Is it worth studying to be a pentester? And how to become one from scratch?

Question

IT education

About me:
I finished 9th grade. And to enter the realm, I started training right now. It will take me at least 5 years to give my whole self to the professions (to graduate from the school. Vuz.).

Attention, the question is, in 7-8 years, will the profession of a pentester be in demand?
And is it possible that after 5 years of study and practice, I will be able to earn decent money in the bug bounty program, I mean will I be better than my competitors, and is it worth hoping for the program as the main income?
And how to become a pentester from scratch?
Is it worth reading books on hacking, etc. if they are over 3 years old?

Answer 1

Attention, the question is, in 7-8 years, will the profession of a pentester be in demand?

There is no such profession. There is an information security specialist working in the direction of searching for vulnerabilities. And this profession has many features. The need for such specialists is not high, the requirements are simply sky-high, but if one does become one, money simply ceases to exist as a necessity (as well as the need to find a job).
The problem is that it's not easy to become one. You should know how what you are going to test works - better than those people who configured and installed the system. And this is a lot of different knowledge.

And is it possible that after 5 years of study and practice, I will be able to earn decent money in the bug bounty program, I mean will I be better than my competitors, and is it worth hoping for the program as the main income?

Yes, who knows? With the question "what will happen in five years" - to the Lord Jesus, please, he knows for sure (but is unlikely to say)

And how to become a pentester from scratch?

To study. Including getting a tower in the direction of IS.

Is it worth reading books on hacking, etc. if they are over 3 years old?

Certainly! Why do you think lawyers study court practice in completed cases? The methodology is developed, that is, it is determined by what methods the result was achieved.

Answer 2

Will the pentester profession be in demand?

Certainly!

And is it possible that after 5 years of study and practice, I will be able to earn decent money in the bug bounty program

Well, that's what freelancing is. Someone considers classic freelancing to be garbage, and someone there cuts money and you can’t drive them into the office.

And how to become a pentester from scratch?

Read forums by your specialty, get acquainted with classic vulnerabilities from the top 10 OWASP. Put yourself sandboxes to search for vulnerabilities and figure it out.

Is it worth reading books on hacking, etc. if they are over 3 years old?

Absolutely not! So far, in principle, apart from articles and manuals, you can read nothing.
Here's what. It's cool to be a pentester. Undoubtedly. But get into programming better if you're interested. Otherwise, it may turn out that you will delve into the pentest, and then something will not work and it turns out that you just wasted time in vain, and here you already need to go somewhere to work. It will be easier with coding here. Yes, and it will be easier to roll over from coding or administration.

Answer 3

The training of a pentester is in no way connected with the school, and even more so the university
. The pentester is a very diverse person, a dozen professions that he knows will certainly not end anywhere.