How to become a hacker

Although hacker has many definitions, we believe most people asking this question are interested in malicious coding. Computer Hope does not teach or condone cracking, stealing, breaking, or otherwise illegal cyber activity. However, a hacker may also be defined as someone with an advanced understanding of computers and programming. If you want to learn more about this side of hacker, see the suggestions below.

Learn more about computers

Computer basics - Having a good understanding of a computer, its components, and how it works is essential for anyone, not just hackers.

Know all the basics of a computer.

How does a computer work?

Books - Make it a goal to read computer books that cover your interests. Visiting popular online bookstores, such as Amazon, and browse through the top 100 books on your subject is a great place to start. Audible has an enormous selection of e-books, if you prefer that method of reading.

What computer books would you recommend reading?

See our e-book definition for a list of dozens of places to find electronics books online.

Know the jargon - The computer industry has thousands of acronyms and terms, visit the Computer Hope dictionary to find the ones you are most likely to run across.

Computer security related definitions.

Online news - Visit the Computer News pages at least a few times weekly to keep up with all the latest computer news. Visit our computer news links for a list of great news sites.

Participate in forums - The Internet is full of online forums, where thousands of other users participate with each other in answering questions or talking about what they love to do. Participating in these forums will not only allow you to test your understanding of the subject, but also learn from others. A great example of an online forum would be the Computer help forums.

Build a computer - If you want to learn more about the hardware aspect of a computer, there is nothing more educational than putting one together. Not only will this help broaden your knowledge of computer hardware, but can help with diagnosing hardware problems, and teach you more about how computers work. There are plenty of websites with instructions on how to build your own machine.

Pick up a programming language

Learning how software works by studying a programming language is an invaluable tool. It teaches you how to create your own programs, and how to debug them. It also gives you a better understanding of how programs work. Our programming language definition lists many of the more popular programming languages.