I'm reposting part of a comment I wrote (and adding to it).<p>My version on how to become a hacker. It's just another reference point.<p>Step 1: Go to <a href="http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html</a><p>Step 1b (bonus): read Hacker News (it actually helped, it also really distracted, the latter part is why it's labeled as <i>bonus</i>)<p>Step 2: Complete Binary and Malware Analysis at the Vrije Universiteit<p>Step 3: Complete Computer and Network Security at the Vrije Universiteit<p>Step 4: Complete Hardware Security at the Vrije Universiteit<p>Step 4b (bonus, I mean, you're there now anyway): Complete Kernel Programming at the Vrije Universiteit<p>Step 5: Go to <a href="https://hackthebox.eu" rel="nofollow">https://hackthebox.eu</a>, hack at least 1 easy, 1 medium, 1 hard and -- for good measure -- 1 insane box<p>Congratulations, you are now a hacker in every sense of the word:<p>1. You broke into computer systems.<p>2. You needed to be curious in order to do it.<p>This took me 8 months, personally (60 hours per week). I found it a lot of fun. It could take you a lot less time or more time.<p>-----<p>I'm assuming you already know how to program, if you don't then get the following prerequisite knowledge.<p>Step 1: do CS50 in order to learn programming and learn how to learn programming languages. What I've seen in students is that the first 6 weeks are experienced as more difficult than the last 6 weeks (hint: it's because you start off with C). So don't get discouraged. If this is not you and it is the other way around, I've seen that too (though, I've seen it less. It depends on the default mode of thinking that a person uses).<p>Step 2: do <a href="https://www.nand2tetris.org/" rel="nofollow">https://www.nand2tetris.org/</a> to understand computer systems and get some assembly under your belt.<p>Step 3: if you feel like this road is too rigid, do a project that you're interested in here. Get it out of your system now, because the above mentioned stuff took me 10 months, personally. Create a computer graphics engine with OpenGL and Java. Yes, you could do C++ but that's complicating things for now. If you really want to though, go ahead, C++ is a fine choice if you're burning with passion.<p>These 3 steps probably take between 4 to 8 months. Some people with a hacker mindset could do this within 2 months, or 1 month even (email me if you did!). Some people that have other stuff going on in their lives will do this in 8+ months. It's all fine.