Long time lurker, first time poster, thought I would take my shot at a free ticket at Blackhat, I figured if Z can win tickets to SANS WhatWorks, maybe I got a shot .....

Just a general discussion about what it took for you other pro's who have been in the industry for a while to really feel confident in your ability to do your job and feel like you were no longer "new" to the arena of pen-testing or vuln-research...

For me I guess it was a few years into my career (3 or 4 roughly) and I found my first 0-day vulnerability, that seemed for me to be a major turning point in my confidence, where I kinda said "Hey, you know what, I might actually be really good at this vulnerability research and pen-testing thing... " ... I am sure it was not the same thing for everyone that gave you that confident edge that sets the real pro's apart, maybe it was the first time you popped a shell on a Solaris box, or the first time you successfully completed a social engineering exploit (and yes it is an exploit, it is just the people that are the vulnerability).... Give us your story and how you think the confidence has helped you since...

-Jordan

Confident?    I'm still not hehe.  I'm always learning, and that's how I want to stay.  I'll get cocky if I'm well into 6 figures and retired on some island with a tan and my laptop just enjoying the sun.  Finding your first 0-day would probably be a sweet thing though, and a definate confidence booster.  Give me a few more years and I'll see where I am.  Welcome to the board by the way, and good luck.