One time I posted on the defcon forums as a young teen wanting to be a 1337 h4xor, and DT said to me: Go learn computer science, data structures and algorithms, then networking. So I did. I took a programming course at a camp and learned VB6, then went and took computer science and robotics courses in high school then got a degree in CS in college. Turns out offensive security really isn't my thing. Who knew?