![balloon-3206530_1280.jpg](https://res.cloudinary.com/hpiynhbhq/image/upload/v1521523481/qzcvjmkhszm5uf7folqc.jpg)

On this day in January 2018 I registered on Steemit.com. In this post I am going to write how I joined, what I was wanting to do, what I have done, and what I want to do in future. Of course there will be some words of wisdom I have gathered in last 2 months.

## How I joined?

I came to know about Steemit from a YouTube video. First time I heard about it, I didn't care much. After few days I again came across a video that talked about how good the platform is and how it doesn't exploit users to earn money, also users can earn money. At that time I was wanting to open a Medium blog to write some product reviews and tutorials. I though why not try and open one on Steemit.

So, I applied for an account but got no approval email. About 7 days later I applied for another account (this one) and got approved. That is when It all started.

## How I felt as a newbie?

I backed up my master password, logged in, and started visiting the site. I was surprised how people can earn from posting. I thought I should start posting. As much as I wanted to open a blog, I am not a writer. Deep down in my mind I knew it. But I wrote my first post - a product review of a computer mice I bought from Aliexpress. That received 2 upvotes (one from me) and only one 'grayed out' comment. 7 days later few $0.01 rewards got vanished at the time of payment. I got worried, joined steem.chat to discuss the matter. @drakos helped me understand that rewards are dependent on STEEM price. If price goes down, rewards will go down too and my rewards vanished because STEEM priced dropped significantly.

Then I wrote about my experience on investing little money in ICO. That got some upvotes and comments. I wrote a few more posts. In the mean time I was researching how people are making money, using bot to buy upvotes, and become aware of other projects on Steem platform.

## Slightly older me

At that point I had no idea what I am going to write about. I didn't post for few days. Started researching the platform again. Got to know @jorlauski, started to comment on his posts, he was commenting on mine. He always upvotes comments, it felt good. A few days later I discovered @utopian-io. I loved the website and how much they are rewarding Open Source contributors. I though I should start contributing to the Steem platform and to others projects.

This time I was on a familiar territory. I know PHP, I know bit of JS, jQuery. I started making new projects using Steem API features, learning Node JS, following developers. I also wrote a few tutorials.

## Few tools I have developed
- Where to Trade STEEM: http://wttsteem.herokuapp.com/
- STEEM Escrow: https://codebull.github.io/SteemEscrow/
- mTasks (in active development): http://steemmtask.herokuapp.com/

## What I love about Steemit and Co.

Everyday there is something new to learn - be it about the platform or some other matters. I like how some witnesses publish continuous updates, some developer publish continuous community oriented projects and tools. Some people are working hard at their expense to clean and protect Steem blockchain from bad actors.

## Other ways I am looking to contribute

I am planning to do a project that would help users trade STEEM or SBD among fellow users for fiat. I brought some of my cousins and friends to Steemit. I do one to one marketing for Steemit to my acquaintances. I am planning to do contests for newbies but waiting to gather a few more STEEM Powers.

To conclude - I am not a very well known steemian, frankly do not want to be one. But I want to contribute to the community and rise along with my community. Thank you for your time.

###### *Image credit: [Pixabay.com](https://pixabay.com/en/balloon-lantern-light-sky-boy-3206530/)*