Realizations of a Beginner Bug Bounty Hunter

Hey there , I am Abhishek aka p3g4sus (don’t let the fancy handle deceive you, am the naivest of all the hunters).

So I was busy thinking on what to write and that ended early because unlike others, I didn’t have any remarkable achievements or methodologies or tricks to showcase. Only thing I learned was some valuable experiences arising out of some dumb decisions of mine while I was learning about Bug Hunting.

So in this blog , I will briefly describe about my mistakes ( some noteworthy ones , because otherwise a whole series can be possibly written on this topic) .

Lets dive right in !

1. Learning is awesome , but don’t fall in that loop

As a Beginner with zero background knowledge in this field , my primary focus was to learn everything possible . So I was constantly on the hunt for something to learn and widen by skillset . I was very proud though , but I realized my mistake the hard way . I knew the theory considerably well , but when it comes to practical knowledge I was a big zero . I was in the constant loop of learning , learning and just learning without practice . It took me an year to come out of this because I was totally unaware of this in the first place.

So break-free from the loop and rise ahead.

2. Know what is useful for you and what is not

The internet has everything which can help you to be an elite bug hunter , but the issue is that the results are a bit overwhelming for a beginner . I initially did some courses just because it contained the word ‘Cyber Security ‘ in its title . It is the most dumbest thing which I have done , but I guess that won’t be the last though.

So long story short , follow a perfect methodology . Learn everything step by step rather than learning each and everything .

3. Prefer quality over quantity

There are some 10 minute videos which provide you with more insights than a 3 hour course . So don’t get deceived by the duration of a content and presume about its quality. Dive deeper into everything and gain the most out of even a couple of lines of content.

4. Trust the power of the community

As a total newcomer , we will be totally reluctant to reach out to Professionals and other prominent members of the community for help . But trust me there are some really awesome people who will take you places and make your journey a lot easier.

5. Focus on Learning and improving , other successes will follow

I can openly confess that the money factor of Bug Bounty drew me in this field initially but fortunately with successive mistakes and burn outs , I soon realized that Bug Bounty is more about personal development , a loving community and a limit less world ahead .

Pat yourself for taking this risk of reading about the mistakes of someone rather than their success. Thank you so much for having a look at this . If anyone is benefitted from my content , I ‘ll be the happiest . Please do post your view on this short read as a comment or as a DM so that I can improve my future work.

As a parting note , Don’t be afraid of making mistakes coz at least you can publish an article like this with those mistakes of yours.

Once again , Thank you for your time and sorry for the ill timed jokes . Have a wonderful time ahead .