How I became a contributor to Juicebox.

Becoming a contributor at JB wasn't exactly intentional.  It wasn't until a conversation with a community member that I was able to articulate and realize that getting paid was more than just a possibility. I had first learned about DAOs a few years ago but never really understood what they did or how they got things done.  How do DAOs coordinate? How do they align their philosophy?  How did they keep each other accountable?  All of these questions were very difficult for me to wrap my head around. I then stumbled upon JB after finding out about the NOUNS project and then finding SharkDao which was using Juicebox for its treasury.

What I talked about with this JB community member was the fact that I didn't say a word in Juicebox for 2 - 3 weeks.  I attended a couple of town hall meetings and listened in on some voice chats that were happening, not knowing what the agenda was or what they were going to be talking about.  I remember reading a bunch of  threads in Discord, trying to follow one or two specific issues, to see how the community tried to solve them.  What became clear was that it was important for me to not try to understand what a few people were doing, but to try and understand what the community was doing.  That was an epiphany for me.  It made me ask, "where do this community's values and my personal beliefs and ethics intersect?"

This was the moment I started to look for tasks that helped me align myself with the community philosophy.  I started to shift my mindset from a quiet observer to thinking about how I could provide value that  could help advance the protocol and in turn, the Juicebox Community.  As I was exploring, I realized that I was also learning how to navigate the community.  How to navigate the notion, the web site, the Discord and everything else that might go along with JB.

To those wanting to become Juicebox contributors: follow a couple of tasks or issues and see how those issues are being solved by the community.  Then see if those solutions line up with how you might handle those issues. That doesn't mean you have to agree.  It just means that how we talk to each other and how we interact with each other lines up with how you want to talk to people and how you want to be talked to.

If you start this way, not only will you find a way to contribute but you will see that the Juicebox community will help you contribute.  You'll see that Juicebox will view you not just as someone that has a valuable skill but someone that has a philosophy that aligns with the goals of the Juicebox community.