Questions that will be answered in this post: 

• What is staking and how is it done (with a focus on Ethereum)?
• How to get started (with Ethereum)?

What is staking and how is it done on Ethereum? To lay the foundations on what is staking, you should know that cryptocurrencies (like Bitcoin) hold the promise of sending money digitally without any central authority. The initial solution was the blockchain, which is basically just a leger of balances that isn't controlled by any central authority. This leger was sustained through mining. In short, mining is a competition where people and their computers try to earn the right to write the next 'page' of transactions, and because of high-level math, it is unlikely any one person or group will gain a full monopoly over the leger. This is how decentralization works. The problem with mining is that it takes a lot of work and computing power and thus new alternatives for decentralization have been proposed through the years. And you guessed it, one is proof of stake.   

Instead of mining where people commit computational power and electricity, with staking people stake actual coins.           

How does it work?  Firstly, you lock a certain amount of funds on a computer that is connected to the network. Your locked funds are your stake, and once your stake is in place, you participate in a contest of which computer gets to create the next block. The winner of this contest is chosen by (1) how much money is being staked, and (2) how long the coins have been staked for, and (3) some randomization so no single computer will have a monopoly over the system.  In simple terms, whoever wins this contest gets to create the next block of transactions and earns coins for their contribution to the network.   

For example, some coins that use proof of stake are NOW, DASH, and Tezos.   

Now, how is this done for Ethereum's proof of stake model?     

Currently, Ethereum is still based on proof of work (which is the mining covered previously where computers put in computational effort). In late 2020s, a new blockchain named Beacon chain was set up that uses proof of stake. This is known was Ethereum 2.0. In order to become a validator for Ethereum 2.0, you have to stake 32 Ether to earn rewards. Because there is no way to have more than 32 Ether per computer, you will need more computers (nodes) so you can set up multiple nodes with 32 Ether each. When Ethereum 2.0 fully deploys and merges with Ethereum 1.0, which is known as "the docking", you will be able to withdraw your staked Ether and rewards--which means staking is mostly for long-term Ethereum holders.  How much Ether is rewarded?  In Ethereum 2.0, every validator that helped forge a block gets a percentage of the new Ether when it is created. There will be a proportionally smaller reward the more validators there are. The amount of new Ether awarded is always the same, but the collective amount staked can change.   

How to get started?  There are 4 ways to do this.  

The first way is to set up your own node with 32 Ether, and is out of the scope for this post. In short, it is very complex and there are many limitations and commitments you should be aware of. 

The second way is to use staking services supplied by exchanges. Some exchanges allow you to stake your coins through their validators for a small fee. The benefit of this is that you can put in relatively small amounts of money compared to the first method and also eliminates the need to run your own validator. However, you do lose control of your coins to the exchange.   

The third way is to join a 'staking pool' just like there are 'mining pools'. In short, staking pools are people who joined together in order to get a better chance at succeeding. If you do decide to find a 'staking pool', make sure to do your own research on their reliability and fees, etc.  it’s important to research certain aspects of the pool.   

The fourth way is to find companies that allow you to run your own validator on their computers, but you will still need 32 Ether and pay a fee for their service.    I hope this helps. Feel free to correct any mistakes I may have made in my understanding!