How to become a Hacker?

A lot of people ask me “how can I become a hacker”?

I ask them to differentiate between a hacker and a cracker first and specify what do they actually want to become. If the answer is a hacker, I need to direct them to this page (perhaps the best page on the net for a guide to becoming a hacker): http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html

For crackers-to-be I don’t have very-healthy feelings and ask them to correct their mindsets.

EDIT: Sat Mar 26, 2011 12:29 pm

For all those who can’t access the above link because of any restrictions on their network, I have uploaded a copy of the page at https://techglider.in/misc/hacker-howto.html

Will try to keep it updated.

–
Kartik - The TechGlider Guy
http://www.techglider.in