system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5:How do people learn to hack? Serious-level hacking. Does it come from being around computers and learning how they operate as they read code from a site? Or do they use programs that they direct to a site?

EDIT: Thanks for all the great responses guys. I didn't respond to all of them, but I definitely read them.

EDIT2: Thanks for the massive response everyone! Looks like my Saturday is planned!
gpt
Hacking is the second side of a coin.

To find exploits, you need to understand how something works.

For example, to do sql exploits, you need to know the syntax and all the common mistakes that developers make during development. Such as adding unsanitized user input to their queries.