Building your career as an ethical hacker takes time. If you are a Bangladeshi, it may take longer(Don’t be overwhelmed 🙂 ). It can’t happen overnight. Remember, you are an ethical hacker because you can act as a system admin and coder, think critically, and quickly adapt to new strategies.

The Career Guide for Ethical Hackers

You are best at computers, but if you don’t have a strong profile and can’t showcase your skills as an ethical hacker, you may have to charge 500 Taka or 5 USD to fix a printer. That is worse!!! Remember, You are no longer a tech support but a hacker now! You are a hacker because you can discover the errors other tech experts missed. Anyway, In this article, I will tell you some basic ways to build your profile and how to find your first job or project. Let’s start!

Get Certified

A degree is beneficial but not mandatory. Trust me, if you are an MBBS student or just passed school, you can also be an ethical hacker. What you need is a good training. Training teaches you methods, and certification proves you know the subject. But wait, selecting the proper training and certifications is very important. You can find more about some good certificates in another article I wrote.

My Recommendations:

  • OSCP(Highly Recommended)

Start Your Blog

The yearly cost to start a blog is less than 100 USD or 11000 Taka. That should be your digital home. Whatever you learn or achieve should be announced in your blog. If you don’t want to invest or don’t have money, start with Tumbler or Medium.

Your blog is a solid platform to showcase your skills. It is your asset. If you want to work with me, I will definitely ask if you have a blog.

Start Building Your Network

Social Media. You may not like a social media platform, but to build your career as an ethical hacker, you must connect with other professionals and showcase your skills to your fellows. Do the following:

  • Start connecting with others on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter(X).
  • Join various forums related to ethical hacking.
  • Join other online communities, contribute actively, and show your dedication.
  • Create tutorials and spread knowledge on video-sharing platforms like YouTube.
  • Don’t forget about the GitHub profile. Develop some projects and share.

Practical Experience

Do internships and play CTF in HTB or TryHackMe. You can showcase your CTF profile in your CV, too. You can gain experience in both ways.

Bug bounty is another excellent approach to earn some cash and experience safely. You need to be good at web application testing to make some cash. Try to find bugs to earn or to be good at web hacking. As a bonus, get experience.

Internships can be paid or unpaid. First, consider your skills. Do you already have solid ethical hacking skills, or are you still a beginner? Internships are a sophisticated method to gain practical experience. So try to find an opportunity.

The goal is to sharpen yourself and be experienced as much as possible.

Don’t overact; don’t try to be a false master in hacking if you can’t prove your skills practically. Just try to get your first experience, no matter if it is paid or unpaid! It is an option to prove yourself.

Get Your Foot at the Door

Start earning some money professionally when you have successfully built your strong portfolio. There are different ways. Let’s explore a few of them.

With your skills and experience, you can be a successful freelance ethical hacker. You can bid and win some projects on different freelancing platforms. Such as,

  1. UpWork
  2. Freelancer
  3. And Fiverr

You can even collect some clients from your social media connection. Your online profile matters.

Be an Independent Consultant

Connect with local and foreign companies and offer full-time or part-time consultancy services. But don’t be disappointed if none of them get back. Keep trying. Remember to utilize your blog. Some advice:

  • Market yourself as much as you can. Don’t do anything false.
  • Ask your network to refer clients.

Apply For a Permanent Job

As you have a good profile and have earned some experience(Money too?), don’t feel ashamed to apply for a remote or on-site position. Write a good CV, including your professional activities, experience, skills, certifications, Blog URL, CTF Profile, etc. Utilize your network, LinkedIn, and other job posting websites like Indeed. Be prepared to send your CV thousands of times. This is not your only way!

It is hard to build any career—no exception for a career as an ethical hacker. You may feel more brutal if you are living in Bangladesh. But never give up. If you are confident in your skills and want to work with me, send me your CV too. Additionally, if you have comments or questions, feel free to send a mail.