<story><title>Ask HN: How did you get started in Network Security/Penetration Testing?</title></story><parent_chain><item><author>Txmm</author><text>&amp;quot;It’s also a huge field. Try checking out security in your current discipline.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m actually 15 at the moment with basically no experience besides messing around with kali tools like a script kiddie.&lt;p&gt;Got any tips for programming languages to learn&amp;#x2F;where to learn?&lt;p&gt;I appreciate the post!</text></item><item><author>igolden</author><text>I’ve been a professional software developer for the last 4-5 years, but never took security serious until iot took off. Get some raspberry pis, install kali Linux on a VM or spare computer, and go to work! It’s just so easy and cheap to setup a pen test lab. I’d recommend every dev have a few attack machines for fun.   That’s how I got &lt;i&gt;started&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;p&gt;It’s also a huge field. Try checking out security in your current discipline. I was a web developer in 2013, so it was natural that I was inclined to look at SQL injections, XSS, packet sniffing, Etc. I already understood the domain. That is easier than jumping into reverse engineering firm ware if you have no xp.&lt;p&gt;Now after a couple years of practice, I’m recommitted to security. Huge issue in our current tech ecosystem. I was just approved to take CEH and will be taking it next month. To make it official. If you need some structure to your learning and want to make a career move, check out getting an industry base cert like the CEH or offensive arc cert. most security jobs prefer candidates to have at least one, and they’re not incredibly difficult.&lt;p&gt;Happy pwning!</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>raesene9</author><text>In terms of languages I&amp;#x27;d echo the sibling comment, Ruby or python are likely to be good choices.&lt;p&gt;If you&amp;#x27;re looking for things to start getting into security type learning, you could do a lot worse than start with CTFs (&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;ctftime.org&amp;#x2F;ctf-wtf&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;ctftime.org&amp;#x2F;ctf-wtf&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;)  Whilst they&amp;#x27;re not identical to what you&amp;#x27;ll face as a security tester, they cover a lot of similar skills.  Also you&amp;#x27;ll likely meet people in the industry by doing them.&lt;p&gt;There&amp;#x27;s also sites like &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;pentesterlab.com&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;pentesterlab.com&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt; which have free examples of pentesting challenges.</text></comment>
<story><title>Ask HN: How did you get started in Network Security/Penetration Testing?</title></story><parent_chain><item><author>Txmm</author><text>&amp;quot;It’s also a huge field. Try checking out security in your current discipline.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m actually 15 at the moment with basically no experience besides messing around with kali tools like a script kiddie.&lt;p&gt;Got any tips for programming languages to learn&amp;#x2F;where to learn?&lt;p&gt;I appreciate the post!</text></item><item><author>igolden</author><text>I’ve been a professional software developer for the last 4-5 years, but never took security serious until iot took off. Get some raspberry pis, install kali Linux on a VM or spare computer, and go to work! It’s just so easy and cheap to setup a pen test lab. I’d recommend every dev have a few attack machines for fun.   That’s how I got &lt;i&gt;started&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;p&gt;It’s also a huge field. Try checking out security in your current discipline. I was a web developer in 2013, so it was natural that I was inclined to look at SQL injections, XSS, packet sniffing, Etc. I already understood the domain. That is easier than jumping into reverse engineering firm ware if you have no xp.&lt;p&gt;Now after a couple years of practice, I’m recommitted to security. Huge issue in our current tech ecosystem. I was just approved to take CEH and will be taking it next month. To make it official. If you need some structure to your learning and want to make a career move, check out getting an industry base cert like the CEH or offensive arc cert. most security jobs prefer candidates to have at least one, and they’re not incredibly difficult.&lt;p&gt;Happy pwning!</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>graystevens</author><text>Take a look at either Ruby or Python - both have huge userbases in general, but are also used regularly within the business.&lt;p&gt;A lot of quick scripts are written in Python - you may have noticed this in Kali.&lt;p&gt;Ruby is what metaspoilt in built upon, meaning a lot of the modules are also ruby.&lt;p&gt;Both are great languages. In regards to where to start with learning them, take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.codecademy.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.codecademy.com&lt;/a&gt;, both are featured there and give you a nice gentle introduction to their syntax and ways of workings.&lt;p&gt;Also for Python there&amp;#x27;s &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;learnpythonthehardway.org&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;learnpythonthehardway.org&lt;/a&gt; which is awesome, and &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;automatetheboringstuff.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;automatetheboringstuff.com&lt;/a&gt; which is a little more practical to begin with.&lt;p&gt;Once you feel comfortable with the language(s), go read the source code for those scripts or modules in Kali and see what else you can pick up.</text></comment>