ME, the Crypto Guru???
By no means was I an early adopter. I started studying blockchain for an internship competition in December 2016... more than 8 years after Satashi Nakamoto anonymously posted the Bitcoin whitepaper. However, in the past 8 months I have become the crypto guru among my friends and even my college community. WEEKLY I am approached by someone with :
"Hey I heard you are involved with crypto. I have just become interested and don't know where to begin."
So, I have begun to work on a consistent approach to answering this inquiry.
My Guide to Introducing People to Crypto
My strategy is built into a few steps:
- Gauge knowledge level
- Understand interest and motivation
- Direct on the path to enlightenment
1) Gauge knowledge level
Before I go into a discussion of why Steem's Delegated Proof of Stake consensus algorithm is better than Bitcoin's Proof of Work, I HAVE to figure out where the crypto newcomer's base knowledge is at.
Here are the four questions I typically use to judge the level of knowledge of a newcomer:
| Step | Question | Knowledge Level |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Have you heard of Bitcoin? | Basic |
| 2 | Have you heard of Ethereum? | Novice |
| 3 | Do you own any crypto? | Amateur |
| 4 | Can you explain blockchain and proof of work? | Expert |
Once I understand where the newcomer is at, I must understand their motivation for learning crypto before I can start to help them.
2) Understand interest and motivation
I have found that people become interested in crypto for a variety of reasons. Knowing why someone wants to learn about crypto is important because you can tailor your help towards their area of interest. Here are the different types of people I have been approached by:
| Person Type | Description |
|---|---|
| The Techy | Always on the fringe of cutting edge technology. |
| The Wolf of Wallstreet | Common stocks aren't volatile enough for him. |
| The Drug Dealer | The Silk Road is the best thing since synthetic heroin. |
| The Get Rich Quick Guy | What's the next ICO that will jump 1000% in a day? |
| The Non-Techy, "What is This Funny Money," Skeptic | They're always rolling their eyes when you begin talking with them about Bitcoin. But, they feel obligated to learn in fear of becoming obsolete in the next five years. |
| None of the above | The oddballs who, for some reason impulsively bought Bitcoin and now, 3 months later are curious about what they have gotten themselves into. |
Once you understand the newcomers a) level of knowledge and b) motivation for learning, you can direct them on the path to enlightenment.
3) Direct on the path to enlightenment
I have learned that there really is only one path toward crypto enlightenment. It is this incredible platform where you are able to make blog posts, learn about cryptocurrency, and earn crypto all at the same time. It essentially deals with every newcomer in their own way by allowing them to get the experience THEY want, the knowledge THEY need, and some crypto on the side.
That platform is...drumroll...
Yep I pretty much always end up directing people to Steemit
If you liked this post, are interested in my crypto adventures, or want to see sneak peaks of my project, SteemEngine, consider tossing me a follow. Cheers and Steem on!
Sources:
- https://giphy.com for the custom gif
- https://bitcoin-guru.de/ for the Bitcoin Guru image