This write-up talks about the hidden struggles beginners face in bug bounty hunting. This writeup is written by a student who is inspired from peter yaworski.

Introduction:

I'm a under graduate final year student pursuing cyber security in 3-tier college in India. As most of the indians know that 3-tier college has less than 10% of placements percentage. It's highly impossible to get a cyber security job from college placements. They just teach basics of computer science. I have wasted my 1 year and 6 months of my under graduate with no guidance of any seniors. After heard about ethical hacking from youtube and internet, my inner soul just said why can't i just starting learning hacking. So it thrilled me to start learning from hacking, so to learn hacking i used to watch youtube videos from networkchuck and other youtube channels as a script kiddie. Later on i wanted to learn it's with a proper roadmap, so to learn from scratch i started learning computer science basics, networking, linux, web application etc. While learning those topics i head about Bug bounty hunting, i used to read successful stories of bug bounty hunters and their earnings. Which thrown me in a midset of making money easily from hacking. My twitter feed is filled with bounty of 100's, 1000's and some are 10,000+USD. Finally decided to start bug bounty hunting. To learn more about different types of vulnerabilities i started reading a book called Bug Bounty Bootcamp_ The Guide to Finding and Reporting Web Vulnerabilities written by Vickie Li. To practice what i have learned i used to solve portswiggers labs. Still i used to read online articles of successful stories of bug bounty hunters from online and their findings from twitter. Which motivates me everyday. After few months of doing same with college academic, i found nothing. Which discouraged me, not only me there are many members throughout the world. Still unwilling to share their failure stories. While reading the book called Real-world Bug Hunting by Peter yaworski. Here is what motivated me to write this writeup.

So after reading this, decided to start my writing about the dark side of bug bounty hunting.

Illusion Of Easy Money

When I first started learning about bug bounty hunting, I was inspired by stories of hackers earning thousands of dollars by finding security vulnerabilities. Twitter threads showed massive payouts. Write-ups described critical findings. It all looked exciting — and honestly, it looked achievable.

It felt like: "Learn XSS, SQLi, IDOR… start hunting… earn money."

But reality is different.

The Reality

In Real-World Bug Hunting, Peter Yaworski explains something that most beginners overlook: we mostly hear about success stories. We rarely hear about the failures. We don't see the rejected reports, the duplicate findings, the weeks of no results.

And as a beginner, that hit me hard.

The Reality of Starting Out: -I've spent hours doing reconnaissance. -I've tested parameters. -I've injected payloads -I've written reports that didn't lead to valid bugs. And sometimes I've wondered: -Am I doing something wrong? -Am I not smart enough? -Is bug bounty only for experts? — — — — But the truth is — this is part of the process. — — — — Developers are constantly writing new code. Security is improving. Programs have thousands of hunters. The competition is high. Finding a valid bug is not easy — especially at the beginning. And That's Normal.

The Invisible Struggle: Social media doesn't show: - The 10 failed payloads before 1 works. - The 20 duplicates before 1 valid submission - The mental exhaustion after hours of testing nothing. - The self-doubt that creeps in silently. Bug hunting can be lonely. There's no teacher telling you you're improving. No exam grades. No structured path. Just you, a target, and your persistence. That's where most people quit.

What I've Learned So Far (Without a Bounty): Even without a valid payout yet, I've gained: - Better understanding of web applications - Deeper knowledge of HTTP requests and responses - Real-world experience with recon and testing - Improved patience - Stronger analytical thinking The learning itself is valuable.

Every failed attempt teaches something: - Why the filter blocked it?….. - Why the encoding worked?….. - Why the endpoint is protected?….. - Why my assumption was wrong?….. Failure in bug bounty isn't wasted time — it's paid education without money.

Why I'm Not Quitting: - Because if bugs are easy to find, everyone would be rich. - Because persistance beats early talent - And because the only guaranteed way to never earn a bounty…… is to stop hunting.

My Final Thoughts: If you're a beginner and haven't found a valid bug yet — you're not alone. You're not behind. You're not incapable. You're learning.

Keep digging, somewhere in the code, there's a vulnerability waiting for you, your persistance is enough to find it. Your persistence is your biggest asset. Keep going.

By the way it's my first writeup, most of the hunters write their first writeup after getting their first bounty. But i needed to express my feelings and to encourage the members like me that they are not alone.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to connect with me on discord and twitter. Thank you guys..