Stop lurking at me!

Hi Steemians,

After lurking for a few days and reading all of the great content that's springing up on Steem, I decided to quickly write an introduction before trying to make some contributions of my own.

Actually, that's already kind of a lie. I didn't write this quickly. I looked at lots of other peoples introductions, I installed Atom editor with Markdown preview so i could see how this would look. I started writing this introduction several times only to delete it. Should i write my name? age? country? Is that good... is that interesting?

I'm sure there are many people on this site and others like it who want to contribute. But hold back because they're worried that they might say something wrong or be rejected. It's funny in a way, i spend most of my time online these days, but rarely engage in the community aspect of the internet. So i guess this is an effort to see what I've been 'missing out on'.

I'm not a writer/blogger (as i'm sure you can tell by now). But i love learning. It's what keeps me alive really. I think this site and community is becoming such a great place to learn and discuss new ideas or just share information, stories etc. So why not actually engage and share.

So in that spirit. I just wanted to say Hello, and maybe share a few things about myself. I'm around 30 years old now. Living in Australia. I used to be a Market Research consultant (fancy term for data-geek). Not long ago I switched lanes over to programming as it's always been a passion of mine, after doing some development work for around a year. I started a business with a past work-colleague creating an analytics platform.

I'm really looking forward to reading about and contributing to areas such as:

General Programming (probably will be my next post).
Cryptography / Netsec / Dev Ops / Sys admin
Data Analytics, Visualisation,
Physics (particularly Astrophysics).
Books (vague i know).
Personal stories and achievements.

Thank you for reading my post and for sharing so much already on Steemit. I look forward to contributing and have really high hopes for where this train is heading,

PS - If you're in a similar position, having signed up and wanting to contribute but you haven't posted yet. I think the #introduceyourself thread is a brilliant way to do this. Or just say Hi in a comment below if you like.

Thanks for the introduction. It's really nice of you to list the ways you can contribute; I think this is a great idea!

I am a non-engager myself, funny how we are more comfortable on this new platform

Thanks for commenting then! Yes, I think there is something more comfortable about it. Everyone seems very welcoming. But i guess it's also that they have a genuine excitement/interest in the technology and want it to succeed.

You say you're not a writer, but clearly you are. Your post is quite good and honest, so the only thing I would suggest is adding a photo of some kind since I rarely click on a post that doesn't contain picture! I'm a visual person, for sure........Nice to have you here. You'll feel more comfortable with time. One of the best things about Steemit right now is that it's not super crowded which makes this place feel a little cozier....

Thanks so much for the welcome @stellabelle, I've taken your advice and added an image.

Thank goodness! It's better now!

Welcome to steemit, great work on the intro. This community is such a joy and yes an image would get you more readers. Have fun postibg and exploring.

Hey schro, welcome ")

It's a brilliant introduction because it sounds very honest. You've managed to convey how you feel - that's quite an achievement. I rarely upvote introductions but this one I will.

Thanks @innuendo, i really enjoyed your post Is the DAC concept dead

Welcome to Steemit, there is lot's of crypto news and info on here, I'm sure you will enjoy it.

Welcome aboard :)
Your post provided some pointers for how I should position my free-form writing for Steempunks around here. Thanks!

Very nice into. What you said about writing and deleting and writing again because of fear of rejection hits home for a lot of people.

Hi schro, welcome to Steemit!

I like the way you created an introduction to your introduction; clever and insightful. I look forward to your posts on Programming and other topics, as I love to learn too! Best wishes!

Great intro. You've inspired me to get active. Thanks! Upvote👍