My journey with Harmony
Let me first say a few things about myself, so you will be able to put this article into context. I am a businessman and an investor. I initially invested in crypto back in 2014 after finally starting to believe in blockchain technology. I had already invested in numerous projects, from the classics like Bitcoin and Ethereum, to the more unknown ones with low market caps. I never really liked to invest into emerging projects through ICOs, or lately IEOs.
I was following Ian Balina though, just to see how the ICO space looks like. Through him, I first heard about Harmony. He had high praise for the project, but he mentioned that the private sale will probably be bought up by larger private investors and VC’s due to overwhelming interest. I was instantly interested, especially since he discarded the project, believing he could not invest. So I decided to browse the internet for any information about Harmony, from their website to third party websites, whitepapers etc. I really liked what I saw, a great potential, with an awesome team. On paper.
I decided to try to email them, to see if I could possibly invest via their private sale (was never interested in any public ICO or IEO, where you either compete with bots through API, or gamble via tickets). So my only option to get in (apart from buying once the markets were open), was to try to get an allocation via private sale. So Isent them an email. And to my surprise I received a positive response. They said private sale was open, for Foundational Nodes. Basically what that meant was, you invest into Harmony, receive tokens, and in exchange you have to run validator nodes on Harmony network for at least one year. Since I look at most of my investments long term, I was perfectly fine with that. So I invested.
Shortly after sending in the money, I signed an agreement with them to run the nodes for at least one year. I joined their Discord channel and things started to develop quite fast. We were shortly asked to start running nodes on their pre-mainnet (testnet). We had been given some material, as in which cloud providers to use, what are the requirements for the server and a guide to set up the node. Needless to say I dug right into it, excited about diving into something new. I had very little Linux experience before that, even though me and my partners run an IT solutions company. I mostly dealt with finance, business flow and operations. So this was completely new to me — setting up a cloud instance (server, VPS), using command line in Linux, that was all new to me, in most part. Luckily I quickly got the hang of it. The guides were very easy to follow, and the Foundational Node Discord community and Harmony developers were very very helpful and friendly.
During all the testnets we went through, I was actually able to help a few others in setting theirs up, troubleshooting issues etc. There was a small group of us, Foundational Node runners, that actually helped other Foundational Node runners daily, and we were happy to do so. That was the first time I really saw and felt how a great community looks like. Selfless helping, being there for the others no matter what the hour was, going to sleep early in the morning, just because you were so excited about each update that you did not want to miss it. We have quickly grown into a community. We have been chatting a lot, discovering and diving deeper into our nodes and their logs, and what Harmony tries to achieve.
During this time, I have also met a large part of their team. I was really surprised by their light and super friendly approach. It looked like they are a really great team, fostering a nice, respectful and friendly company culture, within themselves. I was really impressed by that, and frankly I still am. Like I already said, I have been in this space for quite a while, I have seen a lot, but nothing like this. Until Harmony. I instantly felt like this was the ONE project in which I would actually invest my time into, besides just money. Not just by running my nodes, but by helping the team, wherever I can, whenever I can. And helping the community, so that we can grow stronger together. There is power in unity.
This is why I joined a tech support group that would support Pangaea network community, a public incentivised testnet, now known as the P-OPS team. We were just a few at the start, but together with Gizem, the »mother« of Pangaea, we quickly searched through and identified Pangaea community users that were knowledgeable and selflessly helping the community, without asking for anything in return. We have onboarded a few of them, that are now part of the P-OPS team with me. From the original group, which consisted of Gizem, Ionut S., yelllowsin and myself, we quickly grew into a team of 10, with the same cultural values as the core Harmony team. The newest members are now our foundation within the P-OPS group, working day and night, despite most of us having jobs or our own companies. These incredible people are: JB, Wolfie, Seb, Soph, Mirror, error and Marshall. I feel just like at home within the P-OPS team. We say good morning every day, and goodnight every night. We laugh together, we work together, sometimes some of us even cry together ☺. Even though my time each day is already stretched with all of the personal things and running my company, I still manage to find a lot of time for Harmony and the P-OPS. We are now working tirelessly to manage the testnet and Pangaea network, which have now been merged into one, under Pangaea. We will be handling everything, from network restarts, shutting down nodes, spinning up new nodes, you name it. It will be exciting!
Apart from the P-OPS team, I also frequently check in with the core Harmony team, and try to stay up to date with what is going on behind the curtains, and help them in any way I can. Mostly advice, sometimes a little bit of work. I am always happy if I make a difference, even if it is just a small one.
I am blessed to be able to help out with Harmony. The project in itself is awesome, the team is awesome and even the community is awesome, despite the current downtrends in the markets. I really do see great things to come from this team. This small battleship that is growing larger every day, and steered by its relentless captain, Stephen Tse. He is really a leader, a personality and above all, a true Human. Yes, with a big H.
I sincerely wish our community will grow larger, especially the node runners/validators, which the team cherishes A WHOLE LOT. And EPoS is coming very soon! You will not regret joining it and spinning up your node. Trust me.
In the end, I am leaving you with this video from Stephen, that was made by their creative director, Mr. Robin Schmidt. Just to see a short glimpse of how great he is, and how he sincerely cherishes the node runners — because as he said — without us, the node runners, there would be no Harmony. We ARE Harmony, we are ONE.
Official Harmony links:
Web : https://harmony.one/
Medium: https://medium.com/harmony-one
Discord: https://harmony.one/discord
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/harmonyoneprotocol/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/harmonyprotocol
Telegram: https://t.me/harmony_one
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/harmony-protocol/
White Paper: https://harmony.one/whitepaper
