I’ll start with my accomplishments over the last 24 hours. I actually finished my first read-thru of Bug Bounty Bootcamp by Vicki Li. Years ago, I read a book called How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler. One of the things I remember the most about how to read and actually retain the knowledge of a book is by doing an initial read-thru, followed by an active read-thru. This was my non-active read-thru. While I’m sure I’m like most people and don’t fully pay attention when doing passive reading like this, I do feel it “tills the soil” somewhat. I will be doing passive read-thru’s of everything from here on out, while doing active read-thru’s of the current one I’m working on. I’ve decided my first steps are going to be to follow along through this book while hunting on a VDP (Vulnerability Disclosure Program) offering. I have not decided which one yet, but plan on starting in the next day or so.
One of my main issues is that I have been diagnosed with ADHD, but more importantly, severe depressive disorder. I have gotten the help I need, and while I’m in good shape most days, the downswings still happen. Today was one of those days. I had a hard time focusing or being productive whatsoever with work today, and did not study for my PMP at all. I really felt like I was going to end up sitting in the recliner staring at football the entire night.
Thankfully, I was able to motivate myself enough to get one thing done (besides this post). I currently have a Windows laptop for work, and an older gaming desktop that is my personal device. I was honestly thinking about getting a new personal laptop and loading Kali Linux on it directly, but I do happen to have a MacBook from a previous gig. I am not a Mac person, but being in the field as long as I have, I can at least navigate enough to work. I decided to get UTM installed, and then install a virtual instance of Kali directly onto it. It took some doing (Google UTM, Kali Install, Black Screen), but I finally got it installed and logged in. Although it’s not much, I feel good that I at least didn’t have a 0% day.
I realize people reading this might think “Wait. You have a full time job, are studying for your PMP, AND trying to learn Bug Bounty (eventually full Pentesting)?”. It is definitely a product of my ADHD. I have decided that I’ve done too much to not finish my PMP, and there’s no harm in getting it. After I finish that, I will not be adding any more to my plate, so I can focus on this more. Unfortunately, one of the other things I’m going to have to sacrifice is gaming. Or my family. I haven’t really decided which yet.
So, Bug Bounty Bootcamp has now moved into the “active reading” phase, and I’m now moving “Learn Python the Hard Way” into my passive reading phase. Although I know some basic Python, I’m going to work through that book specifically to get more acclimated.
