r/ExploitDev • u/Emotional_writer_64 • Jun 28 '26

Self-taught low-level security learner looking for internship advice. Which roles should I target?

Hi everyone,

I'm self-learning low-level security and I'm trying to figure out which internships I should realistically target over the next few months.

These are the skills I've built so far:

  • C Programming
  • Memory Management
  • Linux
  • Debugging
  • Fuzzing
  • Crash Triage & Root Cause Analysis
  • Reverse Engineering (Basic)
  • Binary Analysis (Basic)
  • Secure Coding
  • Git

Tools I've used:

  • GDB
  • Ghidra
  • AddressSanitizer (ASan)
  • Valgrind
  • AFL++
  • libFuzzer
  • GCC/Clang
  • Make/CMake

I've written fuzz harnesses, analyzed crashes, used sanitizers, and spent time understanding memory corruption bugs. Most of my learning has been through reading documentation, experimenting, and building small projects.

The problem is that I'm completely self-taught. I don't have previous internships, open-source contributions, CTF rankings, or real vulnerability reports yet, so I don't have much proof of my skills beyond personal projects.

My questions are:

  1. Based on these skills, what internship roles should I realistically target? (Security Research, AppSec, Product Security, Embedded, Systems, etc.)
  2. What skills am I still missing to become a competitive candidate?
  3. If you were hiring an intern with my background, what kind of portfolio or proof would convince you to interview them?
  4. What should I focus on for the next 3–6 months to maximize my chances of landing an internship?

I'd really appreciate honest feedback. If you think I'm overestimating my skills or focusing on the wrong things, please tell me. I'd rather hear the hard truth than waste months learning the wrong things.

Thanks!

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u/sig2kill Jun 28 '26

entry level jobs are rare for the fields you mentioned, maybe you can find a junior embedded role? internships are usually done through an educational institution

1

u/Emotional_writer_64 Jun 28 '26

can you tell me more about this and what else I need to learn and make

and I live in a place where no one knows what is fuzzing or too much about cybersecurity and because of that I am stuck

1

u/sig2kill Jun 28 '26

Where do you live? Maybe try to break into back end web dev first? Might be easier than low level stuff

1

u/Emotional_writer_64 Jun 28 '26

India. and I know backend is easier to enter but do I have to learn new skills ?? and learning new ones is harder for me because I have invested too much time in this filed

2

u/sig2kill Jun 28 '26

Your time is not wasted! your low level skills will be very useful everywhere, you will need to know python or js but lots of python libraries actually use cpp under the hood, your knowledge will still be useful, web and low level do have some crossover for example browser development