That's very true the forum is basically devoted towards Bitcoin and anyone who has enough information about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. There are many newbies who are doing very well on the forum because they are somehow knowledgeable about Bitcoin and are contributing to the forum with some very informative posts, and they have been receiving merits from the reputed members of the forum. The merits are given to those posts which are made in high quality and can help others as a solution to well known problems.
The merit system was basically introduced to stop spamming and account farming and so far the system has been working very well. The new users who have proper knowledge about Bitcoin, and at the same time they can share that knowledge and contribute on the forum will get merits, and those users can rank up very fast. OP if you are truly knowledgeable about Bitcoin then you'll rank up to a Jr member or member rank within few weeks. After that you can earn some money by taking part in bounty campaigns, and once you rank up to full member then you can take part in signature campaigns. You should also keep in mind that signature campaigns only accept those applicants who make very high quality and informative posts or replies. If a member contribute good materials to the forum and is active in most of the threads then only those members are preferable for signature campaigns.
The service board is also open for newbie members, and if someone has mastered a skill fully then that user can also create their own service offering, and within days they get good clients if their service is unique. Look, the forum is not meant to earn money, but to discuss about Bitcoin and the things related to it. But, the service board is open for any type of skill and the ones who offer the services can directly work with the users of the forum. There are also some contests on the forum where anyone can take part as a participant, and most of those contests aren't limited to high rank members.