Time flies, realize I'm already 4 years into crypto. I don't have a fancy journey like others do. It's just curiosity, sweat and hard work. I learned about crypto in 2021 when I was still a lab intern at the university. Young and naive, I bought my first crypto through a shady local exchange with the hard-earned money from my part-time job. What did I buy after that? I bought Snowbank on AVAX - the APY was something like 9 trillion%. I didn't give it a second thought and eventually watched it drop to 0 a few weeks later. It was funny and bitter, good old days. Then, NFT summer arrived. My friends and I were flipping NFTs, and I started really digging into DeFi after getting an opportunity to join a research firm as an intern. Giving up my planned career path was tough. I could have joined a biotech research firm and gotten a high and stable salary, but life isn't fun without some challenges. So I followed my wild heart. I wanted to remember a life we live, not the money I made. The first 3 months in the firm, I still remember reading the whitepapers of Curve, Frax, Berachain, and many others - all the terms felt like an alien language to me. I was probably the stupidest member of the team, so I spent extra time catching up. I had no weekend breaks and was always the first to arrive at the office because I wanted to be competent. There was no textbook about crypto. So I picked up everything myself from youtube and google articles, that's what everyone did. That year, I learned how crypto works, and that's when I started Poopman as well. For the next 2 years, I rotated between research and investment to explore diverse skillsets. I didn't trap myself in one area or become a specialist since one has to try different things to understand what they're good at. I've met countless great people along the way and am super grateful for all the opportunities I've been given. @jinglingcookies was actually my very first crypto friend, whom I met at an event. If I had a time machine, I'd go back and shake hands with all the people who inspired me to push forward. Overall, the ups and downs of my journey aren't crazy, perhaps because I treat every challenge as a lesson to learn, and I never look back. But I do have some traits as personality that helped me along the way: - Being open-minded but critical - Being curious about everything - Thinking more about how and why - Strong mental resilient - Being sociable and helpful - Understanding that rewards come with hard work and luck This year is my 4th year in crypto. The market conditions have never been more challenging, but we have to adapt because the future will only be 5-10x more competitive than now. Swallow it. Stop complaining and start to work. Nothing is impossible if you just try.