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Comment by jomkr | Hacker News Reader

How can I get into this field?

I used to love doing pen-testing when I was a teenager, and paid for my first car out of bug-bounties.

Unfortunately, I got distracted by girls and booze at university and didn't keep it up, now I work in sigh enterprise C#/WPF land.

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Daniel Miessler has a good general guide: https://danielmiessler.com/blog/build-successful-infosec-car... tptacek, who posts often on HN, also has some wise words: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2012/06/how-to-break-into-securi...

There are so many sources of information and learning grounds available now - bug bounties, certifications, war games, online tutorials, blogs, conferences etc.

I would suggest choosing a particular area of interest to begin with and deep-diving on that subject. Look for mentors or perhaps someone to knowledge share / skill exchange with.

You could do pretty well with a base in C#. Through pentest engagements, I've come across quite a few C# apps in my time and even with my limited knowledge of the language, found some interesting vulnerabilities ;)

Edit: Added tptacek link

I'm in my late 20s and got into the field professionally just a couple years ago. Prior to that I had been working as a software developer.

I believe what helped was a handful of personal projects related to security: reverse engineering firmware, finding bugs in web apps. Also I emphasised the parts of my software development work that had some overlap, such as debugging Windows kernel drivers, and doing security reviews of network services we were writing and deploying.

Now I'm doing full-time vulnerability research and writing software to help do that. Much more enjoyable and pays better too.

How'd you get into enterprise C#/WPF land?

Start as a pen tester then get distracted by girls and booze.

You say that like its a bad thing. ;-)

Just sort of fell into it. Did an internship at university in $genericbigcorp and didn't bother looking for other/better jobs at graduation. (To be fair they paid a generous joining bonus - well £2000 "generous" to my broke 21 year old self).

That's the path of least resistance. Just passively accept calls and interviews via recruiters, and next thing you know you're in the enterprise. It's what happens when you don't have a plan.

You don't need a college degree to do pentesting. I don't think anyone credible in the industry cares where you got your education, as long as you know what you're doing (or in the case of juniors, are able to learn).

Didn't we all.

(Similar story:) )

Don't regret the good times for one second, but do get very jealous of people on HN talking about all the exciting tech they're using and awesome work environment. I am actively taking steps to move to a better company, but my god I'm finding Cracking The Interview Code a slog.

Same here...and then add on that I'm actually over 40...and oh boy, does that code get tougher to track. Funny how in some circles deep and long experience in tech is respected...but companies often look at me and ask "What will you do for me lately?"...and look at my age, and likely assume that I'm slowing down; when just the opposite is happening, i'm speeding up in terms of complexity of tech i'm diving into. Weird; but i feel your pain!

Try it at 50. It's not a good field to be in at either of these ages unless you are in technical mgmt, architecture or direction.

Source code review is in high demand. Many companies are happy to train a developer on how to do it.

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