[General Topics] talkingmonkeys:
What a great thread. I'll gladly take a break from working on my theme to type something up for this. I joined this site when I got my first android phone in 2013. An LG Nitro HD. Poor mans S3 at the time. Boy did I regret getting that phone but finding this community and running CM 9 (I think it was back then) on it did exactly how I read it would do and let me remove the bloat and customize my phone. Fast forward a few months just as I was satisfied with it I dropped it for the first time on my tile floor from about a foot and a half off my lap. Cracked the screen and not too much later got the ATT S3. At the time I got it we were still on ICS and I followed [MENTION=4830253]Danvdh[/MENTION] [MENTION=1016795]loserskater[/MENTION] and [MENTION=2972841]enewman17[/MENTION]'s ROMs like a hawk. It started for me developing around this point digging into their work and pushing myself to learn how everything worked and customizing it for myself how I like it to be. Fast forward a few more months and we got 4.3 and Dan moved on to do great things for the S4. Loserskater and enewman17 stuck around for a bit longer and lead the development for 4.3. They were nice enough to give me permission to use their rom as a base and play with it to my liking and debloat it to put out my first rom. I also helped enewman17 finish up a theme to give us more of the AOSP look we wanted. He hated themeing and I was just starting to learn about it from [MENTION=2147860]Kdio[/MENTION] and [MENTION=2126467]djdarkknight96[/MENTION] and the team black out guys. I'll cut it a little short at this point and just leave it there. I also got quite a bit of help and learned a lot searching and reading this forum and talking to these guys I've mentioned. [MENTION=3065070]Goldie[/MENTION] [MENTION=4645794]CNexus[/MENTION] [MENTION=1167171]rompnit[/MENTION] [MENTION=1042140]tdunham[/MENTION] [MENTION=4310299]bilgerryan[/MENTION] and many other people I'm missing that were there along the way that I'm drawing blanks on right now have had a lot of guides and following their work has taught me quite a lot.

I should also mention after switching to the S5 I have gotten a lot more help from all of these people I've mentioned as well as the developers who were already on the AT&T S5. [MENTION=2284570]ted77usa[/MENTION] [MENTION=3105374]bri315317[/MENTION] and [MENTION=3758230]cstayton[/MENTION] all were very welcoming to me and have taught me quite a lot since I started to work on this device. [MENTION=3105374]bri315317[/MENTION] switched phones and allowed me to pick up his ROM that he had been making for this device. I added more to it and started working on a few simple themes for it. It has been my most popular work to date and in the process of working on it I learned a lot more.

Enough to feel confident enough to start from scratch with lollipop and deodex and create my own base this time around. I've taken a lot of what I learned and probably annoyed quite a few people with my questions and asking for help but they've all been so kind in helping me.

Next we have joining Team Xtreme. These guys have been great influences to me and friends. I learned a lot from all of them before I even was asked to join them. [MENTION=4595448]TONY6669[/MENTION] [MENTION=5379458]porkyhontas[/MENTION] [MENTION=4250033]cbrox[/MENTION] [MENTION=5639721]JoHnNYBlaZE716[/MENTION] and the rest of the guys are always very helpful. Now its my turn to make a theme after watching them make a bunch of great ones. Thank you to everyone I mentioned here and all those I forgot

My story probably wasn't the best and its a little spread out but its late here and I've done a lot today. Maybe I'll add more to it later.