Ask HN: Any felons successfully found IT work post-release? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Any felons successfully found IT work post-release?

#41

Post by hn_throwaway_99 » Wed, Jan 03, 2024, 7:52 PM UTC

pennaMan wrote: post #30

justsomeoldguy wrote: post #16

it's been 14 years since my felony, and every IT job I've had started out good but they looked me up. I got a unique name I can't change right now. so they always find me, I've been hired by billion dollar companies for technical member of staff positions paying 165k, only to be fired the day before I was supposed to start. I can't do it anymore. I can't try anymore. I've tried for years and years and I can't handle…

Move to another country. Open a LLC and work as a contractor via your firm. Bootstrap a B2B startup, you seem to have valuable skills you can bring to market. There are many solutions but they do require you to make a hard trade off.

> Move to another country.

Your plan sounded perfect except for the complete infeasibility of it. Countries don't let felons from other countries immigrate.

Re: Ask HN: Any felons successfully found IT work post-release?

#42

Post by felon_in_texas » Wed, Jan 03, 2024, 7:52 PM UTC

This is a "throwaway" account for obvious reasons.

I did some terrible things when I was 19 that I won't go into details, but after working as a developer for a few years, served a six-year sentence from 2003-2009.

Upon release, I leveraged some old contacts to get a bit of contracting work. In time I found more contracting work, mostly working for smaller companies on a 1099 basis. (direct, not through a firm) In time a local contract turned into a job, and I've been with the company since. I'm the lead developer and own the entire stack, from the cloud to the front-end. I've made myself very valuable to them, and earn an income that's well over market (early on they offered me a percentage of profits as compensation)

I still continue to do contracting on a small basis (small companies tend to not bind you with onerous terms keeping you from doing so). Some of them I've even found on HN.

Anything involving a background check is a no-go. Most traditional employment situations, especially with "big" companies is a no-go. Sometimes you have to hustle a bit more, but honestly, I feel like owning your career with an entrepreneurial mindset is something everyone can benefit from.

Most of my clients have no idea about my past. A few have learned, but it didn't disqualify me. I was transparent when asked.

Re: Ask HN: Any felons successfully found IT work post-release?

#43

Post by withinboredom » Wed, Jan 03, 2024, 7:53 PM UTC

pennaMan wrote: post #30

justsomeoldguy wrote: post #16

it's been 14 years since my felony, and every IT job I've had started out good but they looked me up. I got a unique name I can't change right now. so they always find me, I've been hired by billion dollar companies for technical member of staff positions paying 165k, only to be fired the day before I was supposed to start. I can't do it anymore. I can't try anymore. I've tried for years and years and I can't handle…

Move to another country. Open a LLC and work as a contractor via your firm. Bootstrap a B2B startup, you seem to have valuable skills you can bring to market. There are many solutions but they do require you to make a hard trade off.

When I moved to the Netherlands to start a company, they only looked back 10 years for a background check to get the visa. I highly recommend leaving the country and starting completely fresh if the algorithms got you fucked.

Re: Ask HN: Any felons successfully found IT work post-release?

#44

Post by helsinki » Wed, Jan 03, 2024, 7:54 PM UTC

runjake wrote: post #23

I don't have much helpful to add, but I had a colleague who had a bad night, acquired some felony charges for a firearm-related assault and they got fired/blacklisted for a few years. Subsequently, they did IT contract work behind the scenes with small contractors, kept in touch with his professional network, was super helpful to the rest of us, and after serious concerns and much debate, got back into his prior care…

Felony charges are a lot different from felony convictions. Was he convicted?

Re: Ask HN: Any felons successfully found IT work post-release?

#45

Post by itsoktocry » Wed, Jan 03, 2024, 7:54 PM UTC

hermitcrab wrote: post #32

If you have got the time and energy, why not start creating an application related to the area you want to work in? It will be a positive at any interviews. Maybe it will bring you some new contacts or consultancy work. And if it gains traction you could start your own business. (I've run my own 1-man software business since 2005. But I realize it isn't for everyone.)

>If you have got the time and energy, why not start creating an application related to the area you want to work in?

I agree, start "working in public" and networking a bit on places like Twitter. Those things aren't really my cup-of-tea, but what I love is that the idea of pseudonymity is becoming more accepted. In the IT world, a lot of people don't care much about you except your ability to produce work.

Re: Ask HN: Any felons successfully found IT work post-release?

#46

Post by justsomeoldguy » Wed, Jan 03, 2024, 7:54 PM UTC

altdataseller wrote: post #20

justsomeoldguy wrote: post #16

it's been 14 years since my felony, and every IT job I've had started out good but they looked me up. I got a unique name I can't change right now. so they always find me, I've been hired by billion dollar companies for technical member of staff positions paying 165k, only to be fired the day before I was supposed to start. I can't do it anymore. I can't try anymore. I've tried for years and years and I can't handle…

Can you change your name? (dumb Q perhaps)

not presently. but soon. I'm between addresses right now, basically. The last state I lived in wouldn't let me do it

I'll still have a social security number that won't change, and I'll have an alias and anyone who really wants to find my info will find it even with a name change.

What a name change does is get me off a simple google search. which isn't legal, fair credit reporting act defines very clearly what you are and are not allowed to do to investigate potential employees.

and yet, do you really think I can start any business relationship by telling someone they can't do things like look me up? It's effectively what that is, and it's unreasonable.

The industry is still stuck in a "no one knows what to do about this problem"

can't stop people from googling you. but I can change my name ... but it's not going to stop the ones who look futher. and so far, all of them have.

Re: Ask HN: Any felons successfully found IT work post-release?

#47

Post by withinboredom » Wed, Jan 03, 2024, 7:56 PM UTC

20after4 wrote: post #35

13415 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Move abroad. Unless you apply for a security-related position or in childcare/education, it is not common outside the US to demand a background check. In any case, in most countries they need to ask the candidate and do not have the power or right to demand the data for themselves.

You can't move abroad with a felony record and no money.

Depends on the country.

Re: Ask HN: Any felons successfully found IT work post-release?

#48

Post by justsomeoldguy » Wed, Jan 03, 2024, 7:56 PM UTC

20after4 wrote: post #35

13415 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Move abroad. Unless you apply for a security-related position or in childcare/education, it is not common outside the US to demand a background check. In any case, in most countries they need to ask the candidate and do not have the power or right to demand the data for themselves.

You can't move abroad with a felony record and no money.

thank you. moving abroad takes major bank, and I have a partner here where I'm living now. We've got dogs. I'm not leaving everyone behind and we're not moving to another country it's just not in the cards.

Re: Ask HN: Any felons successfully found IT work post-release?

#49

Post by nope00 » Wed, Jan 03, 2024, 7:58 PM UTC

Nov’22 is very recent, and won’t be your experience forever. It’s been a little over 20 years for me. Now, I get background checked every year. It doesn’t show.

Initially I worked in food service and on phpfreelancer. I spun that into consistent consulting work until a client offered a full time position (less than 15 people, no background checks).

As the years rolled by, I kept moving around. Eventually I tried at a large company(around 8 years ago) and nothing showed on the background check.

I do NOT recommend being upfront, unless there are no formal procedures in place and being honest actually helps. We are talking about your ability to feed and shelter yourself, so give up on the “honesty” thing. I have -never- been able to provide for myself after having been “honest”. [edit: after reading felonintexas let me update this. If someone point blank asks, tell them. Don’t volunteer this information. There is nothing to be gained]

Also, you are now an edge case. That means most advice doesn’t apply. This is both exciting and horribly anxiety driving at the same time. You will have to become comfortable blazing your own path and doing things others say is not possible.

Seriously, good luck. It is possible. It is amazing what you can do that everyone else thinks can’t be done.

Re: Ask HN: Any felons successfully found IT work post-release?

#50

Post by justsomeoldguy » Wed, Jan 03, 2024, 7:59 PM UTC

NoZebra120vClip wrote: post #22

Have you worked with social service agencies which specialize in such employment? In my metropolitan area there is a significant network of employment agencies. Many are faith-based and many work with the homeless and disadvantaged, and it is not unusual for some to cater to ex-cons and felons. They will not advertise this stuff publicly, so you will need to get referrals and inside information on how to find them, b…

the last state agency I worked with was at utah. and they told me I had a 6% chance of finding a job in the tech industry without someone on the inside. they were very blunt about it, and apologetic. The statistics don't lie and they were like, you are not going to get a tech job before you win the lottery.

Only way I could collect unemployment was if I was working every week to find a new job and putting out applications, and they were helping me. but no one wants to touch me, through those channels. not so far.