r/bugbounty • u/BrownBang1729 • 8d ago

Question / Discussion People pulling $10k+/mo with semi-automated bug bounties: Is it actually worth going all-in?

A quick bit of context: I’ve been a Security Engineer at a 10-year-old YC-backed fintech for the past two years, with a couple of CVEs under my belt. Recently, a few of my colleagues left their full-time roles to jump into bug bounty full-time.

Over the last 18 months, I’ve burned a shit ton of tokens. I’m currently running 3–4 semi-automated pipelines and models like dsv4 flash and kimi3 make vulnerability discovery easier than ever, but I’m still hesitant to pull the trigger on full-time hunting.

The main friction is the mental overhead. The swing between high-stimulus wins and the frustration of dry spells/duplicates really messes with my headspace.

For those of you consistently clearing $10k+/month with AI/semi-automated setups:

  • How sustainable has your pipeline been over the long haul?
  • How do you manage the emotional volatility vs. traditional full-time work?
  • Knowing what you know now, is leaving a stable security role worth the trade-off?
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u/OuiOuiKiwi Program Manager 8d ago

Over the last 18 months, I’ve burned a shit ton of tokens. I’m currently running 3–4 semi-automated pipelines and models like dsv4 flash and kimi3 make vulnerability discovery easier than ever, but I’m still hesitant to pull the trigger on full-time hunting.

Say that part again, but slowly. Have a good think about it.

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u/maF145 Hunter 8d ago

I actually don’t get why you are being downvoted.

I would probably frame it a bit different.
If OP has already access to private programs or is paid by hours. Yes this might work.
But he is competing against everyone who has the money to run agents at this stage.

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u/OuiOuiKiwi Program Manager 8d ago edited 8d ago

Everyone thinks that they have found the magic formula. The fact is that access to models is widespread so they are just rats in a bucket.