasn’t recorded on the blockchain, then it never happened, right?

How long have I wanted to be a crypto ninja? I, like so many others, skeptically watched Bitcoin for so many long years but never invested. Over the past 2 years, I have finally knuckled down and taken the market seriously. I started tracking and following ICOs and platform projects and monitored their short-term performance. What I discovered was impressive. I watched so many people become extremely wealthy overnight. But you gotta have money to make money, right?

As every wise investor knows not to invest any money that they are not willing to lose, and with very little “extra” money to throw into the market, I decided to approach this from a different angle. My journey into crypto was actually quite a short trip from this decision point. I was getting pretty good at researching which projects might be worth investing in by conducting reviews of their white papers, websites, social media accounts, team member sites, and so on. I have probably looked at over 500 white papers to date and have seen some crazy things and some pretty stupid things happen in crypto over the last couple of years.

Fun fact: Only about 8% of ICOs actually make it to an exchange. So, 92% of the ICO review process is wasted time.

One evening, back in February or March of this year, I was working on my usual white paper review of several promising ICOs and new blockchain projects, when I was able to connect with Alex Iakovlev in the CoinBundle Telegram Chat. I threw up a Hail Mary looking for an opportunity to help with writing articles, proofreading, and editing. After a couple of weeks of back-and-forth with Alex, he offered to give me a shot. I mean… I am pretty awesome. I would hire me! I was just looking to make some supplementary income to fart around with, but I may take a more serious career move in the near future to align myself with my new labor of love… blockchain.

If you truly enjoy your job, then you will never have to “work” another day in your life.

Since March, I have jumped in and helped the team with so many different aspects and angles of the project. I am truly amazed at how much I have been able to help with and with how much I have learned about creating content, editing for a global audience, marketing, and so forth. I thank Alex all the time for this opportunity and also tell him that I wish I would have found a job like this years ago.

That is basically how my transition to CoinBundle happened in a nutshell. I know it’s not exactly fireworks and rainbows, but it is awesome nonetheless. So, how about a few interesting and fun facts about me and where I come from?

Where did I come from?

Building a children’s school in Bangladesh

I have been many places and have done many things. I call myself a Jack of all trades, and master of none. I graduated high school many, many moons ago in Gloucester, Virginia. (Don’t even try to pronounce it.) After school, I transitioned straight into the US Air Force and served as a combat meteorologist in Arizona, Alaska, and Afghanistan. During my service and for some time afterwards, I was able to visit 48 of the 50 United States and over a dozen foreign countries. I have not yet been to Maine or Hawaii, and am not eager to get there any time soon. The Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) in Alaska are incredible. I have seen them from north of the Arctic Circle and can say that everyone should go see them at least once. The 23 to 24 hours of night or day in AK was not the easiest situation to deal with, as it can take it out of you mentally after a while. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger or drives us crazy.

Fun fact: Too little exposure to natural sunlight can cause a real mood disorder which can be helped by using a tanning bed on a regular basis.

I have truly enjoyed traveling across the US and seeing the great natural sites like the Grand Canyon, Mount McKinley, Great Lakes, Death Valley, and most other sites laying anywhere in between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Out of each of the mountain ranges that I have been through, I find the Cascades to be the most attractive. One of my favorite places in the US is Crater Lake in Oregon. It is a dormant volcano that has filled up with the clearest water on the planet and it is just breathtaking. I have been humbled to mingle amongst the Giant Redwoods which made me feel as small as an ant. There are so many great places to see in the US so I will plan road trips and drive for hours and days to see one of the world’s magnificent treasures. The longest road trip I have made is from Fairbanks, Alaska to Virginia. I took over a week to make the trip because I drove south to Vegas and Texas and stopped at many places along the way.

Fun fact: I drove nearly 6000 miles from Alaska to Virginia.

After I left the military, I drove back home to the Northern Neck of Virginia with my high school sweetheart, got married and took a job in Oregon working as a weather observer for a National Guard flight line and air traffic control tower. I worked there for a couple of years, then moved closer to family in Virginia where I painted houses and worked in tree removal. Quite a shift in careers, huh? I finally got sick of painting houses and took a job with the Department of Transportation. They were looking to fill certain positions in their Wounded Veterans Internship Program and I accepted. I served 2 years in the internship then accepted an entry level position with a State prison near where I was living.

I found the prison to be good and bad for me. I learned how to size people up and recognize manipulative behaviors very easily, but the entire experience chipped away at my individuality over time and I decided that it was not for me or my nonconforming convictions. After being promoted several times, and achieving the ranks of Sergeant and Lieutenant I left for a job in my desired career field… the field that I have been in college for the last 10 years to earn a degree in. Electrical Engineering. I am not able to attend college full time due to working and raising a large family, so I am taking 1 to 3 classes each semester and can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Lots of people go to college for 10 years!.. not just doctors.

Fun fact: My wife and I homeschool our children. I teach the STEM and English subject matter.

Moving along the timeline… after 7 years of working for the prison, I landed a great electronics testing and prototyping job at a local tech company near my home. I enjoy having both jobs for now because I can take 2 different adventures and learn more every day.

Where am I going?

California Redwoods

I will complete my degree someday, but will also continue working behind the scenes in crypto for as long as I can. I love the team I work with at CoinBundle and am excited to see our content be published each day. I appreciate the team concept here and respect the efforts that everyone is putting forth in order to launch a great product for new investors. Investing should be easy. That’s what we are making possible. If someone asked me where I plan to take my crypto career path, I would answer with, “I love doing exactly what I am doing now — developing and creating educational and fun content for new crypto investors.” Teammates like Sumesh, Anastasia, and Bozhena make my job pleasant and exciting. We work well together, have no beef, and do what we need to do in order to meet a common vision.

How to be a crypto dad

My wife and I

Did you know that gray hair is hereditary? You get it from your kids.

Having a large family is a blessing and I try to make the most of it and have fun every day. So my wife and I have 4.9 kids, a cat, and a dog. We have a daughter and 3 sons and are expecting our next girly bundle of joy any day now and are very excited. As the due date gets shorter, the honey-do list gets longer… dads out there are smelling what I’m stepping in, right? So how can I have a full time job, attend college, maintain a home with a wife and 5 kids, homeschool, work a crypto job on the side, and find 5 minutes a day for myself? It’s not easy, but it is manageable. I pull a lot of late nights and all-nighters and mess up my schedule on a regular basis. I have learned to prioritize my tasks, take time off as needed, and always put my family first. I have also learned to take nothing for granted, make time for those I love, and follow through with plans.

Fun Fact: I delivered 2 of my 4 kids at home myself. The midwife arrived late both times!

Our Communications Manager, Bozhena, will tell you that I have had to push some deadlines back due to schedule conflicts. CoinBundle has been very understanding and supportive of my position and gives me wiggle room to shift on the fly as needed, which is a great perk in this busy, start-up environment. One thing I do to break up the day-to-day monotony is change my scenery. I like to take the kids and unplug from the world while connecting with family and nature. Just last month I took all of the kids on a weekend camping trip to a State Park. We also stopped by Prospect, Virginia and went digging for Amethyst from a natural crystal deposit where we unearthed some nice keepers.

The past has passed. The future is now. The present is a gift. Share your time.

My kids and I all enjoy working on the house and yard together, so we will paint, repair walls, install new flooring, plumb, electrical, and complete a hundred other renovation chores around our new place. See, we upgraded last year from renting a 900 square foot house with 6 people to buying a 2700 square foot home on a wooded lot. We are going insane with all of the extra space. I haven’t even been able to fill it with stuff I don’t need yet — like most of us Murikans do. Maybe we won’t. We are learning to appreciate less clutter.

Keep it geeky

Ever since my dad dragged me out of bed at midnight when I was about 7 years old and introduced me to my first lunar eclipse, I have been interested in space and the space exploration mission. I made a huge deal out of the last solar eclipse observed in the Eastern US, this Spring and the kids really appreciated it, since we won’t see another total eclipse in these parts for decades. I have grown up imagining working in the space industry someday, and have piqued an interest in space with my children as well.

A few weeks ago I took my oldest son on a road trip to do some repair work on a very old church building on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, and after we were done with the work, we went to play… at NASA Wallop’s Flight Facility. We had a great time! I have been to 5 NASA facilities and hope to be able to see more in the future. We will also be making a road trip to SpaceX to watch a Falcon Heavy launch some day.

Fun fact: My youngest son’s name is Falcon. Don’t know where that came from…

Just recently, I was walking the dog while observing the Perseids meteor shower event with my daughter. Looking up at the stars reminds me of how small we are in our corner of the universe. Seeing a shooting star in the process is just icing on the cake.

I could seriously write a novel about my past and all of the interesting things that I have been privileged to see and do, and most people have the attention span of a squirrel, so I will wrap this whole thing up and end it abruptly.

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