u/kurvivol

My schedule is tight, so I can realistically spend about 30 minutes a day learning cybersecurity. I know that is not much, but I am curious how far consistent effort like that can take someone over several years.

I am mainly interested in how systems, networks, and computers work under the hood, especially how they can be broken, exploited, and analyzed from an attacker’s perspective. My interests are broadly in offensive security and skills related to pentesting and red teaming.

I am not currently learning this to get a cybersecurity job. I am interested in the subject itself and in developing a deeper understanding of computers, operating systems, and networks.

With 30 minutes a day, what level of knowledge and skill could realistically be reached over 3 to 5 years? Assuming someone stays consistent, how far could they get, and what kind of foundation could they build?

My schedule is tight, so I can realistically spend about 30 minutes a day learning cybersecurity. I know that is not much, but I am curious how far consistent effort like that can take someone over several years.

I am mainly interested in how systems, networks, and computers work under the hood, especially how they can be broken, exploited, and analyzed from an attacker’s perspective. My interests are broadly in offensive security and skills related to pentesting and red teaming.

I am not currently learning this to get a cybersecurity job. I am interested in the subject itself and in developing a deeper understanding of computers, operating systems, and networks.

With 30 minutes a day, what level of knowledge and skill could realistically be reached over 3 to 5 years? Assuming someone stays consistent, how far could they get, and what kind of foundation could they build?

So I'm currently using Professor Messer's Free Youtube Course for CompTIA A+. Currently on the 1201 playlist and I have to say, so far A LOT of stuff isn't explained and quite a lot of jargons are said that aren't explained or weren't covered in previous videos a constant one is subnetting, default gateway, subnet mask, to name a few although there were more that I just couldn't even remember.

On some of the videos, namely the Network Devices one, he covers a topic, in this case it was the Cable Modem, but doesn't explain WHAT it is for or more accurately WHY is it used (based on the google I search I did it was, apparently it "translates" data that comes from the ISP so devices such as home routers can use that data, because the 'raw' data that comes from the ISP can't be used by devices such as home routers).

I've find myself spending more time googling and asking Claude and ChatGPT certain jargons that are parts of an explanation of a topic that he covers and/or asking for/googling further clarification for topics he covers as opposed to watching and trying to learn the topic itself from him.

Does his playlist and CompTIA A+ in general require some prerequisite knowledge to be able to keep up with the course? Are CompTIA A+ and Professor Messer's Course respectively TRULY beginner cert and course or do they require IT background?

I constantly see people here saying they passed certs like A+, Network+ etc by studying for 3-6 hours a day everyday in 1-2 months.

Unforunately I don't have that kind of time. The most I can spend a day is probably 30 minutes of focused learning and practicing.

So I'm curious, is it possible to pass CompTIA A+, if I just spend 30 minutes a day on average learning for it in a structured way and actually try to learn the topics covered as opposed to just listening passively?

Has anyone done something similar? If so how long did it took you?

I've been learning web development for quite a while. I started mainly because of the career opportunities and money, but over time I actually started enjoying it and got reasonably good at fullstack development.

I've learned HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, React Router, Node.js, Express, SQL, JWT authentication, sessions/cookies, etc.

The problem is that my local job market is terrible for the stack I've learned. There are very few fullstack jobs, and most of them use C# or Java on the backend. Frontend/React jobs are also extremely limited.

So now I'm stuck between a few options:

I could pivot to backend and learn Java/Spring or C#/.NET, but that means moving away from a lot of the frontend knowledge I've spent so much time developing.

I could double down on React/frontend, but there are so few jobs that it doesn't seem economically sensible.

Or I could pivot completely into something like networking, DevOps, or cloud engineering, which potentially has better opportunities, but would mean learning an entirely new field.

I understand that this is the sunk cost fallacy: the time I've already spent shouldn't determine what I do next. But it's still difficult to accept that I might have to move away from something I've spent so much time learning and have actually come to enjoy.

For people who have gone through something similar: how did you deal with this psychologically? And how much of your previous knowledge actually carried over into your new field?

I've been learning how to program for the past 1.5-ish years.

I've learned the basics of HTML, CSS, JS and React for frontend and Node.js, Express, Cookies, Sessions, JWT, Authentication, Databases, ORMs, etc for the backend.

I'm able to make relatively simple projects or AT MOST projects with medium-ish complexity.

However, I have a poor working memory capacity, that has always been the case.

The way it expresses itself is in two major ways:

1.Whenever I have to make a feature that requires holding several things at once in my mind or thinking more than two steps ahead, my mind just gets overwhelmed. That is the case especially if the feature/task I have to complete is new/unknown/I haven't encountered it before.

2. Whenever I try to work on a project that is more complex, my mind can't keep track of all the names, functions, filenames, directories, where what is located, etc. I constantly have to go back, re-check what a given function does, what a given Component contains, etc

I've tried breaking problems into smaller ones, externalizing as much as possible and other 'tricks', but none of them really worked.

So I'm curious, is programming even feasible for someone with low working memory capacity as myself? Is there something I can do to improve it or atleast make it so it doesn't negatively impact my programming skills?

I'm not talking about simply watching and going through it, just so I can say that I "completed it".

I'm talking about genuinely learning the concepts and topics covered and getting good at the skills taught

I'm asking this because I have VEEERY tight schedule and (more or less) 30-ish minutes a day on average is the most I can spend going through the course

And just to be clear, I'm asking WHETHER it's possible. So if it's possible, but it would take an year, I don't have a problem with that - as long as it's possible.

IF you would say that it isn't possible and 30 minutes is simply too little time to spend a day to effectively learn, what would you say is the minimum quality daily practice and learning time to be able to complete the course?

I'm currently at the final project of TOP of the Javascript Fullstack Path and I have to say, I was surprised how 'easy' (relatively) the Node.js section was and how fast I went through it.

React was kinda fast too, and none of them came even close to the Javascript section, that one took me A WHILE.

Even thought, looking back at it, it was the easiest in terms of complexity of knowledge between the three, it still took me the longest.

So I'm curious, for others who have finished The Odin Project, which section took you the longest to complete? Which was the easiest one for you?

No, this is not another "Is learning to program worth it" post asking about whether it's worth it to learn to program to get a job.

I'm curious about how good can you get at programming in a specific programming field as a self-taught in a specific timeframe?

So for example, if I pick something like backend development, "choose" a stack like Java Spring Boot and I start learning and practicing (through projects) for 2-3 hours a day everyday in a structured way, learn about most relevant things related to that specific field (so in the case of Backend it could be databases, Docker, potentially some DSA, Authentication, SOP, CORS, etc ), how good would I be after 6 months, 1 year and 2 years of such schedule?

I know it is hard to say as there are a lot of variables such as motivation, consistency, aptitude etc, but I'm curious in general how good would you be able to become in that timeframe with such structure and schedule?

I've seen people online say how long it took them to beat Farewell Golden and the range is between 80-250 hours, with most people being around the 100-150 hours range.

I can dedicate only 30 minutes a day practicing for it due to life reasons and basic math tells me that it would take between 6 months and 2years and 4 months-ish based on those ranges.

I have the patience, so the timeline itself isn't the problem. My main doubt is whether 30 minutes a day would be enough, even if I'm able to accumulate the total hours (80-250) with only 30 minutes a day.

I don't know whether 30 minutes a day would be enough to warm up, get in the flow and improve or whether, after a certain period of time, it would be enough only for maintenance of my current skills.

So i'm curious, has anyone beaten/do you think it's possible to beat Farewell golden practicing only for 30-ish minutes a day (or less than 1 hour a day in general) on average and how long did it take you to beat it?

I guess this is not limited to learning Linux, since I've seen it for programming, sometimes language learning etc, but I'm asking specifically for learning Linux, command lines, what is the name of each directory and what does it contain etc.

Right now I'm learning Linux as a COMPLETE noob and I just don't see how would I learn that something like /etc contains system wide configurations files without memorizing it, or what's the difference between symbolic and hard links or learning options for ls, like -l -t -h -S -F and what they do (obviously) without memorizing it

I've always wanted to learn Spanish - love the language and the culture of most Spanish-speaking countries.

After lurking in this sub for 2-3 years, 40 days ago I finally decided to give Dreaming Spanish a try. I'm at 75 hours, and yesterday I had an experience that made me realize this is actually working.

The first 20-30 hours there was clear improvement - mostly picking up very common words and phrases constantly used in the videos ("Vamos a ver", "tengo hambre", "adivinar", etc.). For the last 30-40 hours though, it felt like I was stagnating. Even though I was consistent, I kept hearing the same words over and over and new vocabulary was very rarely showing up - even though, funnily enough, I'm now able to watch the easiest intermediate videos.

So why write this progress report? Here's the thing. The first 15 days I was watching only free videos, which end with a promo from Michelle for the Dreaming Spanish website and the premium and she was speaking at fast pace. When I first heard it, I understood absolutely nothing and thought "wow, that's so fast, I probably won't get this until 300 hours." Then I switched to premium and stopped watching free videos for a while.

Yesterday I watched a free video and that same promo played - I was about to skip it, and then it hit me. I understood everything she was saying. No effort, no problem - I just knew what she was saying.

This made me realize two things: progress isn't something you always feel while it's happening, and benchmark videos are really important for actually tracking it. Can't wait to see where I am at 150 and 300 hours

Based on most estimates, reaching B2 in a (TL) language generally requires high hundreds (700-900 hours) or low thousands (1000-2000 hours) of hours to get there depending on your native language and what language you want to learn.

Obviously getting C1-C2 takes WAY longer.

Mathematically speaking, for someone doing 30 minutes a day, to get to B2 for a language that requires 700 hours to reach that level, they would need to spend almost FOUR YEARS to get there. And that is if they have perfect consistency.

Realistically tho spending "only" 30 minutes a day also has problems like task switching costs, warm up, etc that can make it so you're not even actively learning for a chunk of those 30 minutes.

So I'm curious are there any people who have reached B2+ in a language doing less than 1 hour a day and if so, how long did it take you (in terms of calendar time) to get there and how much time a day were you

Disclaimer: this post is not a humble brag with the intention of karma farming/attention/compliments.

I'm currently at 67 hours and I'm starting to find beginner videos slow and easy. It feels like almost every video is using words that I already know so it feels like I'm not learning anything new, just repeating the same words I already know.

Yesterday I tried several intermediate videos (sorted by easy) and I found that, not only are they more engaging a liiiiittle bit faster, but also contain words that I don't know.

So I think of switching to intermediate videos, but I'm afraid that I might be rushing it. The roadmap suggest to start with intermediate videos from 150 hours onwards and I've seen A LOT of people saying that they made the switch from beginner to intermediate around that time, some even later (200-250 hours+) and not only that but they claim that the switch was though for them, whereas the videos that I watch didn't seem that much harder, which really is making me doubt my decision.

How do I know I should switch to intermediate videos? When did you moved to intermediate videos and was the change though for you?