When I tell people I’m a penetration tester, I usually get one of two reactions.
Either they laugh awkwardly at the job title… or they imagine I’m a movie-style hacker who can take over a system with one click.

The truth? Neither is accurate.

I don’t test pens. And I’m definitely not sitting in a hoodie launching missiles from a basement.

What I actually do is this: companies pay me to think like a hacker, so I can find weaknesses in their applications or systems before the real bad guys do.

This work is called a penetration test (sometimes shortened to pentest). It’s basically a controlled security check-up — like hiring someone to break into your house, not to steal, but to show you which windows are unlocked so you can lock them.

Here’s what the job really looks like.

☕ It starts with… getting access

No alarms, no explosions — just me sending a polite message to the client:

“Could you provide me with a testing account and credentials to the application/system so I can begin the testing?”

Not the most thrilling opener, but this is where every penetration test begins — with permission, scope, and access. Without that, there’s no hacking, no testing, nothing.

🧩 Then comes… the methodology

A penetration test isn’t about pressing one button and magically “owning” a system. It’s slow, methodical work.

I build or adapt a checklist for each job and then move through it step by step:

• Is the application running on outdated libraries?
• How are passwords being stored?
• Can input fields be abused?

And here’s the surprising part: most of the time, we don’t manage to break in. But that’s a good thing — it means the system is holding up under pressure.

🧠 And eventually… the learning curve

There’s another myth: penetration testers are super-brains who know everything.

The truth? I’ve been in this field for just over two years, and I still spend hours Googling.

Every new app or framework I encounter, I need to learn before I can test it properly. That means reading documentation, trying things, failing, retrying, and slowly piecing it together.

A penetration test isn’t about knowing everything. It’s about being curious and persistent enough to figure it out as you go.

📑 And finally… the report (the unsexy but essential part)

Ask people what the “coolest” part of the job is, and they’ll say: hacking into stuff.

And yes, finding a vulnerability feels great.

But most of my time? I’m writing reports.

Reports that explain, in simple terms:

• What I tested.
• What I found.
• Why it matters.
• And how to fix it.

Because even the biggest vulnerability is useless if the client can’t understand what it means or how to patch it.

Not glamorous — but essential.

🎯 The reality of penetration testing

So what’s the job really like?

• It’s not one-click access to everything.
• It’s following a methodology, step by step.
• It’s hours of Googling and learning on the fly.
• It’s writing reports that clients can actually use.
• And it’s the constant reminder that you’ll never know enough — but doing the job anyway.

After two years in this field, here’s the biggest lesson I’ve learned:

“A penetration test isn’t about being a genius who breaks into systems to prove how good you are. It’s about curiosity — about how things are built — and the willingness to take apart complex mechanisms, piece by piece, until you understand how it all fits together.”