I entirely agree - as a high schooler, I was very, very good at reversing.
It's helped me a lot professionally, actually - I'm much faster at debugging compiled languages than my coworkers are, and the mental patterns I developed while peeling away the layers of control flow in disassembly map very well to understanding large code bases even when I do have the source.
I think it's mostly a function of time rather than being scared, though - learning how to reverse takes quite a while, and once you've got a professional job where reversing seems entirely irrelevant (and even potentially dangerous), it's hard to justify taking the time to learn how.
It's helped me a lot professionally, actually - I'm much faster at debugging compiled languages than my coworkers are, and the mental patterns I developed while peeling away the layers of control flow in disassembly map very well to understanding large code bases even when I do have the source.
I think it's mostly a function of time rather than being scared, though - learning how to reverse takes quite a while, and once you've got a professional job where reversing seems entirely irrelevant (and even potentially dangerous), it's hard to justify taking the time to learn how.