Why do some people say they want to be a "hacker" rather than a "programmer" or a "software engineer"?

Question

Trying to understand the motivation behind the choice of vocabulary :-) !!!

Answer 1

I disagree.

*If we're talking about the original meaning behind "hacking":

It used to be about dissecting (taking/picking apart) and perhaps even purposely breaking technology-based software/hardware in order to get a more "raw" understanding of how it worked.

*What made it popular:

After disassembling/breaking the software/hardware they were "hacking", some people had learned enough about what they had hacked to the point where they'd reassemble/tweak-fix things into completely new software/hardware that would do something completely different than what it was originally meant to do.

This rising & popular hobby gave birth to irrelevant fantasies/assumptions created by people who didn't understand what hacking truly was, which in-turn paved way for Hollywood to tweak the already messed up aura of "hacking" & create a new popular interpretation of its meaning, which ended up being ten-times worse (ten-million-times more cringy).

Hacking = ((Logic + Creativity) - ThinkingInsideTheBox) * 9001

Answer 2

Hacking are people that break into systems (like servers) they're not supposed to be in. There are two kinds: black hats and white hats.

Black hats are the hackers you see in movies. They illegally break into websites or private companies' servers for personal gain (or just for fun).

White hats, also known as penetration testers, are people hired by companies to find security vulnerabilities in their systems in order to make sure band guys (like the black hat hackers) don't get in.

Hacking usually doesn't involve much programming, other then scripting. Instead, you're trying to be familiar with tons of different protocols, as well as hacking tools and frameworks. And you always have to stay up to date with the latest vulnerabilities and exploits.