Starting My Cybersecurity Journey from Zero: 14 TryHackMe Rooms in 7 Days

MAYANK SAHU — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 14:09:05 +0000

Hey everyone! 👋

This is my first post on DEV.to, and I wanted to use it to document the beginning of my cybersecurity journey.

I've been interested in cybersecurity for a while, but getting started was honestly confusing.

There are endless roadmaps, certifications, courses, tools, and opinions about what you should learn first.

So instead of spending more time planning, I decided to just start.

My first goal was simple:

30–40 minutes of hands-on practice every day.

No paid tools. No complicated setup. Just learning and doing.

My First Week

I started with TryHackMe's Pre Security path to build my fundamentals.

After 7 days, I completed 14 free rooms and reached almost 50% of the path.

I worked through topics like:

Networking: OSI, TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, ARP, IP addresses and subnets
Web fundamentals: HTTP/HTTPS, requests, responses, headers, cookies and status codes
Linux & Windows: terminal basics, files, permissions and basic administration

The biggest difference for me was that I wasn't just watching someone explain these concepts.

I was actually using them.

Some things clicked quickly.

Some didn't.

And sometimes I got stuck on things that looked ridiculously simple.

But that's probably the most useful part of hands-on learning.

Where I'm Heading

My immediate goal is to build strong SOC and Blue Team fundamentals.

I want to eventually work with things like:

SIEM
Logs
Network monitoring
Threat detection
Incident response

At the same time, I want to understand the offensive side of security too.

My long-term goal is Red Teaming, so I'll gradually explore web security, bug bounty labs, and offensive techniques alongside my defensive foundation.

For now, though:

Learn the fundamentals first. Build the skills step by step.

What's Next?

I'm planning to continue with TryHackMe and start working through PortSwigger Web Security Academy.

I'll keep documenting the things I learn, the labs I complete, and probably the things I completely mess up along the way. 😅

I'm not an expert.

I'm just getting started.

And that's exactly why I want to document it.

14 rooms down. A lot more to learn.

If you're also learning cybersecurity, what was the first resource or lab that helped things finally click for you?

DEV Community: MAYANK SAHU

Starting My Cybersecurity Journey from Zero: 14 TryHackMe Rooms in 7 Days

My First Week

Where I'm Heading

What's Next?