bashwizard

Convenience.

And my comment was about temperatures in July.

And here I am in Sweden where we've had the coldest july since the 60's.

Seems reasonable. If you want to live with your parents until 30 and at the same time is one of the highest paid engineers in the whole world.

I did not get a remote position. I eventually left the company though and started do consulting instead so I'm mostly working remote (and 100% at this point due to covid).

What I can share is my roadmap how I manage to break into the field without any prior professional IT experience.

1) Linux. Learn it and live in it.

2) Linux servers and databases.

3) CompTIA Network+ (only for the knowledge, didn't bother getting the cert)

4) CompTIA Security+ (same as above)

5) OSCP certification (not a golden ticken by any means but it helps to bypass HR)

That's basically it. While going down that road I focused on hands-on practice by actually hacking into machines with the help of following resources:

A) Hack The box (hackthebox.eu)

B) PentesterLab (pentesterlab.com)

I also really like Portswigger's Web Security Academy (portswigger.net) and Try Hack Me (tryhackme.com) but they weren't around when I was starting out but I would definitely check them out, especially if I was completely new to security today.

All in all it took me roughly a year but get comfortable enough to start applying to junior pentesting positions and eventually I got hired.

There are probably better and easier ways to do it but that's how I did it at least.

It's a rapidly growing field that has more jobs than people. Meaning, at this point if you have a solid dev background and strong practical skills in security you're most likely going to make bank.

While anecdoctally speaking, I know people who switched from senior dev positions at two of the FAANG companies to smaller security companies and basically doubled their income and making north of $500k/year.

Why not try it out by start messing around with it and get a feel for it? But to answer your question: no, you don't. You already have more than enough prerequisites for an easier transition.

https://pentesterlab.com

https://portswigger.net/web-security

Have fun!

Edit: I'm completely self-taught and I've been working in the field for a few years. No dev or even IT background prior to getting into network pentesting and web app pentesting.

Get into security, specifically web app security pentesting.

You'll thank me later.

There are actually devs that can't touch type these days? That's quite fascinating.

I can't imagine having to look at the keyboard while typing.

I will most likely not renew my gym membership this year. I bought a few kettlebells in february and man, the type of workout I get out of those fothermuckers is crazy. And the time I save from having to commute back and fourth to the gym makes such a difference even if it's just ~20 minutes every gym day.

Kettlebells and MMA/BJJ is where it's at for me in the future.

Where I'm from it's more like:

20 - Nah

25 - WTF are you serious?

30 - Hey, look at this loser over here!

I have no regrets of not going to university. I've never been asked about my education and during the time I was an employee I've always been paid the same as people with a degree and similiar work experience. So in my personal experience a degree would have been a complete waste of time.

It's not. Running scanners and report scan results won't get you paid so it's a complete waste of time.

Trust is easy. You either have a proof of concept and can show impact in your report or gtfo basically.

The money. Nothing else.

I've built a few pentest labs with AD and Windows VMs but that's it.

Why would anyone buy anything from Amazon?

And do you know what their CEO and board said as their defense?

"We know and work with risk everyday. We know how to handle this"

Crazy.

What I find absolutely moronic is that a lot of employers here in Sweden keep their employees at their workplaces even though their work could be basically 100% remote. They keep saying "stay home if you feel sick or show any symptom. If not, then it's business as usual from the office".

A friend of mine works for one of the big insurance companies and all he does is back office related work and according to him, all he needs is a VPN access and he can do all his work from home. But no, he needs a doctors notice saying that he belong to one of the risk groups before they let him work for home so he's considering getting some doctor to sign a notice even though he's not in a risk group because he doesn't want to risk getting infected at work or while commuting.

That's a great way to get people to use Unity instead. Which everyone already should.

Oh it has just started. 2008 will be a fart in the wind compared to the shitstorm we're heading towards.

Oh it has just started.

The Buffett Indicator.

Ah goldbugs and silverbugs. I've heard them talk about the economic meltdown for over 20 years now and how I should hoard physical gold and silver and how it will turn me into a MILLIONAIRE!

I bought real estate instead post 2008.

I've never bothered with the requirement of professional experience when applying. Still got interviews and offers.

"First, you need good mechanical keyboard."

No, you don't.

"a) buy keyboard with blank keycaps;"

No need. Just don't look at the keys while typing.

"b) if you can't buy such keyboard (you really should), try to pull out keycaps and randomly change their order;"

No need. Just don't look at the keys while typing.

"c) put blanked or some non-transparent sheet over your hands."

No need. Just don't look at the keys while typing.

For real, there is no need to complicate things. Just start out slow and you'll gradually increase your typing speed as you go as long as you're touch typing.

Pretty sure productivity will go up. When I WFH I do nothing but work.

A beginner in offensive cyber security/infosec is better off learning Burp and common web app vulnerabilities.

In my opinion that is.

You barely get two dinners for $50 here in Sweden unless you go for fast food which isn't an option if you're going to be eating out every day. A typical lunch is at least $10.

If I'd eat out every day both lunch and dinner I'm going to pay roughly $800/month compared to my usual $300/month for groceries.

Even if I charge $250/hour I'll still save both money and time when doing grocery shopping and meal prepping every sunday night. It's not like I'd been working on a sunday night anyway so I can't count those 5-6 hours/month spent on grocery shopping and cooking as a "loss of income".

Paywalls. I see paywalls everywhere.