Got into mining with my gaming system recently. Had no idea what I was "investing" in other than it seemed cool.
I've come to realize that unless you are trying to pump/dump which is not necessarily a piece of cake to time and also difficult to pull off with a small mining outfit. It is real tough to figure out what are the more sound alt coin investments for long term and even if you figure out some good candidates they may or may not be good to mine with your hardware.
I am glad that I haven't bet the farm on mining this late in the game with so few good choices for a small time miner to produce. All that said I am continuing to run my outfit for the sheer hobbyist enjoyment of the thing. Mining with a computer is FUN to do as long as you haven't gotten in way over your head. At this point I might lose a few thousand bucks on this that is the worst that can happen to me.
Other people who got WAY in deep may not be so lucky.
Anyone else feel the same?
Hey man, first it's alright to make mistakes man. Trust me, no one is suddenly a professional when they enter something new. Everyone was a novice at one time or another. It's about how much time you want to invest, to make the big returns.
Mining can be very profitable, but unfortunately, mineable coins POW is becoming an extinct way to distribute coins. While these coins remain some of the best, the most honest, they are just dying breed. That's why people could lose a lot on becoming a miner, they are just overshadowed by large ICO's with big marketing teams, and the hype. But there are still opportunities, and when those arise, big profit can come from the right POW coins.
I would highly suggest joining some mining communities on telegram, or even existing POW coin's telegram. Find a network of miners, this is more crucial for you than it is investors. Mining is a social, a community thing, not a lone-wolf type deal that investing/trading can be.
What i recommend to you, to become a successful miner is to invest/devote 1-2 hours a day in the ANN section.
1) researching all the algorithms of the coins, what CPU, GPU, ASIC coins are out there (for whatever rig you're running),
2) look at websites with profitability calculators for your hash power
3) look at the best pools
4) Look at new upcoming coins, that have all the same attributes as an ICO coin, but are POW coins, there are a lot of them that have far more potential than ICO's. The POW coins with major milestones, new algo's, new blockchains (DAG), or ways to tweak the blockchain are the best coins.
5) Watch the ANN thread daily, scroll 2-5 pages in and get a glimpse of every coin, what they are doing, and what people are saying.
After about a month of this routine, i guarantee you, you will be coming out with big profits. It's all about investing your time, and learning the ropes.
Don't give up either, just keep at it.. trust me you will eventually win big on a coin.
Note: I'm not a miner, i've only mined 1 coin ever in my 4 years of crypto. 
