Engineers deserve better recognition. Can a protocol change that?

Question

Many engineers contribute significantly to open source, infrastructure, civic tech, and social impact&mdash;but rarely get recognition beyond GitHub stars or token mentions.What if we had a protocol that could quantify and validate such contributions&mdash;not in money, but in trust, transparency, and long-term social value?Could such a structure change how engineers are valued, or is reputation still bound to institutions and capital?Curious to hear your thoughts. Has anyone tried designing or experimenting with such systems?

muzani · Accepted Answer

I'm skeptical - it will be gamed, and suddenly everyone is doing this thing because it's part of the game. I used to rank top 5% in Stack Overflow, and it was a resume item. And now it's overrun by gatekeepers who only ensure that only the elites may ask questions.

giantg2 · Answer

I don't really want prestige or widespread recognition. Small scale recognition and the respect of my peers seems adequate - just enough that if I'm looking for a job that someone in my network can hook me up with a reasonably decent one (~$120k).