r/learncybersecurity

Bro I just turned 26 and I’m trying to get into cyber security. I wanna be a pen tester how do I start my journey. I have 0 experience but I’ve been using hack me and hack the box for a few days but I wanna spend at least 30-45 more days just learning the basics through those type of resources before actually enrolling in school. Any advice would help

So i joined B-Tech (Cse) this year i have very little experience in Python so how can i get into cyber security as a beginner.

What languages to learn, what to master

What are the do's and don'ts

Everything which can help me in future

Hi everyone,

I’m currently transitioning into cybersecurity from a completely different academic background, and I’d really appreciate some honest advice from people already working in the field.

My undergraduate degree is in Animal Science from Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Nigeria. I know that’s quite far from cybersecurity, but over the past period I’ve developed a genuine interest in the field and have been working to build my knowledge and practical skills.

My interest became very personal after I experienced cyber fraud twice. I lost my school fees during one incident and later lost my savings through a credit card breach. Those experiences made me want to understand how these attacks happen and, more importantly, how they can be detected and prevented.

Since then, I’ve been learning cybersecurity through self-study and practical training. I have completed Cisco Academy courses/certificates in Introduction to Cybersecurity, Networking Basics, and Operating Systems.

I’ve also had practical exposure through cybersecurity training with SBTS, where I’ve been learning about:

• SOC operations
• SIEM and Wazuh
• Wireshark
• Nmap
• Networking
• Linux/Kali Linux
• Incident detection and analysis

My current goal is to build myself towards a SOC Analyst / Cybersecurity Analyst career.

I’m also planning to pursue a Cybersecurity Conversion MSc, since my first degree isn't IT-related. I want the MSc to help me strengthen the areas I currently have gaps in and give me a more structured and advanced understanding of cybersecurity.

My biggest question is for people who are already working in cybersecurity:

If you were starting again from my position, what would you focus on over the next 6–12 months?

Would you recommend focusing more on:

1. Networking and Linux
2. SIEM tools such as Wazuh/Splunk/Sentinel
3. Blue-team labs and incident response
4. Certifications
5. Building a cybersecurity portfolio/GitHub
6. Getting an IT/helpdesk/networking role first

I’m especially interested in hearing from people who came into cybersecurity from a completely different academic or career background.

I’m not looking for shortcuts. I just want to make sure I’m spending my time learning the right things and building skills that actually matter in the real world.

Any honest advice, criticism or recommendations would be appreciated.

Hey everyone,

I’m currently starting my journey into cybersecurity. I’ve heard from many people in the field that programming is a crucial skill—especially for building custom tools and automating tasks.

Following that advice, I started with **Python**, learned the basics up to **OOP**, and solved around 50 beginner-level problems on **Codeforces** to get comfortable with logic.

My initial plan was to start learning how to write automation scripts and custom security tools, but I’m a bit stuck on what to do next. I have a couple of questions:

1. **Does Problem Solving really make a difference in Cybersecurity?** Or is heavy DSA/Problem Solving mostly relevant for Software Engineering? How much depth do I actually need here?
2. **Sequential vs. Parallel Learning:** Should I keep my entire focus on programming for now, or should I start learning core cybersecurity fundamentals (like Networking, Linux, SysAdmin) alongside Python?

Would love to hear your advice on what the ideal next steps should be based on your experience.

Thanks in advance!

I’m 20 years old and live in a third-world country. In a month, I’m going to start studying Cybersecurity and Cloud Computing at an engineering university.

I know anything about this field yet no programming languages, nothing. But I feel like I’m genuinely interested in this stuff. I also like to isolate myself and go as deep as I can into things that interest me.

I’m curious to hear from people in the field: what should I expect, and what would you recommend I start learning before university?

I watched mr.robot too

I’m completely new to cybersecurity and want to learn it properly from scratch.

With AI changing the field so quickly, what would be the best roadmap to follow in 2026? What should I learn first, which free resources/labs are actually worth it, and when should I start learning AI/LLM security?

I’d really appreciate advice from people already working in cybersecurity

I'm an engineering student focused on offensive security. Looking for people interested in:

• Pentesting / Web Security
• CTFs
• Linux / low-level security
• Malware / detection engineering
• OSINT / DFIR
• Security tooling

The idea isn't just to make a Discord group. I want us to learn together, build real security projects, publish them on GitHub, participate in CTFs and eventually compete as a team.

Beginners/intermediate people are welcome, but consistency matters more than skill level.

If you're genuinely interested, DM me with:
1. What you're learning
2. Your current level
3. What security area interests you
4. One thing you'd like to build

I am a 3rd year btech student who is just starting Cybersecurity, i heard that tryhackme is very good for beginners so i wanted to purchase tryhackme premium as well, Btw what i am more intrested in is

SOC

IAM

GRC

CLOUD

TPRM

Malware

So should i get it? And what will i be able to learn from tryhackme and please guide me to get started in my cybersecurity career 😔

Hi,

Im going into my second year of college doing cybersecurity and I just feel lost.

I did networking, html, python, operating systems etc all the basics in first year and I’ve been trying to do bits myself over the summer but I just feel like there’s so much information and knowledge out there that I’m a bit overwhelmed by it and stuck in a bit of action paralysis.

I’ve learned how to use GitHub, I’m keeping up with Python in boot.dev and I’ve explored a bit of kali and basic Linux stuff but I don’t really know what to do at all from here. During Covid I used to dive into windows so I’m super comfortable with the depths of windows but apart from that I’m not really decent with anything else.

I got hackthebox but even with the sheer amount of content on that I still get action paralysis.

I’ve seen loads of roadmaps online but they differ from each other depending on the specialty and the specialty I’m looking at is pentesting and I eventually hope to start my own business eventually in something to do with pentesting for companies or AI when I get my masters.

If anyone could offer some advice on a path to take or how to get out of this rut of not just taking action on things it’d be really appreciated.

Hi, I am a recently graduate with my Bachelor’s in Computer Science emphasis on Cybersecurity. For some reason I didn’t receive any certs through my degree. So, I was wondering if any of you know any Free/Cheap certifications I can complete that correlates to my degree, and will help on my resume to land a job?

Hey everyone,

I'm fairly new to cybersecurity, working toward a SOC Analyst role, with pentesting as a possible longer-term goal. I've got basic IT/Linux knowledge but not much hands-on security experience yet.

I'm currently on TryHackMe Free Plan (just started, exploring both SOC Level 1 and Jr Penetration Tester paths). For someone in this position, would you recommend:

• Starting with TryHackMe and then moving to HTB?
• Jumping straight into Hack The Box?
• Or using both at the same time?

Mainly interested in networking, Linux, enumeration, web security, privilege escalation, and eventually SOC/blue team skills alongside some pentesting basics.

Would appreciate advice from people who started at a similar level — and any specific learning paths or room lists you'd recommend.

Thanks!

I am animation bachelor student and i don't have any background in science or engeneering or maths. I recently found out about cyber security and I am thinking of switching career. What short course would you guys recommend which helps know if cyber security is my career?

I'm a cybersecurity student and I want to specialize in Cloud Security long-term. I already know it's not an entry-level field, so I'm not asking how to skip the line.

My question is: what's the best route to get there? Which first job actually builds toward it — help desk, SOC, sysadmin, DevOps, backend dev?

If you work in cloud security: what path did YOU take, and what would you do differently if you started today?

Hi everyone,

I’ve decided to make a hard pivot into cybersecurity and just started with TryHackMe. I’m 25, and while I have basic computer skills, I’m essentially starting from scratch. I’ve just hit my first "real" task involving Linux and Red Teaming, and honestly, the terminal alone is a bit overwhelming.

I’m looking for the "extreme" way to speed up this process. I don’t want to just stare at theory for months; I want to be hands-on.

A few questions for the pros here:

1. What are the most common mistakes beginners make on THM that slow them down?
2. Are there any specific "side resources" (YouTube channels, cheat sheets, or labs) that helped you "click" with Linux and networking faster than just following THM paths?
3. How can I build a solid foundation for Red Teaming without getting bogged down in "white-hat" academic stuff I'll never use?

I’m ready to put in the hours, just want to make sure I’m not running in the wrong direction.

Thanks in advance!

Finally making bonsai-ninja public.
It’s a local code intelligence and static analysis engine built around compiler-backed facts instead of giant file dumps.

Use it for code intelligence, security taint analysis across 20 languages, or export call graphs, control flow, dataflow, IDG facts, and other structured compiler data for AI training, code-reasoning research, and agents.

It’s also built with local-first AI in mind. Pair it with your local LLMs to give them focused, compiler-backed context about a codebase instead of burning context windows repeatedly reading files. Models like Qwen and Nemotron are a great place to start, and experimenting with different local models is encouraged.

It’s free, MIT licensed, and runs locally. No subscription required, no hosted service required, and no analysis features held back behind a paid tier. Your source code stays on your machine.

Even if the engine isn’t your thing, the security-patterns alone are worth checking out. There’s an extensive YAML rulepack for modeling sources, sinks, sanitizers, frameworks, and security behavior across the supported languages.

This is just getting started. Contributions, testing, sharing, criticism, forks, whatever. Hell, steal it, improve it, build something better with it. Doesn’t matter. The goal is to put it out there and see what people do with it.

github.com/gromhacks/bonsai-ninja

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for good free resources to build a strong foundation in the following areas:

• Networking

- Operating Systems

- Databases

- Linux — preferably a complete course

- Windows — preferably a complete course

- Bash scripting

- Python programming

- Virtualisation

If there are free certifications, structured courses, or well-known learning paths, I would prefer those over random YouTube videos.

My goal is to learn these properly from the fundamentals and eventually use them for cybersecurity, so resources with practical labs/exercises would be especially useful.

Please share any resources you personally found useful. Thanks!