Whether I climb the ladder or not is an issue - thank to the blockchain and especially this very code base, I can afford to run the server for few months without earning anything. I am sure the learning is enough to make the monetary ends.

On STEEM I believe, they are on the right track & soon they should be able to add support for smart contracts and then for ICOs (SMTs). They are moving non-consensus plugins away from the blockchain (chainbase) & syncing to rocksdb. Unlike projects like Lino to which Dlive migrated, the core blockchain code is written in Formally Verified C++ and already battle tested. Even with all these glitches, there was not even on security issue or challenges to the core blockchain consensus code (DPOS). Which means, STEEM as a blockchain has a very good future even as the consensus part of private chains. Say, for example the private component of XRP. It can also become part of Hyperledger eco-system just like Stellar. So what I think is irrespective of what happens to Steemit the blockchain project is going to be a success in the long term.