Computer security is not a career but a life choice. The field is so broad and demands you to know so much that you could not learn it all in a college alone. There is a lot of theory and practice involved.
So, where does one start? You might ask. I think the answer is that you need to begin hacking at around age 8 or even earlier. But what to do when you are in your thirties or forties? (I have skipped the twenties as those people are building the next unicorn startup) This is where PicoCTF comes into play. It is a little education platform created in the spirit of “capture the flag” competition. Participants search for a way to hack an answer (a flag) for each given challenge. I find it a great place to spend 15 minutes each day. It is designed for kids as well, so you could play with your teenagers or even younger kids. If the task is weird or too challenging, then just skip to another one. There are no losers here.
In short, I find the idea of these CTF challenges a great way to understand computer systems thoroughly.