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Reverse Engineering

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    as for the first point I can tell you that there is a difference between the people packing that experience under their belts and the ones selling/offering it. Commented Apr 15, 2013 at 0:08
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    +1 for the comment about RE as a part of the software development process. I can't tell you how many times IDA has saved my ass during development, where I have some linker error that is driving me insane, and I just open the offending objects in the disassembler and all becomes clear. Similarly for things that I would swear are "compiler errors" which turn out to be my fault. And that experience also helps me debug my software much better. Commented Apr 15, 2013 at 4:47
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    Good points! Especially about reverse engineering competitor's products. I remember having to reverse other packers when PECompact was in development over a decade ago, as I couldn't figure out how in the world they packed so tight. I found the answer by reversing: BCJ2 (x86 jmp/call offset optimization). At the time, it was quite a revelation! Commented Apr 15, 2013 at 6:55
  • +1 for firmware hacking, and firmware development. In fact I found myself doing trivial RE when developing small robotics or other hardware/software projects..And lots of companies, while do not explicitly list reverse engineering as a requirement for a developer position, it's a skill if not present makes you just a very 'technical writer' and not an actual software developer. Commented Aug 17, 2013 at 4:13