Ujwal Kumar

You have to gain an in-depth understanding of vulnerabilities and different surfaces of attack vectors. Say, if you want to conduct penetration testing for a web-based application, you will have to be well versed with how the entire web application works, different logics that can be exploited. Most importantly, you need to have core knowledge of wasp top 10 vulnerabilities at least; you'll need to have the hands-on practical understanding to be well equipped for pentesting roles. You can practice these in test environments and virtual labs. Penetration testing & vulnerability analysis is the best thing to learn in 2021, as there are lots of opportunities and a lot of lesser people with a good understanding of security. You can start with web-based security, pick each attack type, get expertise in each of them, and then proceed further.
Job strategy is pretty simple, learn these attack types in depth, gain exposure and hall of fame on bug bounty platforms, and then apply for the job with these gems in your resume.

Hi Shashidhar, this is an essential question asked by a large set of individuals. However, it's not compulsory to have in-depth programming knowledge; it's always recommended to have a decent understanding of Shell script, bash, SQL Queries, PHP, etc. which could help you understand the background of concepts and facilitate easy exploitation. I hope this helps.