Yeh that’s definitely the best approach. In the UK it’s slightly different so I did loads of Hack The Box for a while (which is good because people can track your progress and what sort of skill level you’re at). Then I did CREST certs. Outside of the UK though, I’d say for a pen tester the best path is to do hack the box and then move onto OSCP. For me, Offensive Security courses are the gold standard for pen testing