The Day I Stopped Chasing Everything and Found My One Thing
Source: Dev.to
A Story That Might Be Yours Too
The Early Years – Cars & Dreams
So let me tell you a story. It’s mine, but honestly, it might be yours too.
When I was a kid, I used to draw cars and bikes all day—really draw them, every detail: the curves, the engines, the wheels. I’d sit there for hours just sketching, thinking, “Yeah, this is it. I’m going to be a car designer.” That was the plan. That was my passion. Or so I thought.
The 9th‑Grade Turn – The Army
Then 9th class happened. I don’t know what got into me, but suddenly I was obsessed with the army. I’d watch videos of Para Commandos and think, “Forget cars, man. I want to do THIS.”
Me and my best friend got serious about it. We trained for four months straight—physical training, studying, the whole deal. We were ready for NDA. We were pumped.
And then… we didn’t get selected. Neither of us.
That hurt, but we didn’t give up completely. We figured, “Okay, let’s do BTech. At least then we’ll have a shot at CDS or a technical entry later.” We chose Cyber Security as our specialization. Made sense, right? A technical degree, still a path to the army if we wanted it.
The “Why Not Try It?” Moment – Coding
I was sitting in that Cyber Security program thinking, “If I’m learning this stuff anyway, why not actually TRY the field?”
So I decided to pick up coding. First language? Java. I chose Java for the dumbest reason possible—I didn’t know how to set up VS Code, Python, or C++. But Java just… worked on the first try.
I dove into Java, learned data structures and algorithms, did all the problems. And honestly? I didn’t enjoy it at all, but I kept going because, you know, that’s what you’re supposed to do.
Exploring Other Paths
- Web development – a bit better.
- App development – “THIS is it.” I could see myself building apps, creating cool stuff. I was excited—until I tried to open Android Studio on my 4 GB Dell Inspiron laptop. The laptop literally couldn’t handle it. It was like watching a car trying to fly. Dream over.
- Computer networks – I actually enjoyed this. Learning about Wireshark,
tcpdump, tracing packets, monitoring network traffic felt real and useful. - Binary pentesting – I read “Hacker: The Art of Exploitation” and my mind was blown. Stack, heap, buffer overflow, format‑string vulnerabilities, shellcode… deep technical stuff most people never touch. I was hooked.
- Web pentesting – “THIS is my passion. Finally.”
Going Deep – The Learning Marathon
I went really deep. I must have read 60+ books during this journey—everything from hacking to web security to penetration testing. I learned tools such as:
- Burp Suite / PortSwigger Academy
- HackTheBox, Caido
subfinder,amass- …and probably 500 other tools
GitHub became my second home; I was cloning new tools every single day. I got so familiar with Git that I could probably do it in my sleep.
I even started building my own tools. I dropped JavaScript and went all‑in on Python and Bash for scripting. I became really good at it—automating anything, building anything. I felt powerful.
Bug Bounty Hunting – The Harsh Reality
I loved the idea of bug bounty hunting: no degree required, no certification needed—just find bugs in real systems and get paid.
I spent 6–7 months grinding. I found 50+ bugs. How many were accepted? One. A rate‑limit bypass in Yatra.com.
They paid me $50.
Fifty dollars for half a year of work. I burned out—completely. I was exhausted, frustrated, and questioning everything.
The “One Platform” Idea
During that burnout, I had an idea: What if there was one platform where every hacker could share resources, tools, ideas, strategies—everything in one place?
I didn’t know backend development, but I thought, “Why not give it a shot?” I called a friend who knew frontend and told him I’d handle the backend. So I learned backend development, read books about Node.js, design patterns, data structures—all of it—and actually built the application.
Then I did something bold: I reached out to some of the biggest names in hacking—Samcurry, Nahamsec, Gareth Heyes—probably messaging around 500 hackers in total, asking if the idea could work.
Out of 500, one person replied: Gareth Heyes.
“It’s impossible to get all hackers to contribute to one single platform.”
And that was it. The dream died right there.
The Realization – Auth & Authorization
While building that backend, I noticed something I couldn’t ignore: I loved building authentication and authorization systems. Not the entire backend—just auth. The flows, the security models, the system design, all those tiny intricate details that most people don’t even think about. I could spend hours designing auth flows and not notice the time passing.
My friend (the frontend guy) didn’t get it. He couldn’t understand why I was so obsessed with these details. But I did. I saw it all clearly.
The Analogy – Finding Your ONE Thing
You know how in nature every animal has ONE thing they’re great at?
- A lion has its teeth.
- An eagle has its claws.
- An elephant has its trunk.
- A peacock has its tail.
Nobody has everything. Each creature has one unique strength.
Even the gods have singular roles: Shiva is the destroyer, Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver.
Bruce Lee said:
“I don’t fear the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks. I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”
I realized I’d been trying to practice 10,000 kicks this whole time.
The Journey in a Nutshell
- Car designer →
- Army aspirant →
- Java →
- Data‑structures & algorithms →
- Web development →
- App development →
- Networks →
- Binary pentesting →
- Web pentesting →
- Bug bounty →
- Backend development →
- Authentication & Authorization (the ONE thing)
And that’s where I am now—focused on the craft that truly excites me.
Authentication & Authorization
I kept compressing, narrowing down, moving toward something—not away from things. I didn’t even realize it until that moment.
But here’s where the real battle started: the battle between my mind and my heart.
- My mind kept telling me:
“Bro, focus on DSA. Learn the full backend stack. Be practical. Get any job. Everyone says you need to know everything.”
- My heart was saying:
“You light up when you work on auth. That’s your signal.”
I kept thinking about Arjun from the Mahabharata. You know that story, right? Where Dronacharya asks all his students what they see when aiming at a bird on a tree. Everyone describes the whole scene—the bird, the tree, the branches, the sky.
But Arjun? Arjun says, “I see only the eye of the bird.”
That’s when I made my decision.
Authentication and Authorization is my bird’s eye. That’s my one thing. I don’t need to be a full‑stack developer. I don’t need to master DevOps, frontend frameworks, or database administration. I need to go so deep into this ONE thing that when people think about auth, they think of me.
So that’s what I’m doing now: practicing authentication and authorization every single day, aiming for IAM roles and AuthN/AuthZ specialist positions.
- Is it risky? Maybe.
- Is it conventional? Not at all.
But here’s what I know for sure:
The world doesn’t need another developer who knows a little bit of everything.
The world needs people who go DEEP—who become THE person for one specific thing.
That’s the hard fact nobody tells you: nobody masters everything. Nobody CAN master everything. And that’s not a weakness; it’s actually your freedom—freedom to say “this is my thing” and ignore all the noise telling you to learn more, do more, be more.
If you’re feeling scattered…
If you’re jumping between technologies, wondering if you should add “just one more skill” to your résumé… stop for a second.
Ask yourself:
- What do you keep coming back to?
- What makes you lose track of time?
- What do your friends not understand but you see with complete clarity?
That’s your signal. That’s your one thing.
Go practice that one kick 10,000 times.
Trust me, it’s worth it.
What’s your one thing?
I’d genuinely love to hear about it in the comments.