this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2023
58 points (92.6% liked)

Programming

17313 readers
150 users here now

Welcome to the main community in programming.dev! Feel free to post anything relating to programming here!

Cross posting is strongly encouraged in the instance. If you feel your post or another person's post makes sense in another community cross post into it.

Hope you enjoy the instance!

Rules

Rules

  • Follow the programming.dev instance rules
  • Keep content related to programming in some way
  • If you're posting long videos try to add in some form of tldr for those who don't want to watch videos

Wormhole

Follow the wormhole through a path of communities !webdev@programming.dev



founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

I am currently a Computer Science student in university who really loves Linux and FOSS software, hates it when governments and corporations spy on people, and would probably rather have a job that brings meaning and benefits society than one that has a high paycheck (although I do recognize that I also need to have enough money for food, housing, .etc). I also watch Scammer Payback and Jim Browning and I love what they're doing, but I don't know if I could turn that into a real job.

I've thought of doing pen testing (later on in my career), but I've come to realize that it is better if users just started using privacy-respecting FOSS software like Signal, because if you give a hacker enough time, patience, and the right resources, they could hack into anything. Although for something like banks, I'd maybe be ok working there, as everybody still needs them and they're not going away any time soon.

I also need something that I could get into fresh out of university or even as an internship or co-op.

Am I being too pessimistic? What would you suggest me to do? Feel free to challenge my views on life.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] agilob@programming.dev 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I’ve thought of doing pen testing (later on in my career), but I’ve come to realize that it is better if users just started using privacy-respecting FOSS software like Signal, because if you give a hacker enough time, patience, and the right resources, they could hack into anything.

Your idea of pentesting is so far from what it looks like in reality that it's probably not a path for you, at least not now. Let me explain: how am I going to protect my banking app using Signal? How will I know if our JSON unmarshalling library used by transaction service isn't vulnerable or exploitable? What FOSS software shows me live dashboards of deployed software in container and their security risk?

everybody still needs them and they’re not going away any time soon.

Bank is a civilization old concept, it has always been here and will be. Banks are so durable, they will run after our civilization ends.