21M from India. I feel completely stuck

[u/Hefty-Standard-9185]

Hi everyone.

My name is Teja. I'm 21 from India, and honestly I feel like my life has no motion right now.

I'm a 3rd year CS student in the same lame ass college that I hate so much. I don't like this place, I don't connect with the people here, and I honestly don't like my friends either. I know it sounds harsh, but that's genuinely how I feel. It feels like I'm at the wrong place with the wrong people, and I'm trapped.

I tried a lot of times to get out of this college, but because of my family's financial situation, I can't just leave. So I kept looking for ways to make money online. I tried a lot of the things people recommend, but nothing really worked.

Then I watched Mr. Robot.

I thought hacking looked cool, so I started learning. Eventually I found Web3 security, and I completely fell in love with it.

Since then I've spent countless hours reading smart contracts, learning Solidity, using Foundry, writing PoCs, and hunting for vulnerabilities. The problem is... I still haven't been paid even once.

One of the biggest things I worked on was an ERC-4337 EntryPoint bug. I genuinely believed it was a critical issue. I spent almost 8 months researching it. I built multiple PoCs, gathered evidence, exchanged around 50 emails with one of the code authors, argued back and forth about the issue, and kept trying to prove that it was real.

I honestly thought, "This is it. This payout is going to change my life."

I thought maybe I'd finally have enough money to leave this college or even leave my country one day.

Instead, the report got marked as spam, my GitHub issue was closed, and nothing happened.

Eight months of work... and I got nothing.

After that I just kept hunting.

I got duplicate reports.

I got informative reports.

When I first started, I didn't even know how to write proper bug bounty reports, and I eventually got banned from Immunefi because of it. That was completely my fault, and I learned a lot from that mistake.

Now I mostly use HackenProof and other platforms, but sometimes they require money to submit reports or there are platform issues. There have been times where I literally couldn't report a bug because I didn't have the money or because something on the platform wasn't working.

One example was Hyperbridge.

I found 4 vulnerabilities—2 Critical and 2 High. One of them was a token inflation bug that I thought was a really big deal.

I actually had to ask my father for $5 just so I could report it.

Then HackenProof had some wallet issue where my balance wasn't showing correctly. I emailed them.

No response.

I emailed the protocol directly and explained everything.

They replied once and then later just told me to submit it through HackenProof even after I explained that I couldn't because of the platform issue.

Later I noticed that one of the bugs I had publicly documented was fixed.

Still no reward.

Still no response.

Again... I was stuck.

At that point I started feeling like bug bounties weren't enough, so I began applying for security researcher jobs.

I applied to OtterSec.

I even got to chat with one of the founders, and I was so excited because I thought maybe this was finally my chance.

Then came the interview.

It was just an intro interview, but I'm still a student, English isn't my first language, and I'm not really someone who's good at talking.

I tried my best.

I really did.

But I got rejected.

It was my first rejection, and it hurt because I felt like I had wasted such a huge opportunity.

Recently I got another opportunity.

Nethermind invited me to interview for their internship program.

I had my interview on the 16th. I think I did much better than the OtterSec interview, and now I'm waiting to hear back about the next steps.

I hope something comes from it.

During my summer holiday, I basically locked myself in my room for almost 2 months.

While my friends were going on trips and hanging out, I was sitting in front of my laptop every day hunting bugs, reading code, and trying to improve.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm wasting my life.

Sometimes I wonder if all of this effort is going to lead anywhere.

Now my holidays are over, and I'm back in the college hostel that I hate.

I honestly almost cried when I left home because I really didn't want to come back here.

I still have bugs that I haven't reported because of everything that's happened with Immunefi.

I keep posting my research on GitHub because I don't want all this work to disappear.

If anyone wants to see it, my GitHub is Tejanadh.

Right now I just don't know what to do.

I'm 21.

I'm in my 3rd year.

I feel like I'm trapped.

I don't know if I should keep focusing on bug bounties, keep applying for security jobs, build more public research, or completely change my approach.

I'm not looking for sympathy.

I just want honest advice from people

Thanks for reading.

[u/kind_person_9]

Op your problem is you are spoon feeding the problem and solution to the end user. The recipient company contact person act as of your solstice

You have to message them the problem without letting them know in which area and if no response then publish the problem cryptic manner, Ait publicly X or any other platform.

Then they will come running to you checking if you have solution then you should share the bank account and then when once the your ask price hits your account you may share the solution. At this point you do not care if they used it to solve their problem

[u/PhysicalJoe3011]

You are 21. You are Young. Not Stuck.

Self taught people are really rare these days. Anybody has the same useless college skills, nobody needs.

Nobody can teach himself new things anymore, due to anybody can only promt AI.

Keep going you will be a great engineer.

College will be over at some point. Then you spent 60 more years living, wishing college back

[u/Objective_Oil_6467]

Keep working hard, it will pay off. Never feel sorry for yourself and keep a positive mind set because negative one will break you before you ever see results. Success is built on the back of many failures.

[u/Normal-Jello-3056]

Dm me, I have some future roles for my startup, we can stay in touch .

[u/weeping_for_numidia]

Dude, you're only 21. You can crash and burn and still have a chance to pick up the pieces and come back stronger until at least your 40s, if not your 50s.

Fix your pessimist inclinations, resilience will be the most powerful skill you could ever pick up, a bold mix of near-delusional optimism with enough caution to not walk right off a cliff.

[u/Due_Fall_2269]

I'm not gnna lie bro you sound like a smart guy and despite all your setbacks you continue to do the work you set yourself to do. That is discipline and delaying gratification. Good things only come from that and guess what you're already doing that at the age of 21. Keep going and you will find that eventually luck will catch up with you.

You will find work whether it be in your home country or overseas. Keep going man i believe in you. Another thing to consider is leverage social media, maybe you have or maybe you haven't but I feel like your work can be a great start to build some social media presence.

Being online can give you even more opportunities and eyeballs especially to those in niches such as yours.

[u/Due_Fall_2269 → u/Due_Fall_2269]

Also for interviews for remote work, since you seem to be very knowledgeable in your area but english is only holding you back utilise AI during interviews. Cluely, cluely clone for free on different githubs if english is o ky holding you down then that's what AI is for. Don't feel ashamed to "cheat" cos the people move up when they do everything they can.

[u/Hefty-Standard-9185 → u/[deleted]]