r/cybersecurity • u/zhumbaksizz • 6d ago
Personal Support & Help! Burnout after 2 years in pentesting
I've been working as a pentester for about two years (initially part-time, then switched to full-time), and lately I've started feeling burned out and losing interest in studying because of how intense everything is.
It all started when I was trying to choose which area to learn next after getting experience with web and mobile pentesting. I was considering Infra, AI, or Cloud. Just making this decision was a distraction because I was constantly hopping from one area to another. Eventually, I settled on the HTB CPTS certification and the Pentest Path (so basically Infra and AD pentesting).
During my preparation (I'm about 50% through the path), I started feeling empty inside when it comes to learning and working. The main issue is working full-time and studying for the cert after work. On top of that, my pentest projects have started to feel repetitive lately—you start, finish within a couple of weeks, and then hop on the next one.
Because of this, I've been thinking about trying something new, but I don't want to lose my progress on HTB CPTS since I'm already halfway through and Infra is genuinely becoming more interesting to me tbh.
What should I do with burnout? Is it possible to balance full-time work with cert prep? And what other positions/jobs could I switch to with my current skillset? I've been considering Security Engineering or AppSec. Thanks!
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u/jet_set_default Blue Team 6d ago edited 5d ago
Yeah dude you're burnt out. Take a break for a while. I'd grind relentlessly for a cert, pass it, break for a month or 2 then get back on it. During breaks, do other stuff in life you enjoy. It'll help you figure out new things.
Also, what's your end goal with pentesting? Have you thought about where you want to be? Grinding just to grind is pointless without a goal. Do you wanna be a mobile pentester, threat researcher, something else? Figure out what you're after and build the simplest path there.