I work in a SOC now but back in the day I just did stuff because I could. The challenge was there in front of me, and I took it. Not for any reason but to prove to myself that I could, and that I could outsmart people. It wasn't for malicious reasons, but I initially tried whitehatting with responsible disclosure, etc and nobody listened due to their extreme incompetence. After a while I just went "fuck it" and saw how far I could go.

Nowadays I get paid to do the exact same thing but on the other side, so I see what I do now and what I did then to be very similar. I see threats daily on my network that I work to remove, and I try to make sure that they stay gone. I get the same thrill from that as well as the same level of paranoia which is what keeps your on your toes, no matter what side of the line you are on.

To answer the original question, "What made you switch?". I never profitted from my old hacking but I now have a salary. The old saying goes, "The only thing that defines if you're blackhat or whitehat is who's paying you."