Hi everyone! I’m Shreya Pohekar Agrawal, currently working as a Security Researcher at Microsoft. But my journey into cybersecurity didn’t start here– Back in college, I was equally drawn to both development and security—and choosing between the two wasn’t easy. But after some exploration, I realized I didn’t have to pick just one. I chose to begin my journey as a developer to build strong technical foundations, with the goal of transitioning into security later. That decision turned out to be the perfect balance, and looking back, I’m really glad I took that path.
If you’re a developer who’s intrigued by cybersecurity and wondering if it’s the right path for you, this post is for you.
Thinking About Switching? Don’t Let the Doubt Hold You Back
Many developers hesitate when it comes to switching domains. The fear often comes from the idea that security is completely different or that it requires starting over from scratch.
But here’s the truth: your background as a developer gives you a massive head start in security.
Whether you’ve worked in web development, mobile development, cloud infrastructure, DevOps, or systems engineering—you already understand how things are built. And once you understand how something works, you’re halfway there to understanding how it can break.
Your Fundamentals Are Your Superpower
Let’s take a closer look:
- Web developers often find it easier to pick up web security—things like XSS, CSRF, authentication flaws, and broken access control become clearer when you’ve implemented those features yourself.
- Mobile developers have an edge in mobile app security, including things like insecure storage, insecure inter-process communication, and reverse engineering.
- Cloud engineers or DevOps professionals often transition well into cloud security or infrastructure security, working on IAM misconfigurations, insecure CI/CD pipelines, or container hardening.
- Backend developers often excel in source code review or vulnerability research, thanks to their experience with backend logic and architecture.
The point is—every tech stack has its security counterpart, and the transition is less daunting than it seems if you lean on your existing knowledge.
Think Like a Builder, Break Like a Hacker
One thing that truly sets developers apart in the security world is the ability to think critically and question everything.
In cybersecurity, blindly running tools or using someone else’s exploit script doesn’t make you a security engineer. That’s what we call a script kiddie. To be effective, you need to understand how tools work, what they’re doing under the hood, and why a vulnerability exists in the first place.
As a developer, you naturally question behavior: Why did this API respond that way? What edge cases haven’t been handled? That mindset helps you go deeper into understanding vulnerabilities and even identifying new ones that aren’t obvious at first glance.
Why Coding is a Must-Have Skill in Security
Security may be seen as a separate domain, but it’s not far from what you already do. In fact, coding is essential in many areas of cybersecurity:
- Writing custom payloads or exploits.
- Building your own tools, scripts, or automation for scanning and triage.
- Performing source code reviews to identify vulnerabilities in applications.
- Writing detection logic for alerting or monitoring.
- Understanding patch-level changes and verifying their effectiveness.
And it’s not limited to just one language—you may be reading Python one day, JavaScript the next, or even C/C++ depending on the target. The key is not mastering every language, but being able to understand logic and control flow.
Why Product Security Needs Strong Tech Foundations
When you work in product security, you’re not just finding vulnerabilities—you’re also recommending or implementing fixes. That means you need to understand how something was designed, what constraints exist, and how a fix might impact performance or functionality.
This is where your development background becomes invaluable. You think not just about patching a bug but about how to fix it the right way, considering edge cases, scalability, and maintainability.
You’re also expected to collaborate with developers, conduct threat modeling, and integrate security into the software development lifecycle (SDLC). Your ability to speak their language builds trust and improves the adoption of secure practices.
📚 How to Get Started (Especially for Product Security)
If you’re convinced and ready to explore cybersecurity, here are some learning areas to begin with—especially if you’re aiming for product security roles:
- Web Fundamentals
Understand how browsers, HTTP, sessions, and web apps work. - Web Security
Study OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities (like XSS, IDOR, CSRF, SQLi), and learn how to find and mitigate them. - Mobile Fundamentals and Mobile Security
(Optional, depending on the company.) Learn about Android and iOS architectures and common mobile threats. - CI/CD & GitHub Security
Learn how secrets leak, how misconfigurations happen, and how to secure your pipelines. - Cloud and Container Security
Learn about IAM misconfigurations, misused cloud APIs, Kubernetes security, Docker escapes, and more. - Source Code Reviews
Practice reading codebases to spot logic flaws, insecure API calls, or weak crypto usage. - Threat Modeling
Understand how to assess a system for potential risks before it goes live. - SAST and DAST
Get familiar with Static and Dynamic Application Security Testing tools—understand what they catch (and what they miss).
My Final Thoughts
Switching to cybersecurity from a development role is absolutely possible—and highly valuable.
Security isn’t a standalone field; it’s an extension of your fundamentals. Once you get started, you’ll discover how deep and exciting the field is. It’s full of continuous learning, fast-paced innovation, and real-world impact. And most importantly—it never gets boring.
If you’re curious and passionate about learning, you’re already halfway there.
PS: I’ve also written a blog post to help you kickstart your learning in product security. Feel free to check it out!
If you have questions or want to chat about the transition, drop a comment or DM—I’d love to help more devs find their path into security
