I’d recommend a near-pure Offense build for your hacker. As an example, here’s what I have now:

Offense Level 29
Defense Level 4
Egomania Level 4
Upkeep Level 9
Thrift Shopper Level 10
Luck o' the Filthy fine upstanding member of society Level 2

I can pull off 16k or so on a forum 2 or 3 levels above me. I rarely have to use consumables, and my equipment degrades rather slowly. Luck is marginal, Hackers have way too much of it already.

Here are the stats these yield with all of my equips:

Ego 425
Proc. Power 240
Offense 109
Defense 75
Luck 52
Frugality 16
Charisma 34
Upkeep 10