What you're doing is great actually and I wish more people who join this platform are willing to do the same - do a lot of research and learn! A lot of people come here and expect to make lots of money on every post they make. It takes a lot of time and effort to get noticed here and make good connections.
After 13 months here I can say that I even made some true, honest friends from all over the world that I stay in touch on daily basis (outside Steemit) and I still have posts that get less than 1$ payout. :)
And yes, there are people in Steem Schools who do that "follow me, upvote me" thing but one of the things we try to teach them that's NOT the right way to interact with other users, because it won't get them anywhere.