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The impression I get from video game hackers (eg. finding glitches for speedrunning) are that they are quite talented, and console hackers as well (finding that PS5 jailbreak definitely requires skill) so I'm not sure if it's the best generalization.

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Hacking savefiles and similar stuff (yourself, not just copying things on the web) help teach the key work habits of day to day programming. Problem solving, sticking to a problem, visualizing, decoding, basic computer architecture, tech docs, self starting, debugging, etc.

Gamer-motivated CS people with those skills will go far.

console hackers and game programmers have little overlap, though. If you've spent the time to understand VR/ED you probably want to do that, in which case you're not programming.

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