Hello Steemit! I am a 21 year old self-taught programmer and cryptocurrency enthusiast.

Hi everyone! You can call me @scrawl. I am a 21 year old self-taught, self-employed programmer, and new-found cryptocurrency enthusiast. I'm a bit late to the party as I only got into cryptocurrencies about 4 months ago. I had known for a long time that Bitcoin and Dogecoin exist but was never really that interested in them. I saw people getting tipped on Reddit with these cryptocurrencies and that's pretty much all I thought they were useful for. I had no idea about the hundreds of other alt-coins that exist, nor did I realize the true potential of cryptocurrencies. The thing that finally got me interested was when I read about Gridcoin on a PC modding forum. Gridcoin is a cryptocurrency that rewards you for running BOINC scientific computations on your PC. Your unused computing power can go towards things like cancer research, climate prediction, or any other project running on the BOINC network. Gridcoin is awesome, you should totally check it out if you haven't already!

Anyway, I soon started looking on Gridcoin exchange sites and noticed all these other cryptocoins. I also noticed that prices were sometimes slightly out of sync between different exchanges, making for some easy money. So as a little bit of a hobby I started working on my own trading bot that takes advantage of any price differences. This has been an ongoing process over the past few months as I have expanded the trading bot to more currencies, more exchange sites, implemented new strategies, fixed bugs (yes, I lost some money to a bug once!) and so forth. It's been a very fun and rewarding experience: through thousands of small trades my initial investment from 3 months ago has increased by 2500%. But the coolest thing is not the profit that I made; it's learning about all these amazing crypto projects! My current favorites are Gridcoin, Steem, and Sia. Ethereum was number one on my list a while ago, but I'm sure you all know what happened.

Another one of my hobbies is working on open source code. I am a strong supporter of the principles behind the free software movement. I mostly program in C++ and Python. In particular I like working on 3D graphics code. The project that has taken most of my time in the past couple of years is OpenMW, a new game engine for The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind. I did not start this project, I am merely a contributor. But that's the beauty of open source, anyone can help!

To round off this introduction, have some random facts about me:

• I prefer dogs over cats (but I'm fine with either, really!)
• I love cooking italian food
• I am a night owl

Anything else you are curious about? AMA!

Now on to Steemit, and the reason that I signed up here. I think Steemit is a very cool experiment, and it looks to be a great place for talking about crypto in particular. In my opinion, other places like Reddit or Bitcointalk have become rather toxic when it comes to cryptocurrency discussions, filled with people that only post in their own interest, spread around FUD, etc. When I look on Steemit, I see the exact opposite, quality posts and friendly people! On a first glance it would seem that the ability to get paid for quality posts and to get paid for finding quality posts is having a positive effect on the community overall.

Here's hoping that Steemit will grow out of its niche and become a new home to many, many more communities. I am very curious to see how we will evolve, and how well we can protect against the various kinds of abuse that money tends to attract. Here's to a bright future!