My Journey From 0 to 10k$

My introduction

Hi am Paradox hunt (N.u) aka Darknight21 self taught ethical hacker and full time bug hunter | Osint guy i have secured more then 50+ companies and big tech giants for ex = Nasa , Lenovo , Unilever and many more

Learning days

Hunting 70% learning 30% best combo

Back in the days when i start learning, so i am literally confused, cause as a beginner, when you start seeing those people who are just hitting back to back criticals and you just suck at yourself even after so much try, so it feels very bad, but ( do not compare yourself from others, this is the biggest thing i will suggest ). Next, i just follow nahamsec videos and all, tryhackme path, it's really good, you should read it, and portswigger still using and it's top notch.

Hunting time

So this is bit differ topic where some of you like disagree and some people agree, cause many of them said, even Nahamsec said too, that start from VDPs, those are great to start, and yes it is, but i think if you really wanna be differ from others and literally make your own methods, so follow this: hunt 2 bugs on VDP and rest 2 on BBP, cause i saw many fake people with around 20k followers who are just hunting on VDPs and they are absolutely dumb, like they haven't even made 5k$ in those 2 year or etc etc, and trust me, our time is gold, i said again, your time is really really precious, so i prefer even to practice on them who gave swag. i don't hack for free, so be a BBP hunter, then you will get that mindset, and that banger guy also try to hit 1 P1 or 2 monthly.

Consistency Matters alot

Being a full time bug hunter, the most important thing i do is consistency, cause you guys too know consistency and patience is the king. If you don't have this, so you have to maintain it, cause a hunter who always try to find bugs will always get it. So don't get cooked from dups, NA, OOS, this all are just part. Keep going, the more you fail and try, the more you will be good.

Yes i got my first bounty after getting hall of fames and swag

So when i started hunting, then within 3 month i got my first bug on a program that is self hosted, and i got Swag for it. After that, just 3 days gone, i got my first bounty too, that was "25$" and am like lets goo, we did it, am the one winner winner hehe.

Like literally, it's a banger feeling and it's lovely, no doubt. The bug was Info disclosure.

One bug mastery worth it or we need to learn all

This is really deep question, cause you guys have saw many people who are just grinding their fav bug on all programs, for ex Nahamsec like SSRF more, he has done some research paper too, and there are many other people too who do same, and it's true, it really worth it. But now the point came that what about those minor bugs, HTMLi or some misconfiguration, so you need to learn them, like to take those help to chain your bug so that impact can be much better. So learn those too, but first master one bug, apply it, try to find it, then go on next one.

Road to my first 1161$bounty aka (4 DIGIT)

So after getting lots of 3 digit and 2, i finally got my 1st 4 digit bounty on January 2026, and it's nice, new year start. Bug was XSS to ATO, and that is another thing which teach me that sticking to one program is the main key if you want to hit big chunks, else jumping like pingball never helps.

Main hustle which actually help to reach that 10k$

Well as i have covered all the things that what i have learn and etc etc, so the main thing which i would say is practice and knowing that what you like, cause even someone will tell you, ok this is my method or i love this bug, for ex i like information disclosures, Auth bugs and some misconfiguration, so it's not important that you will like it too, and i beleive that you need to find out your style of hacking, what you like & why you wanna hack it, because if the perspective is not in your mind, so you can't get a bug. I always says "Hack with perspective", cause blindly just pray spray only work 20%, rest is your effort + knowledge, and this is 2026 going, we have the another partner AI, use it, try to learn with it, ask from yourself what things am lacking, where to improve. This small things really help me to be my better version, and am still learning guys, daily am figuring out what to focus, how to hit more criticals, am reading writeups daily = pentesterland, talking with Ai, making friends, best is twitter, reach out to peoples. This community has literally gave me freedom alot, and i made my dream pc, buy the fav things which i want, i love it.

So i would say do experiments alot. For me i am very curious for things, to learn them and make myself more better. Always stay hungry, learn new things, experiment, try your methods on target, if you fail do again, think critical, watch CTBB episodes, like just do all, because i am not getting the words to describe this. This is the beauty of cybersec, not even in bug hunting, the more you go deep, the more you learn. This is honest reply.

Last advice which am still following

Well i hope the upper topics literally clear the thought in your mind that how i am doing and what things are going in my mind, whether it's to experiment stuffs, learning new things and just mastering those things which i know. Am still doing guys, still learning that bug which i know. Even i made some 3k to 4k$ from that same bug, still am learning that, cause sometime the methods are differ, target are differs, it's totally blackbox. So keep experimenting and don't just be sheep, ok? Like, do not see other guy method and just start copy pasting, nope. Make your own, take those, but try to modify by your way. This is called a true creative guy, cause if every one is doing same, so it's all worst. So please be creative, hustle hard, never give up, use the AI to learn the things and improve yourself, am doing too.

For ex, my routine is like i said to AI, "hey am a bug hunter, got stuck here, explain", so i do experiment like this and stick with good programs, because if you want big bounties, so good programs matter alot. So keep in mind, also think big, and if he can do it, so you can do it too. Be a passionate guy, for me hacking is my love, passion, profession, everything. Ok, am not only here for reward, it's more like freedom and those powers which i can use to complete my dream. So just be relentless bro, you got this.

The AI hype and bug bounty

I am not much experience in automation, so am only using AI like a mapper for my target. Am still figuring out, and even i start hacking AI, and it's cool, got some success. So in future guys, we will break more, it's really gonna be awesome. Use this power, it's cool, productive, and if you are not creative, so you will also end up like few years ago, people are doing pray spray with nuclei hehe. Don't be sheep again, do experiment.

Resources for info disclosures

https://github.com/harsh-bothra/SecurityStories/blob/main/SecurityStories/orwa-atyat.md check out orwa sir he is legend and am again thanking him cause he is the guy from whom i learn truely thank you

At last guys, thanks alot for reading this. That's all i can say. This journey is not 1 night nor 2 months, it took me year to figure out the things, and am still learning to break more and improving myself. Hope you got my words. Keep trying, you will get it. Be passionate and curious.

Consistency and patience is the king never give up

Make friends, do some collabs, cause this is business, so for increasing the business, we have to deal with those businessmen who are in this game from long time. So do those things, live example = rood and his friends is live example loved it

Thank you for reading

So that's it guys, thanks alot for reading. I hope you like it, and i will try to improve myself more and more. Writeups are coming too, stay tuned. This is my small journey, will break more. Thanks to all

Special thanks to HX007 , Orwa Atyat , Mohsin khan and everyone for always helping us and replying really cool keep the momentum up thank you so much will do some collabs with you all soon guys ❤️

Got any question feel free to ask here and for more updates

follow = https://x.com/hunt_n27493

thanks😊 ❤️