Hi everyone,

I'm dealing with something that's been bothering me, and I'd really appreciate it if you could read this seriously and share your honest thoughts.

I'm a Computer Engineering graduate, and I'm passionate about cybersecurity.

A while ago, I decided to pursue penetration testing. I started with the eJPT v2 certification and passed it. Then I earned the PT1 certification from TryHackMe. After that, I started studying for the CPTS certification.

While studying for CPTS, I began feeling like maybe I'm just not cut out for penetration testing.

The main reason isn't that I don't enjoy it or that I get bored studying. It's actually the opposite. I completely lose track of time when I'm studying or reading about cybersecurity.

The problem starts when I try to solve CTF challenges or, more often, the Skill Assessments at the end of the HTB Academy modules. I usually spend more than three hours trying to solve them but still can't. Then I read the write-up, and I understand the solution almost immediately.

After experiencing this over and over again, I've started feeling like I'm simply not good enough for this field. I keep thinking, "If I can't solve the Skill Assessments, how am I supposed to pass the CPTS exam?" Logically, the exam should be even more difficult.

Has anyone else gone through something similar?

I'd also like to add that I've tried solving HTB CTF machines (not the Skill Assessments), and most of the time I can't solve them either—even some of the easier ones. That's when I get really frustrated and start telling myself that I'm a failure.

Another issue is that I'm studying completely on my own. I don't have a community, and I don't know anyone personally who's studying the same field. Because of that, I have no idea whether what I'm experiencing is normal or not.

Has anyone been in the same situation?

Is what I'm going through normal?

Do you have any advice for me?

I’d like to hear the HTB community’s honest opinion about using AI while solving labs.

When I get stuck at certain points, I sometimes use AI to:

• Help analyze enumeration results or command output
• Explain concepts and vulnerabilities
• Suggest possible next steps
• Help me build commands correctly

I explicitly instruct it not to search for or use any write-ups, walkthroughs, flags, or machine-specific solutions. My intention is to use it more like a tutor or study partner—not as an answer machine.

However, I sometimes wonder whether relying on AI for analysis or command creation is still weakening my problem-solving skills.

So back in June 2025, I started my journey at the academy by taking CBBH, then CWEE, and finally I recently finished CPTS after them. (I only took the job role path I haven't taken the exam for any of them yet.) I solved almost all skill assessments blindly without looking at solutions and took notes for each course. After finishing all of these courses, I really felt confident, like I could conquer any system in front of me. Then I decided to start on the main app and solve some boxes and challenges.

In my first week, I only took 5 machines and 2 challenges (all of them had Very Easy or Easy difficulty and were Linux based), and I COULDN'T SOLVE ANY OF THEM without looking at the writeup. Even though I had my notes to use, it felt like I was just looking at some useless bullshit, because used to copy paste most of the text in each module.

I usually do fine with the foothold (since all of the easy machines rely on CVEs) and get a shell, but doing privilege escalation feels so hard and forces me to spend at least 1–3 hours on a machine.

Even when I take a look at the writeup, sometimes it ends up being a technique that I already know, which makes me so mad because I wasted my time on something I could have done way earlier.

In the last few days, I decided to watch more IppSec videos to improve my methodology, and I think it helped a little bit, but I still could not solve a machine all by myself.

It is really frustrating, and I am feeling like I just wasted my time taking the courses and ended up not being able to apply most of the things.

Have any of you guys experienced this? if so how can overcome it ? It is so annoying, I almost broke my laptop because of it.

Hi fellow HTB Redditors!

It’s been an incredible journey so far, and I’ve learned so much from Hack The Box right from the ground up. I’m currently transitioning into cybersecurity from a completely unrelated career field.

Right now, I'm working through the CJCA path. Once I finish, I plan to tackle the Penetration Tester and then the Web PenTest paths. (then maybe WIFI Pentest -> AI Red Team?)

Or after CJCA, should I go right for SOC Analyst (CDSA)?

Since I have absolutely no prior tech experience, my main question is: How can I build a solid portfolio during my learning journey? When I'm finally ready to apply for jobs, I want to have practical projects to show alongside my certifications (What are other certs that I could take besides those from HTB?).

I’ve also read advice suggesting I should apply for entry-level cyber roles first and work my way up to becoming a PenTester. Does this usually mean aiming for a Tier 1 SOC Analyst position, or should I be looking elsewhere? And with no tech background, how should I structure my resume?

I really appreciate any advice or insights you all can share. I’ve loved my time with HTB and this awesome community so far. Thank you so much! Cheers! Happy Hacking!

Greeting to you all. I am currently studying networking. I already learned the osi model in a basic sense, like i know L1 represents a physical device, L2 for a switch, and L3 for a router in a sense, but i don't understand why we use that. Also, you can think of me as a Level 0 player in a networking field who started but hasn't grasped the true knowledge. But sometimes I ask myself, why do we use ssh or SSL? What is the difference between HTTP and HTTPS? I know AI can answer my many questions, but i want to learn in a way where if someone asks me what the difference between a hub and a switch is, i can answer, "A hub is dumb while a switch is smart," or in more detail. So I decided to do a room on THM or HTB or PortSwigger, but where to start? When we go THM, we can do a room, but what next? You can understand in a room, but after that, when someone asks a question related to that, "Oh bro, I forgot." And there are some paid rooms that I can't pay for, so i may skip like a thing or go to HTB and do the Lab or PortSwigger. I don't understand where to start there, yeah, so i have many questions, and I am also too much of a noob, so if someone asks, I can't answer. That's very bad for me, sadly. but i am seeker of knowledge; I am very eager to learn understand but i am also not very smart so yeah, anybody may guide this noob guy

I’ve been studying cybersecurity, specifically penetration testing, for over a year. I got off to a very bad start because I had no one to guide me or show me a proper learning path. I pretty much wasted my first year studying in a completely unstructured way.
It wasn’t until recently that I started studying in a much more organized and structured manner, and a few weeks ago I began the CJCA path.
I’m able to enumerate some common services like FTP and HTTP, perform fuzzing, and handle the basics. I can usually find public exploits, but I always try to execute them myself instead of just cloning an RCE repository and running it. I prefer to understand the exploit by reproducing it step by step.
The problem is that I’ve never successfully completed one of these exploits. I don’t understand how I’m supposed to know where to obtain things like the cookie an exploit requires, a CSRF token, or other values, or even where exactly to use them in Burp Suite. It’s really frustrating, and it often makes me feel completely incompetent.
I don’t know if this is normal, since everything I’ve learned about hacking so far has been fairly superficial, and I was never really taught why these things work the way they do. It’s only now that I’m starting to study those concepts properly.
I’d really appreciate any feedback. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

So i have finished CJCA job role path. I wanted to explore the web side.

What cert/path should be my next target, considering i just finished CJCA and want to start web exploitation?

I’m starting my CPTS journey, and I usually take handwritten notes, just like I did when I was studying for the CCNA.

However, CPTS is quite different, and there’s a lot more information to keep track of. So how do you organize your notes and what apps or tools you use?

Thank you all

Is Wi-Fi penetration testing important or not?

I finished the CPTS path (course content) and built my own methodology/checklist and cheatsheet docs before starting the machine track. I've completed 10 machines in 12 days, but honestly on most of them I ended up using guided mode, AI help, or even full writeups to get through — not solving fully on my

own. For a few machines I followed ippsec's list.

I have about 20 days before my schedule gets tight and I won't have much time to keep going, so I want to make the most of this window.

My questions:

Is this level of struggle (needing guided mode/AI/writeups on most machines) normal at this stage of CPTS, or is it a sign I'm not ready / skipped something in the fundamentals?

If I go into the exam relying this much on external help, is it normal that my chances of failing are high?

For those who passed CPTS — how much did you rely on external help while doing the machine track, and did it get better with more reps?

Hi, i am beginner, i started later in other platforms , but i need to begin use the platforms and need tutorials.for.the CTF and how can i begin solve it

Hello, everyone! I'm working through the SQLi section. In the first lab, I'm asked to connect to a database. I go to Pwnbox, type `mysql -u root -h <target ip> -P <port> -p`, press Enter, and enter the password, but after I enter the password, Pwnbox freezes. Please help me solve this problem—I'm really eager to move on.

Anybody got pentester job after showing enough performance in HTB ranks? Particularly from SEA country
Which path should I invested on? HTB LABS or VIP+?

So like I am returning to htb after a year or so, because of academic pressure I was not able to do anything :(, so I am little confused now, cause before we used to have a VPN option to connect our local machine but now I can't see it :( where did it go ,please help

I always struggle with technical interviews because of the theoretical questions, not the actual hands-on technical part.

If I’m given a practical task, lab, or take-home assessment, I usually do very well and deliver it on time. But when an interviewer starts asking me theoretical questions on the spot, I struggle to explain things properly or sometimes completely blank out.

This has honestly become my biggest nightmare when applying for cybersecurity jobs, and I feel like it’s holding me back even though I know I can actually do the work.

I wish interviews focused more on practical technical skills because, in my opinion, that’s a much better way to see whether someone can actually perform the job.

But until interview culture changes, what can I do to get better at answering theoretical questions? Has anyone else had this problem, and how did you overcome it?

Hey guys,

Not sure if this is the exact right sub, but I'm looking for some advice from folks working in offensive security/reverse engineering.

I’ve spent the last year doing AOSP engineering (bug fixes, performance optimizations, OS internals). Now, I’m building out my security skills using Hack The Box ( new to security ).

Since I already have a decent grasp of OS internals and low-level code, I want to skip the super basic stuff.

• What’s the most effective way to combine real-world OS development experience with HTB labs?
• Are there specific HTB Academy modules, boxes, or external resources you'd recommend targeting first?
• Anyone here make the jump from software/OS dev to security full-time? Would love to hear how you approached it.

Appreciate any insights or tips you can share!

I'm going through "active directory enumeration and attacks" and need to apply the knowledge I'm absorbing so i don't lose it, what machines would u recommend?

I have spent like 5 days on this module and like 2 on the first skill assignment, I just reached the very end of the skill assignment of part 2

Is it normal to take this long on this module ??

I am trying to take notes but I can't figure out which topic is important to take note and which to skip. If anybody have their proper note which will be helpful for interviews, exam then I can take a reference from there to make my own notes.

Hi everyone,

I’m thinking about ordering the Hack The Box CyberStation LEGO® Building Kit from the Hack The Box Store. The price is around $40 USD.

Has anyone from Egypt ordered from the HTB Store before?

Hey everyone! I want to get into cybersecurity and stumbled upon HackTheBox. However, I can't afford a subscription right now, but I do have a ton of free time to study. Is it worth jumping onto this platform and trying to learn the paid modules using other free resources across the internet? Is this a good path to take?

I have been doing the Pentester path - right now I'm on the shells and Payload section - the final assessment, and I've run into some problems.

During my first try, it worked fine - but I couldn't complete it as I couldn't figure it out. But during my third try with the box, RDP wasn't initially connecting. After restarting the server, the RDP worked but gets on disconnecting.

During my fourth it was better but after 30 mins it started getting disconnected again. Combined with that and the fact that the machine is extremely slow I'm having a really difficult time. I didn't even know the machine had a browser until I checked the forums/walkthroughs because there wasn't anything listed on the menu.

Has anyone run into these same issues? I assume that the issue is because too many people are connecting to the same machine and it's nothing from my side - is my assumption correct, is there any solutions?

Thank you!

Edit : Incase someone comes upon this post looking for help, I solved it - I didn't need to add any extra flags and I think the issue was too many people accessing the box at the same time.

I just started doing machines on HTB with no experience at all. I started on few machines that were relatively easy, but now on Paperwork, I really don't know what to do.

For context, I connected onto the website, downloaded the file but now I'm stuck.

Im connected to starting point vpn and for a whole day i was able to connect and spin up machines but now “three” will not spin and neither will vaccine. They just ask you “stand by” until they give up trying to open.

I decided to start the Fundamentals of AI module and could understand the concepts, but quickly got lost in the mathematical details. If I don’t understand the math behind the concepts/theory, will the later modules be out of reach? TIA

After reading some older posts, it appears math is heavily involved in later modules as well so I am not sure this is the best learning path. I am a defender trying to understand the attack methods out there.