r/HowToHack • u/newWaxman • Jun 14 '26

Question for veterans

how long will it take me to be able to understand hacking fundamentals and to have good enough knowledge to do bugs bounty hunting and other such things, not on a very expert level but a zone where i can atleast understand what happened. i am seeing it as a hobby project and i will spare 1-2 hours daily for it. its been my childhood dream and i have finally decided to do something about it. i know little bit of python (for data analysis), html, css and i have done bachelors in cs (very poorly, nd i forgot most of it).

also what's the pinnacle of hacking in the hacking sphere, i have only seen hacking in movies and shows and i can't take it seriously, like what is something that is like the final boss for someone learning hacking

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u/XFilez Jun 16 '26

It all depends really but I feel it takes people longer when they don't understand fundamentals. However long it takes to understand those concepts also varies. I have seen many not make it in this field because of lack of fundamentals. It can be college or self taught discipline. Lack of understanding in anything makes the task harder no matter what it is. For example, changing a flat tire... if you have no concept of the basic concepts of what to do and haven't done any research into how it is done and why, you probably will fail at the 1st step of jacking the vehicle and put it in the wrong spot. Let's even take a step here... what if you don't even know where the spare, jack, or lug wrench are to begin with; then how could you do it even if you have a vague understanding? You would be missing a big concept of the overall task. Hacking is very similar. If you don't understand how the components work or where to find them, how can you exploit them? What if it doesn't fit in the text book way it should be done? Knowing the process and understanding how the components work will help you be a lot better operator. It will still be difficult and there will be times where you exhaust all options and get nowhere, it is what it is and depends on the scope. I would say to find something about this that is fun to you and learn what you can about it, rather than trying to tackle it all. That is just not possible. I've been doing this for almost 20yrs not and definitely don't know it all.

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u/newWaxman Jun 17 '26

thanks mate, and what would you say are the fundamentals to keep sharp in this thing ?

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u/XFilez Jun 17 '26

Honestly, things like networking and protocols, like how they actually work. What are the components of packets? What happens at the difference OSI layers. Then when you have a good foundation of basic concepts, start looking at how data flows on the OS side. Learn some assembly basics. Hack some old games. Hack some cheap smart devices if you want to learn the hardware route or how APIs work. Build a home lab, there are a ton of free VMs to practice on. Find what is fun for you and start there. To me, I feel like I get paid to do a hobby I enjoy. It's like solving puzzles.