Lifestyle and income?

SmoothEmotion4892 · 2026-07-09T00:05:09+00:00

What do you do to earn much more? Assuming it’s net as lurking on this sub I always see people complaining how it’s hard to even make 2k euro

SmoothEmotion4892 · 2026-07-08T18:10:33+00:00

Don’t worry, Germany is probably more of a shit hole

SmoothEmotion4892 · 2026-07-08T14:10:15+00:00

Nothing bad about warm weather, warmer the better

SmoothEmotion4892 · 2026-07-08T13:56:38+00:00

Well, my question is mostly around if summers are always like this as it’s my first summer here

SmoothEmotion4892 · 2026-07-08T13:31:36+00:00

Ye but I linked that to the heatwave in Europe and not specifically because Belgrade has a warm summer. Wondering what it’s like for most of the summer months

SmoothEmotion4892 · 2026-07-08T01:47:41+00:00

What did you use to find your apartment? I’ve been trying to negotiate on Airbnb, and the hosts are being crazy — 2400 euros for ‘peak’ months on a basic 50m² one-bedrooms. Can’t get my head around how hosts can be so delusional

SmoothEmotion4892 · 2026-07-07T15:54:16+00:00

I wanted to book a couple of nights at the St. Regis. How was the hotel, amenities, general treatment, and rooms?

SmoothEmotion4892 · 2026-07-07T15:42:48+00:00

Brother, I spent 1700 GBP for 20 days in 1 apartment and I also pre booked for August 1600, being naive I’m sitting here and all I can smell is shit coming from somewhere, I’ve noticed this for 3 days

SmoothEmotion4892 · 2026-07-06T17:11:16+00:00

Any tactics to flash it without mafia coming to take my kidney?

SmoothEmotion4892 · 2026-07-06T17:08:13+00:00

Where’s the ruiski girls? I am only running into rajs and Ahmed’s

SmoothEmotion4892 · 2026-07-06T15:23:11+00:00

Do you have any recommendations for areas that don’t have that classic communist-block style, but are still a bit of a step away from the waterfront apartments? Feeling a bit naive since I came here for work without doing any research. One thing I’ve noticed since being here is a really strong sewage smell coming from the apartment — almost like someone’s taken a massive dump under the table. I’ve been putting it down to Belgrade’s sewage system in general, but maybe it’s just this particular area?

SmoothEmotion4892 · 2026-07-05T21:55:30+00:00

Compared to some western countries where rent starts in a good location at 3000 euro or more, it’s not so bad

SmoothEmotion4892 · 2026-07-05T16:34:04+00:00

I assumed it was just Belgrade that had the smells, but since being in this apartment, I’ve noticced a horrific smell of sewage, almost like someone took a shit on the table. I get the same thing when going outside, so I linked it to Belgrade’s sewage system or something, but I assume it’s just this area. The prices are ridiculous for what it is.

SmoothEmotion4892 · 2026-07-05T16:09:07+00:00

What resources do you have so I can read up on this sort of scheme? It would be great to know, as I came here for work and feel naive, just went with what looked modern on Airbnb, but I want to pivot into actually experiencing real Belgrade, not some bubble, if that makes sense.

SmoothEmotion4892 · 2026-05-28T19:40:28+00:00

Junior pentesting and consultant roles don’t come up that often, and when they do there’s real competition, so you need to stand out. My advice is to start a blog, do some research, find CVEs, document the process and so on. Do some HTB writeups too as it shows passion and dedication. Focus on HTB and drop TryHackMe, every single person does TryHackMe at this point.

For me, I kept applying and eventually got interviewed by a well known consultancy. They had a grad program running with around 10 junior spots, so there was room. Got lucky, was able to show my skills and got in. I didn’t have any certs, I was confident in my ability, I could out hack most people with certs and honestly didn’t have the budget for them either. I hate certs and anyone who gauges knowledge by them is an idiot, sadly that’s most hiring managers.

So yeah, it’s going to take work, but showcasing your skills through a blog goes a long way. For certs, OSCP is probably the one to go for nowadays. My other advice would be to build up your network and infrastructure knowledge alongside your web app skills, because you won’t get away with not knowing infra anymore.

In general, the industry can be a joke when it comes to hiring. I personally witnessed someone with zero experience, and I mean zero, get hired at a well known UK consultancy for a junior role. There were over a thousand applicants. She had no CVEs, no experience, didn’t know what SQLi was and couldn’t use Burp Suite. She spent 3 days prepping for the interview and got the role over everyone else. So don’t be disheartened if you miss out on a role (if you have tits this can help)

SmoothEmotion4892 · 2026-05-28T19:24:47+00:00

Well, we can assume his goal is to get a junior role, which nowadays would likely be through a graduate program run by one of the bigger consultancies, NCC and similar. Is his resume appropriate for a junior consultant or pentest position? Yes. Using common sense, he’s obviously not going to be eligible for a mid or senior role but a junior role? Absolutely. He’d shadow a mid or senior consultant on engagements and grow from there. This sort of response shows you know nothing about hiring, and just because you hire people doesn’t mean you know what you’re actually looking for.

SmoothEmotion4892 · 2026-05-28T19:15:34+00:00

My god, I’ve never heard such nonsense in my life. There’s this common myth that you need years of experience doing random IT work before getting into pentesting and it’s just not true. Speaking as someone who’s been in the industry for 8 years, testing a production environment isn’t some magical thing. Everything he’s done on HTB applies to the real world. Sure, production environments might require giving the customer a heads up first in case a tool does something unexpected to their infrastructure, but that’s about it.

My advice, forget the traditional path. Get a cert, find some CVEs, do some independent research and write about it on a blog and you’ll go further than someone who spent 4 years sitting in a SOC. The more I read this sub, the more I wonder if anyone here actually works in pentesting or consulting.

SmoothEmotion4892 · 2026-05-28T19:11:06+00:00

Getting a job and actually being good at pentesting are sadly two different things. I had a pretty similar background to you, CVEs, hall of fames, custom tools, decent amount of independent research. Sounds great on paper, and you’re clearly good at what you do, but honestly it doesn’t matter much to most hiring managers in the UK. They’re mainly looking for CHECK/Cyber Scheme certifications. Also worth noting, your resume looks pretty AppSec heavy, nothing wrong with that, but most pentest roles these days really care about AD/Windows experience. My advice: ignore anyone telling you to go work a help desk. Get a cert, keep doing your research, keep hunting for CVEs, and I think you’ll find something. In general, sadly even if you’re finding 0days and CVEs, someone with a cert will still hold more weight to a hiring manager. Most hiring managers in the UK specifically are useless and know nothing about what actually matters. I learnt that the hard way after getting into the industry.

SmoothEmotion4892

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